Cleaning Up Marine Pollution: Tory Green Ocean Plan
On May 8, 2007, Canada’s Conservative government announced Regulations for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships and for Dangerous Chemicals. These new regulations promise better protection for Canadian waters from marine pollution and penalties for the discharge of ship-source pollution into the marine environment.
Coastal Canadians in BC have raised concerns about the discharge of sewage by cruise ships in their waters. I recently learned that a ship owned by Celebrity Cruises Incorporated was fined $100,000 in Washington State for spewing sewage into Juan de Fuca Strait, but to Canada CCI paid nothing, despite admitting that it fouled Canadian waters three times.
Twenty-seven Vancouver-based cruise ships will churn through B.C. about 300 times this summer carrying nearly a million passengers, each of whom produce 3.5 kg of garbage per day, not including liquid waste.
At the same time, the cruise sector generates more than 13,000 jobs annually and each ship brings $2 million to the region every time it ties up at the dock.
When Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon appeared before the Standing Senate Committee on Transport and Communications on April 25, 2007, I urged the Minister to address the problem of sewage dumping in coastal waters by introducing regulations and enforcement.
Minister Cannon agreed that our waters simply cannot be used as a dumping area for sewage. In May, at Minister Cannon’s invitation, I attended the announcement of the new regulations at the Gatineau Marina.
These new regulations are a positive step to better protecting our marine environment. Voluntary compliance will be replaced
by enforceable laws that harmonize with the international standards governing marine activities such as bilge water, sewage,
garbage, and air pollution. The regulations also allow a grace period for the establishment of adequate pump-out stations on
BC’s sparsely settled coast.
To view these new regulations, visit the Transport Canada website: www.tc.gc.ca/marinesafety/rsqa/cmac/menu.htm
Click here to read my Senate speech of April 25, 2007, on cruise
ships and marine pollution.