Port officials say the metal contaminates the bay when it washes off boat hulls, harming the marine environment. Yesterday, they decided to bring in graduate students from the business consulting program at San Diego State's College of Business Administration to help.

The students will research the problem, prepare a list of experts who might solve it, then ask them to submit proposals. The students will establish guidelines and oversee the selection process, which should be completed in the fall.

Cost to the Port District: $5,000.

David Merk, the port's environmental manager, said he is searching for someone with an innovative alternative to copper-laced hull paint.

“We're looking for the guy with the long gray hair in the university basement,” Merk said. “That's the guy we're looking for.”

Copper is used in boat hull paints because it helps prevent barnacles and other sea life from attaching to the bottom of vessels, causing a reduction in speed.

In 2005, the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board ordered the port to come up with a plan to phase out the copper-laced hull paint in the Shelter Island Yacht Basin, where more than 2,000 recreational boaters dock.

In November, the Port Commission voted to hire the Institute for Research and Technical Assistance using a $232,000 federal grant to review alternative hull coatings on the market. The Glendale-based group is testing 46 coatings – 28 of them new products – and should complete its work in October.

The commission voted 7-0 on Tuesday to involve SDSU'S graduate business students in seeking new technologies or other solutions.

The port and its marinas have 17 years to meet the water board's order to reduce copper in the yacht basin by 76 percent.

Ronald W. Powell: (619) 293-1258; ron.powell@uniontrib.com