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The five panelists agreed that there needs to be a limit on the number of cruise ship passengers in Key West during a Keys in the Balance forum sponsored by Last Stand held on April 8th. Bill Verge, activist and former Key West City Commissioner, proposed that limit should be somewhere between 600,000 and 800,000 passengers annually. Dave Taylor, owner of Cypress House Inn, described how his guests were livid that they were unable to enjoy Duval Street due to overcrowding when three cruise ships were in town. Jim Scholl, Key West City Manager, reported that for fiscal year 2009-10 the budget for the City of Key West called for 763,291 cruise ship visitors. The forum topic was Channel Expansion for Mega Cruise Ships: Panacea or Pandemonium? Last Stand board member David Lybrand introduced the topic that will have a significant economic impact on tourism in Key West regardless of what decision is made.

Jim Scholl provided background on the proposal to widen the channel. In 2014 the Panama Canal will be able to handle longer ships. New cruise ships that may be 1,050 feet long will be constructed to take advantage of the increased capacity of the canal.

There is a portion of the channel to Key West harbor that needs to be 150 feet wider to accommodate these larger ships.  It’s not that the new ships will be so much wider, but to safely navigate the channel against winds and tide, the ships must travel at an angle. Since the ships are so long, it does not take much of an angle to stretch across the entire channel.

Billy Causey, Southeast Regional Director of the National Marine Sanctuary reported that there are live corals growing along the edge of the channel in many areas. Further study is required to determine if the approximately one mile section proposed for the widening has live coral. Causey reported that there has been an improvement following the 2004-5 maintenance dredging in the sediment that was stirred up during cruise ship transit. Despite having state of the art equipment, NOAA issued multiple citations during this dredging for damage to live coral along the channel. Currently regulations in the National Marine Sanctuary prohibit new dredging to widen the channel.

Virginia Panico, Executive Vice President of the Key West Chamber of Commerce, cited the significant economic impact to businesses in Key West. Tourism is our lifeblood. We have tried alternatives, but manufacturing does not work. After travel disruptions following hurricanes Georges and Wilma, the cruise ship passengers were the first to return to Key West supporting the trickle down of spending that keeps jobs for store clerks and hospitality employees. A 2004 study by the Chamber of Commerce revealed that 62% of passengers surveyed thought it likely that they would return to Key West for an overnight visit during the next 2 years.

Jim Scholl reported that cruise ship companies pay $10 per passenger to Key West.  However, Pier B is privately owned and the city only sees a fraction of that revenue. Approximately $4.3 million in gross revenue from cruise ship passengers is included in the FY 2009-10 city budget.