Downs says the best course of action is to exchange lotions and potions for bathing suits with sleeves and protective clothing like hats, rash guards, and swim leggings that have broad-spectrum UV protection built into the fabric as there is no 100 percent reef-safe sunscreen.
“That’s probably one of the most powerful conservation measures an individual can adopt [as] it means putting less sunscreen on your body which means less gets on the sand or in the water,” Downs says. “There are some calculations that [estimate] wearing a sun shirt instead of putting sunscreen on your torso/arms can reduce sunscreen pollution by more than 50 percent in an area. That is a major conservation victory.”