Opinion: Ignore the Cruise Lines

By Valerie Sheppard

ST. CATHARINES, Ontario, March 17, 2003 (ENS) - This was our fifth and our last cruise. From an ethical standpoint, we feel we can no longer participate in an industry that shows such a wanton lack of concern for the natural environment.

Ignore the cruise lines' claims that they care about the environment, and ignore those recycling bins onboard the ships. The truth of the matter is that 12 miles from the coast, cruise ships are throwing garbage overboard, and as near as three miles from the coast they are pumping raw sewage into our oceans.

Cruise ship passengers may be shocked to learn that cruise ships are still dumping at sea - everything from beer cans to raw sewage - and it's all legal - well, almost.

Cruise ship (Photo credit University of Hawaii School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology)

When we reported the incident to the ship's cruise director, he informed us that all cruise lines dump at sea and that the ships cannot possibly retain all that garbage until the ship returns to its home port.

Unsatisfied with this answer, we took the matter to the ship's hotel manager who initially denied that the ship dumps garbage at sea. He later admitted that yes, the ship ground up the organic material which was dumped at sea.

As the matter progressed, we were eventually called to the captain's office, where the captain showed us the International Maritime Organization (IMO) regulation that permits dumping 12 miles from the coast. The captain also confirmed to us that raw sewage is also pumped into our oceans.

Apparently, the cruise line's official policy is to grind up the glass and organic materials which are dumped at sea, to burn the paper at sea, and to return all plastics and aluminum cans to shore. Now whether this dumping of beer and wine bottles, aluminum cans and plastic was a one time breach of policy or whether this is occurring on a regular basis, we cannot say for sure.

However, fellow cruise ship passengers later informed us that they have seen garbage, and particularly plastic items, washed up on island shores and some have seen garbage littering the ocean floor when they have been scuba diving. So it is quite possible that the cruise line's policy is to simply toss as much as possible overboard, returning some garbage to shore to make it appear as though they are not dumping.

When we returned to Oahu a few days later, we contacted the U.S. Coast Guard who advised us that the captain had reported the incident, but that he had failed to advise of all of the items that we reported being dumped. The coast guard further advised us that they will be investigating the matter in an attempt to lay charges for the dumping of the plastic.

Beach litter (Photo courtesy U.S. EPA)

In addition to reporting this incident to the Coast Guard, we have recently discovered from the people at Oceana that there is a bounty program that provides rewards for those having evidence of garbage dumping by cruise ships.

We are not reporting this incident for financial gain; we are reporting the incident because we care about our natural environment and we were disgusted and deeply saddened by what we witnessed. However, it is most important for other people to know about this bounty program and to take advantage of these programs, reporting even the smallest of violations to the authorities. This may be the only way to get these cruise lines to stop what they are doing.

The hypocrisy of the situation is that we were bombarded with propaganda while onboard the ship to not throw anything overboard because the cruise line cares about the environment.

Further, we wonder what exactly is the purpose of those recycling bins? Is it simply a fraudulent misrepresentation that misleads passengers into believing that the cruise ships are recycling? Perhaps there should be a system of green and red lights onboard the ship for passengers. Red means you cannot throw your garbage overboard yet. Green means, "Okay, toss it over."

In fact, maybe the cruise lines should change the wording of their propaganda to "Please don't throw anything overboard. We'll do it for you."