A MASSIVE rise in cruise ship visits to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park this year is sending shivers down the spines of local conservationists and tourism operators.
They claim that huge amounts of contaminated grey water, wastewater (from smokestack scrubbers) and CO2 emissions, that are being emitted by the ships, may be having a serious effect on the World Heritage Area and the wildlife that lives within it.
The Whitsunday Conservation Council said the numbers are ‘staggering’ when it comes to wastewater and CO2 emissions.
In a statement, it said:
“The numbers are truly staggering. It’s estimated that an average size cruise ship (approx. 3,000 passengers and 1,000 crew) generates around 680,000 litres of grey water (from kitchens, laundries and guest/staff rooms) every single day.
“Given that cruise ships can generally only store this grey water for an average of 56 hours (due to limited holding capacity) it suggests huge amounts of contaminated water are being discharged directly into the Marine Park.
“As for the exhaust-cleaning effluent (essentially the sprinkler system that washes down the smokestacks), 700,000 litres of highly contaminated acidic seawater, containing high levels of sulphur, nitrates and heavy metals, is created every hour.
“That’s 16.8 million litres per day, just from one cruise ship! The vast majority of this effluent is apparently discharged as it is generated.”
The CO2 emissions are similarly off the charts, according to WCC.
“A recent study by Friends of the Earth estimated that, for each cruise ship passenger, 421kg of CO2 is produced per day, eight times the amount compared to a land-based visitor.
“Or, to put it into clearer perspective, one average size cruise ship produces twice as much CO2 than all the other operators in the marine park combined!
“Which is why tourism operators and organisations such as the Whitsunday Conservation Council are raising the red flag and demanding something be done to address the issue sooner rather than later.”
Trevor Rees, a Whitsunday tourism operator of more than 25 years, agrees.
“The cruise ship industry is the fastest growing tourism sector in Australia right now and, in the last five years, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) and State Government have issued over 103 permits for cruise ships to operate in the marine park,” Mr Rees said.
Mr Rees is not only the president of the Whitsunday Bareboat Operators Association but he also sits on the Whitsunday Local Marine Advisory Committee and the executive committee for the Association of Marine Park Tourism Operators.
“In our area alone, cruise ship visits have significantly increased, yet little or anything is known about the damage the pollution is doing to our inshore reefs,” he continued.
“We also have no idea what impact these discharges are having on our water quality and wildlife, but we do know it can’t be good, based on other studies from around the world.”
So how is it possible cruise ships are allowed to operate like this when GBRMPA strictly forbids them from dumping waste in the marine park?
It all comes down to the definition of ‘waste’, WCC said.
“GBRMPA does not consider grey water or exhaust cleaning by-products to be waste under the current legislation (which was drafted nearly 50 years ago, well before mega cruise ships became a thing).
“And CO2 emissions are not even factored in as part of the risk assessment when granting permits for cruise ship operators.
Whitsunday Conservation Council president Tony Fontes said concerns had ‘fallen on deaf ears’.
“We’ve raised our concerns with GBRMPA and representatives from the cruise ship industry, over the last year, and they’ve effectively fallen on deaf ears,” said Mr Fontes, a well-respected senior figure in the dive industry (he was a former district director for PADI in Queensland).
“There’s been a vague undertaking by the CLIA (Cruise Lines International Association Australasia) to look into a Code of Conduct for the industry, but so far nothing has happened.
“As for GBRMPA, we are surprised and disappointed in GBRMPA’s attitude, given their number one priority is to protect the health and biodiversity of the Reef.
“No one is suggesting we ban the cruise ship industry, we just want them to clean up their act. And, believe it or not, this can be done fairly easily.”
The Whitsunday Conservation Council has put forward a number of practical solutions to address the issues including:
• Treatment of all wastewater and sewage to acceptable levels via on board treatment plants before overboard discarding occurs.
• Retention of grey water and/or exhaust cleaning effluent in holding tanks until outside the marine park area, or the swapping of cheap bunker fuel for a better quality, low sulphur fuel, resulting in the elimination of scrubber systems.
• A requirement for cruise ships to use carbon offsets to balance the excessive CO2 they produce.
Mr Rees, who advises GBRMPA through the Tourism Reef Advisory Committee, sums up the situation.
“This will only work with Government intervention and legislation, not with self-regulation, as no cruise ship company will take it upon themselves to make their cruises more expensive than their rivals, unless everyone is forced to do it,” he said.
So can it be done? The answer is yes, according to WCC.
Governments in Canada, Europe, the Baltic Sea, the Med, the Caribbean and Alaska, are now requiring cruise ships to conform to more stringent standards for sewage/grey water disposal and sulphur emissions, when entering sensitive marine environment areas (the latter by switching over to a better quality fuel).
Interestingly, despite the stricter standards, the cruise ship industry continues to flourish in these areas.
“The real question is, why hasn’t GBRMPA, through its permit system, enforced the same high standards for the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park area?”
Contributed by the Whitsunday Conservation Council.
Visit https://www.whitsundayconservation.org.au or email: admin@whitsundayconservation.org.au
Footnote:
GBRMPA has recently admitted that cruise ships dump toxic wastewater into the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park – see link to Guardian article below.
PHOTO:
Trevor Rees (right, Whitsunday tourism operator) and Tony Fontes (left, president Whitsunday Conservation Council) checking out Royal Caribbean’s new super ship, Ovation of the Seas, anchored off Long Island, Whitsundays. At 348m long, 18 decks high, and with a capacity for 5,000 guests and 1,500 crew, it is currently the largest cruise ship to sail Australian waters (and the fourth largest cruise ship in the world).
