Cruise Industry Campaign Splits Environmental Community

MIAMI, Florida, March 16, 2004 (ENS) - A joint initiative announced by the International Council of Cruise Lines (ICCL) and Conservation International (CI) to address the problem of cruise ship pollution lacks substance and specific commitments, according to a coalition of 30 environmental groups who are also tackling cruise ship pollution.

The ICCL/CI initiative, announced in December 2003, is making waves at the week long Seatrade Cruise Shipping Convention that opened Monday here in the busiest cruise port in the world.

Calling itself the Ocean Conservation and Tourism Alliance, the ICCL/CI group aims to protect biodiversity in top cruise destinations and promote industry practices that minimize the cruise industry's environmental impact on destinations. Four initial priority areas to address were outlined by the group:

• Best practices for wastewater management: improved shipboard technology, specifically accelerating and adopting Advanced Wastewater Purification systems.
  
• Establishing destination partnerships: working with local governments and communities to maintain high-quality travel experiences by protecting the natural and cultural assets of cruise destinations.
  
• Promoting environmental education: raising guest and crew awareness of and support for critical conservation issues.
  
• Promoting vendor environmental education: lessening the environmental impacts of suppliers.

A cruise ship tied up on the San Francisco waterfront. (Photo by Rich Bourgerie courtesy NOAA)

But the Ocean Conservation and Tourism Alliance initiative is too vague given the scope of the problems that need to be addressed, according to a letter released Monday by the coalition, timed to coincide with the start of the cruise ship convention.

The coalition includes Bluewater Network, Oceana, the National Environmental Trust, and U.S. Public Interest Research Group.

"Although the industry says that it is committed to ending cruise ship pollution, without a specific commitment to concrete actions by date certain, the public is left with no other choice than to trust the industry's good intentions," the coalition wrote in its letter to ICCL and CI.

"The collaboration appears to be a way for a polluting industry suffering from the spotlight of public disapproval to deflect mounting pressure to adopt better waste treatment systems and stricter standards for discharges," the letter charges.

Cruise ships produce and dump millions of gallons of inadequately treated sewage and wastewater into the oceans every day, and the coalition says this and other harmful environmental impacts of the cruise industry are preventable.

There is evidence that ship sewage can contribute to shellfish bed closures, coral reef destruction, the killing of marine mammals, oxygen depleted dead zones that decimate native marine species, and harmful algae blooms, the coalition said in its letter.

A fisheye view of the cruise ship port at Port Everglades, Florida (Photo courtesy NOAA)

As a first step toward achieving alliance's goals, the six member panel will review the core environmental issues facing the cruise industry and provide advice and direction on the best course of action for dealing with these challenges.

But that process is not adequate, Oceana says on behalf of the coalition. "This effort by the cruise industry is merely an attempt to camouflage a very poor environmental record," said Dana DuBose, Oceana's cruise pollution campaign director. Oceana has been conducting a high profile campaign to have cruise lines install advanced wastewater treatment systems on all their ships without delay.

"Rather than providing specifics, the CI-ICCL partnership is serving as a vehicle for the cruise industry's propaganda on this very serious environmental issue," DuBose said. "The oceans do not need another blue ribbon panel talking this thing to death, they need the cruise industry to agree to these changes and start making them."

While the cruise ship industry has turned away from Oceana's pressure tactics, advanced wastewater purification research and development has been "a strong focus for the cruise industry for some time," ICCL President Michael Crye told "Travel and Leisure" magazine.

To date, the combined efforts of the cruise industry and wastewater treatment vendors have resulted in the installation of prototypes on "more than 20 ships, at a cost of approximately $50 million," Crye said.

A cruise ship in Glacier Bay, Alaska. (Photo by John Bortniak courtesy NOAA)

ICCL denies that its member cruise lines are a major source of pollution in U.S. coastal waters or beaches. It cites the Pew Oceans Commission and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as saying that 80 percent of ocean and coastal pollution is a result of runoff from landbased sources.

Over the past decade, cruise lines have cut onboard waste almost in half - despite taking on more than double the number of passengers in the same period, the ICCL says. Member cruise lines are recycling "60 percent of the waste that is created," the ICCL says. "We are following a policy of zero wastewater discharges in the coastal waters of the United States," within four miles of the shore, says the organization, and "we are investing in new technology and equipment to reduce our environmental footprint wherever we operate."

It is in the cruise industry's own best interest to protect the beauty of the ocean and the ships' ports of call, Crye said, so that the cruise lines can continue to attract customers.

The coalition's letter urges the industry and cruise companies to show real support for environmental improvements by supporting legislation soon to be introduced in Congress which would prohibit dumping near shore and set national effluent limits for sewage and wastewater.

"If the industry were to truly commit to solving these problems," the coalition writes, "we would be the first to applaud them."