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Cruise ships using Caribbean Sea as dump
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by Blue Crush | March 6, 2009 at 04:37 am
2308 views | 108 Recommendations | 38 comments
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"These are floating cities that go back and forth through our waters, dumping toxins from their enormous amount of waste,” says Marcie Keever, director of the Clean Vessels Campaign of Friends of the Earth. According to them, a one week voyage on a cruise ship produces 210,000 gallons of sewage, a million gallons of gray water (runoff from sinks, baths, showers, laundry and galleys), 25,000 gallons of oily bilge water, 11,550 gallons of sewage sludge and more than 130 gallons of hazardous wastes.
The United Nations Environment Programme set up guidelines to protect our ecology, and most of the world has complied, but the Caribbean is holding back. Cruise ships are dumping their waste out in the open sea, because many small islands say they don't have the capacity to handle all the garbage on their shores.
This New York Times article brings to light some of the environmental problems associated with cruise ships, and the footprints they leave.
Many countries with coastlines on the world's most fragile seas abide by a United Nations dumping ban that requires them to treat ship-generated garbage on land. Caribbean islands, however, have yet to adopt the ban, saying they simply don't have the capacity to treat ship garbage on shore. They also fear the ban could push ships to dock in less-regulated ports of call."We don't have space to take nothing from nobody," said Travis Johnson, assistant harbour master in Saba, an island of 1,500 people that is building a new pier to accommodate larger cruise ships.
Environmentalists say debris dumped in the ocean can entangle sea creatures, damage water quality and alter ecosystems by providing habitats for opportunistic organisms.Ignoring the ban also has its consequences for tourism. Some trash dumped in the ocean washes ashore with the winds and currents, fouling the beaches. In the Cayman Islands, the government has traced milk cartons on shore to a passing cruise ship.
The UN and the U.S. Coast Guard have held seminars on six islands over the last couple years to push for a regional approach in the wider Caribbean, which includes the Gulf of Mexico. The officers have stressed how vulnerable their tourism-driven economies are to pollution fouling their coastlines.But advocates acknowledge it's a tough sell.
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (38)
at 05:53 on March 6th, 2009
This is bad for tourism. The Caribbean cannot afford to ignore this.
at 06:08 on March 6th, 2009
Blue, I'm sure it was just a HTML slip on your part but all of the copied text from outside sources should be inside the highlight box while original commentary should be placed outside the box. Currently, everything above is from the source.
Could you fix this please? Thanks. :)
at 09:18 on March 6th, 2009
Actually, it was just the first sentence, GD, but I'll change it up and add links.
at 05:16 on March 7th, 2009
Blue, I hate to be pedantic but these paragraphs, which are outside the highlight boxes, are also from the original piece:
And:
Could they be moved to the highlight boxes also? Thanks.
at 15:26 on March 7th, 2009
This comment smacks of arbitrarily decided site content control and pulling rank by those who have been here a while longer than others.
I do not appreciate this comment. At all.
Please do not try that on a post of mine.
Thanks.
at 15:17 on March 7th, 2009
GD, please stop being pedantic. You could have said this in a more subtle manner.
Yours,
Opinion writer fed up with being called-to-order on my own pages by the unofficial Site Thought Police...
at 16:10 on March 7th, 2009
I do not appreaciate comments of this nature being made against one of our GEs, who is a GE for a reason; if you have a complaint private message me as this is not the way to express your anger about it.
at 16:26 on March 7th, 2009
I did not appreciate her comment Amyjudd, and you do not appreciate mine. That's ok.
I had no complaint to make to moderators, or GE's, but I did comment what she wrote. Can't people do that here? Can't we say that we do not agree? There was no personal content to my comments.
Fine. I shall write you on PM as asked, and I stand by what I put up.
at 10:20 on July 13th, 2009
You are assuming that there is any thought worth policing on this "opinion" page. I not only see no factual thought presented here other than the regulations passed, I see no facts about the caribbean cruise industry polluting. Only innuendo and uninformed slander by an environmental idiot. Someone says it's a problem based on nothing and someone else replies that oooooh this is a problem. If there are ships sailing with people on them then therefore there must be pollution. What school did they go to that teaches them to think like that? Question, yes, assume? hell no. Educate yourselves about modern cruise ships, take a tour on one, god forbid, take a trip on one and you idiots will get so facts and some reality. I can't stand uninformed stupidity and this is the epitome of environmental idiocy. Blue Crush, if he/she is truly concerned about the environment should spend time putting out fires where they exsist, not stirring up concern and making accusations where a problem doesn't exsist in the first place. I'm a geographer by trade and get so sick and tired of uneducated people making baseless accusations when people lives are at stake, Blue crush...If you can't prove there is a problem with proof then shut the **** up...you stand to ruin more people lives than you help...
at 07:15 on March 6th, 2009
Why I hate tourists and especially tourist organizations.
at 08:36 on March 6th, 2009
Thanks for the story Blue Crush. Very informative.
at 09:49 on March 6th, 2009
Thanks for this. The cruise industry is a huge environmental problem. You just can't have that many people floating around on the ocean, consuming, eating, drinking, etc., without having a huge impact.
If we're aiming to produce and eat local, why not keep tourism local too?
at 14:38 on March 6th, 2009
I think eco-tourism is a more realistic approach to teach people, as people just won't want to keep tourism local as well.
at 11:14 on July 1st, 2009
Jarrett,
Easy to make a generalized statement that the "cruise industry is a huge environmental problem" The problem is that it is your opinion and not based on fact. Do a little research before you decide whats a problem. In fact, every cruise ship is a self contained eco system, not only storing all it's waste, but in some cases recycling and filtering water back to the ship so it doesn't even need to take on fresh water at any of it's port of call. They don't even want passengers to flick a cigarette butt overboard, but I guess they dump tonnes of garbage into the sea. Like no one would figure it out, discover it or report it. They are a for profit industry and it's not in their best interest to throw shit where they earn. Let's destroy the beauty of where we make our living so no one wants to come with us anymore. Please educate yourself before making mindless statements and don't fall prey to the know nothings out there who scream wolf when a mouse runs across their path. If you have some facts that you can site that "The cruise industry is a huge environmental problem" Exactly how is that a problem? I'd be glad to hear about them...not stories or supposition, but facts.
at 10:10 on March 6th, 2009
This is a problem in Georgia Strait (Canada) too. There are regulations requiring holding tanks for boats in some areas, but much of the Strait is fair game for sewage and garbage dumping.
at 11:27 on March 6th, 2009
at 11:14 on March 6th, 2009
Good story Blue Crush - thank you.
One wonders if the sewage from these ocean liners could have far reaching effects on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and other precious coral reefs in the Coral Sea. I know that it couldn't be the main culprit - since global warming and the changing acidity of the seas and oceans have already been identified as the cause.
But still .....
~ Swan
at 11:25 on March 6th, 2009
look at this link
Global Shipping Lanes 2008
it shows 2 maps, one the global shippng activity and the other a human impact map to our oceans.
at 17:08 on March 6th, 2009
Thank you Kuuva, for adding this link, it shows the larger picture.
at 11:40 on July 1st, 2009
What exactly does this map show? What human impact does it show? Pieces of trach per nautical mile? The number of times a ship has sailed a certain path? Anyone can make a map say anything they want. In fact I have made maps that that look exactly alike and say exactly the opposite things. By looking at either map you would belive whatever I wanted you to believe. Please, people, don't believe everything you see...
at 14:38 on March 6th, 2009
I never thought about this before; I've never been on a cruise, but I don't think I'll be going to one.
at 12:36 on July 1st, 2009
Amy,
Please take a cruise and go on the ships tour and you will learn that the environmental innuendo spread in this story, is like the garbage they accuse the cruise ships of dumping at sea...the innuendo is baseless and without fact. This "story" if you want to call it that, has no facts in it does it? It talks about the laws that have been passed regarding dumping at sea and really nothing else of any fact is included. There are no examples of where any of this environmental "damage" has taken place. Modern cruise ships are models of eco friendly systems that don't dump their garbage where they make their money. Why would they do that? Someone onboard would report it. You don't dump trash in your bed do you? Of course not. There is alot of lies spread in the name of the environment and we can't always know why someone is doing it. All I can tell you is that I have been to most of the islands in the Caribbean and have never seen any evidence of massive dunping anywhere, The islands shores are clean beautiful and none of the native islanders have ever told me about it ever happening. Proof is better than accusation...Please take the opportunity to educate yourself and learn what modern cruise ships are like and you will find it's an amazing way to see alot, relax and have fun. Take care and don't always believe everything you read...
at 15:32 on March 6th, 2009
I enjoyed a Caribbean Cruise in September 2007 with my Aunt and Sister. At the time a student of photography and had so much fun photographing everything. The ship was great inside and out. I believe this shot was in the Cayman Islands wear the water was aqua color. If you get a chance take a cruise it's great an experience you will remember.. 2009 I'm taking a cruise as a professional photographer to the Bahamas on the same cruise line as before..I know I'll get my moneys worth.
Gina
ExpressIt Photography has contributed a photo to this story.
at 16:35 on March 6th, 2009
The cruise industry has sailed along relatively free of scrutiny. It's nice to see that they are garnering the attention they deserve.
Here's a great 2003 report - Cruising out of control - that reviews the industry's record on the environment and on workers.
When I went to Alaska on my first cruise in 2003, I helped some locals at one of the more natural stops on the circuit, develop a campaign to counter the big cruise lines that were heavily lobbying civic and state governments to have a deep-water pier built on the town's beautiful waterfront. Anchoring in the bay was such an inconvenience for the cruiselines and cut into tourists' souvenir-buying shoreleave, don't you know.
at 17:07 on March 6th, 2009
Very enlightening report, especially about the taxes and the workers. Thanks for adding it.
at 12:47 on July 1st, 2009
Read the report...Thanks for sharing. I have a few questions though...
First ...who is Ross Klein? Whats his dog in this fight, what are his qualifications.
Second and most importantly he presents this "paper" as though it's a term paper or thesis
for a degree but amazingly has no sources stated for his "facts" about waste that a ship
creates. Is he making them up? Where is the verifiable truth in his statements. Without them,
it's a piece without any credibility. Anyone can say anything about anyone...doesn't make it
fact...
at 16:57 on March 6th, 2009
Is this a joke? This is a half finished story, at best. This is a story based on mostly hearsay, and the author has not spoken to any of the cruise lines and asked their comment on this. That makes this a very little credible story when it is just advocating one sides views.
Dumping of garbage has for many years been a big problem with cruise ships, but new and modern wessels are much more enviromentally sane and this might not be true to the whole fleet. There are many sides and points not heard or mentioned in this article, which makes me reccomend this to be read with some reservations as to the credibility.
AlexB has contributed a photo to this story.
at 17:14 on March 6th, 2009
No joke. But well worth the read, if only to get people thinking. Glad you commented.
at 18:11 on March 6th, 2009
Thanks for the informative story. I'm going to the Caribbean, on a cruise, in a few weeks. I'll be sure to grill the captain and crew on what they are doing to the environment and report back. I'll include a little about the food and fun too. Good report to get people thinking.
at 19:27 on March 6th, 2009
There is a new development for this, a technology that an acquaintance of mine is backing financially that treats waste before disposing of it.
I also think that he told me that dumping, as it has been done, will be illegal soon.