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Is Your Sunscreen Reef Safe?

Trilogy Excursions

Photo courtesy of Flickr Earthly Delights

The summer has begun out here on Maui and Trilogy is gearing up for our Maui snorkeling trips!

With weather typically in the mid 70’s F and intense sunshine, sunscreen comes to mind. There are many options out there for you to choose from, and it can get overwhelming:

All natural, biodegradable, eco-friendly, organic, reef safe, waterproof, creams, gels, spray....the list goes on.

When traveling to the Hawaiian Islands and other tropical locations, there's a good chance you will jump into the big blue. When you do—and even if you have no plans to snorkel around coral reefs—you still make an impact on marine ecosystems.

At a time when these fragile systems are experiencing one of the worst coral bleaching events on record, one of the most important things to consider when choosing a sunscreen is, "is it reef safe?"

A scientific study released in 2015 by Downs et.al. found oxybenzone to be harmful to coral larva inhibiting growth.

When shopping for sunscreen, don't just read the label, read the ingredient list.

No one is governing whether or not a product labeled as “reef safe” is in fact safe for our reefs. The following is a cheat sheet of the ingredients that have been shown to cause coral bleaching even at low levels:

  • Oxybenzone

  • Butylparaben

  • Octinoxate

  • 4-Methylbenzylidine Camphor

In general, any natural sunscreen (organic, biodegradable etc.) is better for the environment than a conventional one.

Look for a brand that uses physical sunblocks such as titanium or zinc oxide instead of chemical ones.

The jury is still out as to whether titanium and zinc oxide are truly reef safe. Both are mineral powders that some scientists claim settle on the ocean floor and block sunlight, but this belief does not seem to be widely accepted. 

If you want to decide between the two, zinc oxide is proven to block both UVA and UVB rays whereas titanium oxide primarily only blocks UVB rays.

So what can you do?

Make sure to apply sunscreen at least 10-15 minutes before going in the water so that the lotion absorbs into your skin.

You can also wear an SPF rash guard top and leggings to reduce the amount of sunscreen you put on your skin. Trilogy sells both long and short sleeve rash guards with UPF sun protection.

See this Amazon product in the original post

Here is a list of sunscreens I found to be reef safe:

You can also gather additional information from the National Park Service, and mahalo for considering the health of our reefs before your snorkeling tour in Maui!

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Downs, C. A., Kramarsky-Winter, E., Segal, R., Fauth, J., Knutson, S., Bronstien, O., Ciner, F. R., Jeger, R., Lichtenfeld, Y., Woodley, C. M., Pennington, P., Cadenas, K., Kushmara, A., Loya, Y. 2015. Toxicological Effects of the Sunscreen UV Filter, Oxybenzone (Benzophenone-3), on Coral Planulae and Cultured Primary Cells and Its Environmental Contamination in Hawaii and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Arch. Environ. Contam. Toxicol.

Contributed By Conservation & Education Director Magen Schifiliti