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With a steady uptick in the volume of cruise ships passing through coastal waters, experts are raising concerns about the industry’s mounting impact on the marine environment, says Michael Bissonnette, staff lawyer at West Coast Environmental Law. “When we researched regulations in Canada as well as in the U.S., we found legal loopholes that can result in the dumping of harmful substances into Canadian waters.”
The resulting report covers three different sources of pollution: sewage, gray water and scrubber wash water. “While sewage is comparable to what we would find in cities, it tends to be much more concentrated coming from ships,” Bissonnette explains. “Gray water comes from showers and washing machines and so on, and scrubber wash water, the biggest source of pollution, comes from measures to clean up fuel sources to reduce [air] emissions.”
More stringent international carbon emission standards aim to encourage the cruise industry to adopt cleaner fuels. However, a work-around allows operators to install scrubber technology instead of using cleaner fuels, he says. “These systems remove the air pollution resulting from dirty fuel, but they create wastewater that is then dumped into the ocean.”
According to a report from World Wildlife Fund Canada, outflow from scrubber technologies contains contaminants that pose a threat to aquatic life. Cruise ships, the biggest adopters of scrubber technology, made up only 2 per cent of vessels included in the study yet accounted for roughly two-thirds of the pollution dumped into Canadian waters.
Advocates have called on government to implement protection measures in coastal waters, yet new measures announced by Transport Canada “don’t go far enough,” says Bissonnette. “First, they are voluntary. Secondly, they don’t address scrubber wash water; and thirdly, ships are self-reporting compliance, which can be difficult to monitor in remote areas.”
Bissonnette advocates for harmonizing regulations. “In Alaska, an ocean ranger program placed independent third-party monitors on ships,” he says. “We’d love to see a similar type of program here in Canada in addition to making compliance to regulations mandatory.”
Advertising feature produced by Randall Anthony Communications with SeaBlue Canada. The Globe’s editorial department was not involved.