Green Cruise Industry
Is Killing Our Waters And Everthing In Them
July 17, 2008
It was only last week that Cruise Bruise reported on a leaked document from CLIA that specified a plan to make the public think the cruise industry is environmentally responsible, a front-runner in the "green" movement.
Then, this week, The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) announced that the Baltic Sea has been systematically destroyed by the cruise industry.
How do you spell propaganda? C-L-I-A. The WWF specifically identified cruise ships that are reported to be "green", those processing their sewage aboard before dumping it, as part of the problem, not part of the solution.
The Baltic Sea, a land-locked waterway, is surrounded by nine countries including Sweden, Finland, Poland, Germany and Denmark, all well-known historically for their passenger ships.
The problem of the Baltic Sea is not just isolated to the Baltic Sea. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and the Little Belt. The Kattegat continues through the Skagerrak into the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The Baltic Sea is artificially linked to the White Sea by the White Sea Canal and to the North Sea by the Kiel Canal. What affects the Baltic Sea, affects connecting waterways as well.
The sea has supported millions of people for many generations and is an important part of survival for the countries who have come to rely on it for fishing and drinking water. It unfortunately also has the distinction of being one of the most threatened marine ecosystems on the planet.
To put it into perspective, you need to look at the size of the Baltic Sea. The Baltic sea is about 1000 miles long, an average of 120 miles wide, and an average of 180 feet deep. The surface area is about 145,522 sq miles and the volume is about 5040 cubic miles, with about 5,000 miles of coast line along the nine bordering countries.
It can be compared to about one and half times the size of all the Great Lakes, which have over 90,000 sq miles of surface area, which only affects two countries.
Of the major coastal cities there are some pretty large communities dependant on the Baltic Sea, including 4,700,000 in Saint Petersburg, Russia, 1,927,128 in metro Stockholm, Sweden, 1,823,109 in metro Copenhagen, Denmark, 1,200,000 in metro Helsinki, Finland and 1,041,000 in metro Gdańsk, Poland. Just in the 18 major cities along the Baltic, they include over 14.3 million people. Add in the smaller towns and there is close to 20 million people directly affected by everything that negatively impacts the sea.
To put that into perspective, the combined population would be closely equivalent to the population of Beijing, China, the entire state of Florida or the entire state of New York. It is a LOT of people.
As quick as I say CLIA, I see CLIA screaming they have nothing at all to do with the Baltic Sea pollution. CLIA, at last glance, represents 24 cruise lines, since being founded in 1975. That has been 33 years to date, that the organization could have taken a REAL leading role in ending cruise ship pollution in the Baltic Sea. While CLIA boast members that service 97% of the cruising public in North America, some of those lines also operate in the Baltic.
Costa Cruises offers 11-day summer cruises that call in many of the major ports listed above. All the Costa Cruises Crociere ships, nine in all, fly the Italian flag. Costa is owned by Carnival Cruise Lines, a CLIA member.
Princess Cruises, also a CLIA member, offers 10-day cruises to the same cities, this summer aboard the Crown Princess and Royal Princess.
Royal Caribbean, a leading member at CLIA, has their Jewel of the Seas cruise ship doing the Baltic Sea cruises as well with stops in St. Petersburg, Helsinki, Stockholm, Copenhagen and Oslo.
Holland America Line, not to be out-done, has a 20-day cruise with calls in Oslo, Vik, Flam, Alesund, Stavanger, Newcastle Upon Tyne, S Queensferry, Kirkwall, Tallinn, St. Petersburg, Helsinki, Stockholm, Warnemunde and Arhus.
Crystal Cruises offers Baltic cruises aboard their Crystal Symphony for 11-nights starting in Dover with stops in the North Sea at Oslo, Copenhagen, and the Baltic Sea ports of Helsinki, St. Petersburg, Tallinn and Stockholm.
Seabourn Cruise Line takes passengers for 21 days from Copenhagen with stops in the Norwegian Sea, Gudvangen, Flaam, Aalesund, Bergen, Ulvik, Eidfjord, Stavanger, Oslo, Cruising the Skagerrak Strait, Cruising the Baltic Sea, Tallinn, St. Petersburg, Helsinki, Stockholm, Warnemuende, Ronne aboard their Seabourn Pride.
Also on the Baltic are Cunard Line, P & O Cruises ,Regent Seven Seas, Silversea Cruises, MSC Italian Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line, Celebrity Cruises and Oceania Cruises among others. The entire list is a who's who of CLIA.
The problem runs deep, literally. When looking at the satellite image of the Baltic Sea, it is not hard to see the problem, in it's entirety.
