Cruise companies have been called on to “clean up their act” by local conservationists and tourism operators concerned about the impact of liners on the Great Barrier Reef.
A “massive” rise in the number of cruise liners in the Unesco-listed area is claimed to be having a significantly detrimental effect on the local environment and wildlife, say locals.
They claim that the numbers relating to the huge amounts of contaminated grey water, wastewater and CO2 emissions from cruise ships are “staggering”.
“It’s estimated that an average size cruise ship (approximately 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,” a spokesperson for the Whitsunday Conservation Council (WCC) told local news outlet Whitsunday News.
“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.”
They claim that 700,000 litres of “highly contaminated acidic seawater, containing high levels of sulphur, nitrates and heavy metals, is created every hour” from the exhaust-cleaning effluent.
“That’s 16.8 million litres per day, just from one cruise ship” they add.
Read more: Some mega cruise ships pump out as much CO2 as a small town, study finds
WCC says the problem comes down to the definition of “waste”.
The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA), which is responsible for managing the park, does not consider grey water or exhaust cleaning by-products to be waste under the existing legislation, which was drafted nearly 50 years ago, before the advent of mega cruise ships.
“And CO2 emissions are not even factored in as part of the risk assessment when granting permits for cruise ship operators,” the group adds.
“The cruise ship industry is the fastest growing tourism sector in Australia right now and, in the last five years, the GBRMPA and state government have issued over 103 permits for cruise ships to operate in the marine park,” Trevor Rees, a Whitsunday tourism operator of more than 25 years, said.
Tony Fontes, president of the Whitsunday Conservation Council and a local dive operator, says concerns about cruise ship pollution have “fallen on deaf ears”.
He said that the response from the GBRMPA has “surprised and disappointed” the group “given that their number one priority is to protect the health and biodiversity of the reef”.
He added: “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.
“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.”
Practical solutions put forward by WCC include the treatment of all wastewater and sewage to acceptable levels before discharge, the retention of grey water and scrubber effluent in holding tanks while inside the marine park, and a requirement for ships to use carbon offsets to account for their emissions.
In a statement, the GBRMPA said: “The reef authority supports ecologically sustainable cruise ship operations in the marine park and has strict regulations in place for cruise ships.
“All ships in the Great Barrier Reef marine park must comply with international pollution prevention regulations.”
