Hey urban nomads!

Today, I’ll be taking you through the very first post and emphasising that we as tourists really do leave behind detrimental environment pollution!

Restaurants, bars, swimming pools, theatres, zip lines – you name it they have it. A vacation on a cruise ship certainly sounds fun! But have you thought of the environmental impacts it can bring about?

With so many facilities on board, these ships are essentially floating cities and you can imagine the amount of pollution they emit. To make matters worse, due to economies of scale, companies tend to produce larger vessels to drive greater profits. Each passenger’s carbon footprint is about 3 times more than what it is on land (Wheeling, 2018).

Soot discharge from bunker fuel, which is 1000 to 2000 dirtier than diesel fuel

Cruise tourism has many negative implications on the environment.

• Dumping of organic waste which lead to eutrophication and bio-accumulation of toxins
• Hazardous waste (from chemicals used for cleaning and maintenance, ash from incineration of solid waste and treatment of bilge water) where the release of toxins could have a catastrophic effect on local ecosystem
• Air pollution from fuel combustion (NOx, SOx, COx, O3 and suspended particles)
• Release of wastewater can be more problematic in the summer months when there is little water movement
• Ballast water (used for stabilisation during transportation) introduces invasive species

Less discussed and often neglected issues include noise pollution. Sea ambient noise affects many marine species which rely on sound and hearing as their primary foraging and communication.  Light pollution caused by well-lit vessels on a dark sea can disrupt the functioning of nocturnal species and disorient birds that migrate at night. It can also cause localised problems with the migration of zooplankton, fish and other marine species which leave them vulnerable to predators (Carić & Mackelworth, 2014).

However, as cruise ships are constantly moving, it is difficult to pinpoint the exact cause of the pollution and even harder to find the ship responsible for it. Hence, with the development of cruise tourism which is supposed to contribute to the sustainability of the economy, it leaves the question of: how does the cruise ship add value to the environment and what is the balance between economic development and causing harm to the environment?

Perhaps we should all step back to reflect and consider how we can promote economic growth while minimising the impact we have on the environment.

References:

Carić, H., & Mackelworth, P. (2014). Cruise tourism environmental impacts – The perspective from the Adriatic Sea. Ocean & Coastal Management, 102, 350-363. doi:10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2014.09.008

Walker, J. (2009). Cruise Ship Bunker Fuel – “Thick, Tarry Sludge”.   Retrieved from https://www.cruiselawnews.com/2009/10/articles/cruise-pollution/cruise-ship-bunker-fuel-thick-tarry-sludge/

Wheeling, K. (2018). How cruise ships are polluting our oceans.   Retrieved from https://psmag.com/news/how-cruise-ships-are-polluting-our-oceans