Working toward cleaner waters
Nonprofit Oceana brings cruise-ship effort to Key West
By Christie Phillips
cphillips@keynoter.com
A new nonprofit group set on saving the world’s oceans has taken up arms
against the cruise-ship industry, specifically targeting the city of Key
West to help in the fight against pollution.
Oceana, an international advocacy organization, hopes to host a
grassroots educational event in the Southernmost City later this year to
raise awareness.
"The support of locals is real important," said Gib Brogan, the New
England organizer for Oceana. "They’re our ultimate goal."
Brogan recently visited Key West to meet with city officials and local
groups such as Last Stand to talk about the impact of cruise-ship pollution
on waters around the island.
"We started out working with the cruise-ship industry to see who wants to
step up and be the green choice of the industry," Brogan explained. "But in
six months, we weren’t getting anywhere. They were all hesitant."
Oceana hired an engineering firm to study wastewater treatment technology
for cruise ships, and their cost effectiveness.
"They found that with the volume of passengers these ships have, it would
work out to 75 cents per passenger per day to use this equipment," Brogan
said, "75 cents per passenger for them to have something they’d be proud of.
And they still aren’t doing it."
The group is now taking a different approach.
"We’re doing more grassroots action," Brogan said. "We want to show them
people are out there and they’re interested in this. We took a poll and most
people say if they were on a cruise, they’d be willing to spend an extra
five dollars to clean it up."
The group has already staged a few events around the country, including
one in Seattle at the opening of a new cruise-ship terminal.
"We want to show the cruise lines that it’s not all about the money,"
Brogan said. "Without a healthy ocean, they’ll have a tough time getting
people on the ships."
The focus is on education.
"Most people have no idea what’s going on on those ships. They pump
30,000 gallons of raw sewage every day, and they can pump it [out] only
three miles from shore. When you find out what’s really going on, it’s
pretty shocking. There’s a spectacular amount of stuff they’re allowed to
throw in the ocean."
Brogan was impressed by Key West’s efforts to keep our waters clean.
"Key West is pretty progressive," he raved. "It’s really progressive
compared to Miami, where all they want is more cruise ships. They want more
ships and more port fees."
"We’re trying to be progressive in dealing with cruise ships," said Mayor
Jimmy Weekley. "We recognize their importance to the economy, but we also
recognize the damage they can do to the environment."
The city is taking steps to limit that damage locally.
"Even though we’re in a no-discharge zone, I’ve asked that we require
ships to pump out while they’re in port, and to not dump bilge water and not
to run incinerators here," the mayor said. "They’ve agreed to do that while
in port. We don’t have pump-out facilities available at the docks yet, so
that’s more of a long term project."
Over the next year, the city will conduct a quality-of-life study to
determine the true impact cruise ships having on our community and whether
it’s worth the revenue those ships bring to the island.
Even though Key West is ahead of the curve, Brogan says cruise ships
still need to be held accountable.
"When we went to the ship officials, they said ‘We believe we are clean,’
" he sighed. "Some ships have the technology, but it’s definitely not a
systematic thing."
To learn more about Oceana and its cruise-ship
campaign, or its other popular campaign focused on stopping destructive
fishing, log on to
www.oceana.org.
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