Cruise Ships in Florida

Cruising has become a popular vacation choice because

it allows passengers to visit interesting and exotic ports

while also enjoying on-board activities and comforts.

Each year, the world’s fleet of over 220 cruise ships

carries about 10 million passengers to ports around the

globe. Florida ranks first by far among states hosting

cruise ships in their ports. Three of Florida’s ports, Miami, Port Canaveral, and Port

Everglades (Fort Lauderdale), are the first, second and third largest in the U.S.,

respectively. Together, these three ports represent 44% of the world cruise market.

Adding Tampa, ranked number eight, gives the state of Florida nearly half of the world

market.

Almost 4 million passengers board cruise ships at one of these four Florida ports each

year, and in so-doing, they provide considerable travel revenues to the state. The

Canaveral Port Authority’s latest study found about 15 percent of cruise passengers at the

port stayed at least one night in Brevard County, spending more than $13 million in 1999

on lodging, restaurants, entertainment, transportation and shopping. Yet due to the ships’

foreign flags, they pay no U.S. taxes and in many places the industry provides shore-side

shopping and other facilities, which compete with local merchants for those revenues.

Many of the passengers that embark in Florida are bound for the Caribbean. While some

may argue that the cruise ship industry brings a wealth of economic value, the costs of

this pollution to the unique and priceless resources of Florida and the Caribbean region

continue to be unrecognized. The Wider Caribbean Region, stretching from Florida to

French Guiana, receives 63,000 calls from ships each year. Besides revenues, these ships

and their passengers generate over 90,000 tons of garbage among other types of waste.

Cruise Ship Pollution

Cruise ships are a major and growing source of ocean pollution. They can carry as many

as 5,000 passengers, and new ships being built will accommodate even more. Take a

look at what an average-sized cruise ship housing 3,000 passengers and crew generates:

cardboard and food wastes. Approximately 75 to 80 percent is incinerated at sea and then

the ash is dumped into the ocean. Some ships have been found to be grinding plastics

and flushing them into graywater for illegal at-sea disposal. Although many cruise ships

do recycle or dispose of some waste on land, other cruise ship garbage is sometimes

dumped illegally at sea. U.S. law prohibits dumping within three miles of the coast and

an international treaty limits the size of waste dumped between three and 25 miles out

and prohibits dumping of anything plastic in any U.S. waters.

In one year, 15 billion pounds of trash is dumped at sea

worldwide. About 77 percent of all ship waste comes from

cruise ships (ENS-Lycos.) The toll that trash dumping takes on

marine life is staggering. Each year, millions of animals become

trapped or poisoned by marine refuse. Sea turtles often die from

eating plastic bags that they mistake for jellyfish. Sea lions,

birds and other marine life become entangled in plastic six-pack

holders, nets and other debris. Besides the impacts on marine

life, our beaches are less attractive if polluted by garbage

brought by strong currents or dumped in the local harbor.

ballast water to stabilize and trim the vessel to ensure safe operating conditions. In doing

so, they bring in thousands of marine species including plankton, microorganisms, fish

and invertebrate larvae. Ships discharge ballast water back into the ocean as needed to

maintain safe operating conditions. Ballast water is often taken on in one coastal region

and then discharged at the next port. Along with those discharges, these marine animals

are also flushed into the ocean, sometimes in places far away from where they were

picked up. As a result, serious diseases (including cholera, paralytic shellfish poisoning

and red tides), parasites and non-native species are carried into U.S. waters from ballast

waters. Non-native species are the number two cause of biodiversity loss and cost the

U.S. economy $137 billion per year.

mercury, lead and cadmium through dry cleaning, photo processing, print shops, painting

activities and other sources. Cruise ship incinerators also produce dioxins and release

mercury and other chemicals into the air. The waste should be returned to shore for

appropriate disposal. However, some of these wastes go through sinks and other drains

into graywater and are discharged without treatment. Much of this waste is carcinogenic

or otherwise toxic to marine life, potentially causing reproductive failure and other

effects. Furthermore, some chemicals can be passed up the food chain to accumulate in

fish, sea birds, marine mammals and humans. It is illegal to discharge toxic waste

through graywater. The U.S. Resource Conservation and Recovery Act requires wastes

to be off-loaded to land-based treatment, storage or disposal facilities. Though recordkeeping

is required, in some cases it is difficult to determine whether wastes have been

disposed of illegally.

blackwater, consists mostly of wastewater from toilets. Ships are permitted to dump raw

sewage directly into the ocean once they are three miles out from shore, except in Alaska.

Treated sewage can be dumped anywhere in the ocean after being treated by either

chemical (chlorine) or biological (bacteria) means. Unfortunately, such treatment rarely

works on such a large scale. Even where it does work, the chemicals or bacteria used to

treat the waste are introduced into the waste stream, and then dumped into the ocean

along with the sewage. This creates yet another form of pollution. The U.S. Clean Water

Act requires vessels to install and use marine sanitation devices to treat or hold raw

sewage and sets limits regarding bacteria levels in sewage released within three nautical

miles of shore. Unfortunately, little monitoring is done. Where tests have been

conducted, it has found that the devices often do not treat the wastes well enough to meet

the standards.

maintenance mixes with bilge water and collects at the bottom of the vessel. When these

chemicals are released, the components of the oil (even in very small amounts) can cause

toxic effects on marine life. Though there are regulations governing the amount of oil

that can be released, recent cases have uncovered a rash of violations of the law. Within

U.S. waters oil waste is regulated by the Clean Water Act and the Oil Pollution Act,

which limits the concentration of oil in bilge water to be discharged.

laundries, showers, sinks and dishwashers. It contains detergents, cleaners, oil and

grease, metals, pesticides, and medical, dental and other forms of toxic waste. Waste that

should be segregated and disposed at land-based facilities is often pumped into

graywater. In addition, ground up garbage is sometimes pumped into graywater. Ships

may dispose of graywater anywhere without treatment except in Alaska and the Great

Lakes where stronger coastal protection rules apply. U.S. Department of Defense and

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) studies determined that graywater “has the

potential to cause adverse environmental effects.” Nitrogen and phosphorus from

graywater can deplete the ocean water of oxygen necessary to support marine life. One

study found graywater in Alaska contained fecal coliform levels exceeding national

sewage standards by 10,000 to 100,000 times. Graywater is exempt from U.S.

regulations, except in Alaska, and not covered by active international treaties.

ships burn low-grade diesel fuel that produces 50 times more pollutants than the dirtiest

diesel trucks. Diesel burn-off is emitted through the ships’ exhaust systems. Nitrogen

dioxide emissions contribute to unhealthy smog in the air, and dead zones and algae

blooms in the ocean. Sulfur, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, particulates and other

emissions play an important role in acid rain, global climate change and respiratory

diseases. Ships’ incinerators release toxic chemicals including persistent organic

pollutants (POPs) such as dioxins and mercury. These toxic chemicals are transported

through the atmosphere and can wind up in the ocean where they accumulate in fish and

other marine mammals. Cruise ship air emissions are almost entirely unregulated by the

EPA. New proposed rules for governing air pollution from ships are pending; however,

they do not go nearly far enough to level the playing field between cruise ships and other

sources of air pollution.

The diverse collection of wastes described above, including toxic waste,

human waste and chemical pollution contaminate the water, damage

corals, deplete the oxygen supply in the ocean, and harm both marine and

human life. Caribbean reefs are one example of an ecosystem that can be

affected by cruise ship pollution anchor damage, and ship collisions.

Recent studies have shown that coral diseases can be linked to human

sewage, not unlike what is released from cruise ships. This is a critical

finding since about 90 percent of Florida’s coral reefs are already believed

to be dead or dying. White pox is one disease effecting coral reefs off Key

West and throughout the Caribbean where the culprit is bacteria often

found in the human gut, indicating that sewage is contributing to the

destruction beneath the sea. Reefs in Jamaica, Belize, St Croix and the

Bahamas have also been affected by the same disease.