Pacific Spirit Marine Institute
Saturday, November 24, 2007
The MS Explorer is sunk. It didn’t take very long for her to go down either; less than 24 hours after she hit some ice and began taking on the frigid waters of Antarctica, she had disappeared from sight.
According to the Associated Press Chilean navy vessels lost sight of the Canadian owned MS Explorer. “Our units in the area aren’t seeing anything” “The Explorer is not visible any longer.”
This isn’t the first time this year that a ship has been in distress in Antarctica. Last February the Nisshin Maru, the Japanese whaling factory ship caught fire, and was dead in the water for 10 days. The Norwegian cruise ship MS Nordkapp ran aground off a a small island in Antartica.
The Nisshin Maru lost one crew. Fire on the whale meat canning ship was steeped in controversy and accusations of terrorism and sabotage. Luckily there was only the loss of one human soul in 3 potentially horrific incidents. All these incidents took place in 9 months leads me to question the sanity of ‘tourism’ in one of the most ecologically precarious places on the planet. 9 months is really a misrepresentation when November to April are the accessible months in the Antarctic.
The fact that ship emissions represent a major portion of global nitrogen and sulfur, both known to contribute to global climate changes, it’s makes no sense to beef up the emissions in Antarctica buy hauling in ship load after ship load of tourists compounding emissions in this vulnerable area.
Emissions aside, accidents just such as the one that befell the Explorer today are environmental disasters waiting to happen. This ship was rated 1A1 ice A with a double hull. What good did that do her?
PSMI at this time doesn’t know how much fuel and what type of fuel the MS Explorer was burning. We’ll try to find more information as the night progresses.
In the mean time…Things aren’t adding up for me.
Labels: Antarctic, Climate Change, Cruise Ships, Global Warming, MS Explorer, Nisshin Maru, Sinking
© 2009, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
Antarctica Takes An Environmental Bullet, the 3rd fired in 9 months. MS Explorer Sinks!
Monday, June 4, 2007
Here is some good news on the cruise ship front!
The Port of San Francisco gave the Norwegian Sun it’s stamp of approval for deploying on-board environmental systems which help decrease pollution to both air and water.
The Port evaluates 3 categories:
- Air pollution
- Water treatment
- Recycling and disposal of solid waste
Bill Hamlin, Norwegian Cruise Line’s V.P. of fleet operations says, “…we have demonstrated our commitment to maintaining the highest level of environmental protection standards.”
The Port of Seattle has made it possible for cruise lines to plug into their publicly owned electric utility, City Light. (City Light is the first electric utility to attain a net-zero greenhouse gas emission.)
Princess Cruises and Holland America at the Port of Seattle are currently using shore power provided by City Light.
In Vancouver, where there are no strict rules on what type of fuel is burned while in port, ships calling are offered reduced port dues if they use cleaner burning fuels.
Cruising has developed into a strong ‘growth’ industry and it only makes sense to protect the ‘hand-that-feeds’ it. We hope as more ships are retired, the new ships being built to replace them will see state-of-the-art environmental technologies used.
What’s good for the sea is also good for the air. These are small, but expensive steps. We think they are necessary for the cruise industry to start taking in order to maintain growth and to protect the very environment it needs to operate.
More innovations and incentives need to be promoted by ports around the world such as The Port of San Francisco, The port of Seattle, and The Port of Vancouver are putting into place.
Princess Cruises, Holland America and Norwegian Sun are setting good examples. Still there is a long way to go toward reducing the negative impact these floating cities have on our oceans Eco-systems. Good stewardship of the residents of the seas, shores, and ships must become a priority in order for the cruise industry to continue to be vibrant and welcome.
Labels: City Light, Cruise Ships, Norwegian Sun, Port of San Francisco
© 2009, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
Port of San Francisco Awards ‘Norwegian Sun’ Ship
Saturday, June 2, 2007
We’ve seen what happens to marine mammals that cross paths with bigger and faster ships. Now we can see what happens when one of these bigger and faster ships crosses paths with a hostile sea.
The Grand Voyager is said to be one, if not the, fastest ships on the ocean. She may be able to travel up to 28 knots, but she wasn’t able to escape what the ocean had in store for her on Valentines Day 2005. It certainly wasn’t a bed of roses for her on this day.
This is a grueling 3 1/2 minutes of film.
This clip shows how it doesn’t matter how high up something may be on the chain…there is always something higher.
We will be searching for more interesting video having to do with the ocean for our week-end entries.
Wishing you smooth sailing!
Labels:
Labels: Cruise Ships, big waves
© 2009, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
Grand Voyager Cruise Ship Bigger Better Faster
Monday, May 21, 2007
On the Maiden Voyage of the PSMI blog our minds turned to the romance of ships upon the waters. Like most romance, when examined, there is a reality not always pretty.
It is simply astonishing to consider cruise lines dump more than 160,000 gallons of sewage into our oceans daily. Some 25,000 gallons are toilet sewage. If that doesn’t send chills down your spine while seated at your computer screen, try thinking about that when you are seated at your next seafood repast.
Currently cruise ships are allowed to dump untreated sewage from toilets into waters outside the 3-mile limit. An appetizing thought when one thinks about where commercial fishing takes place. Sewage and dinner are not two words I like to have swimming together in my mind.
Inside the 3-mile limit toilet sewage, if treated first by woefully inadequate marine sewage treatment devices, is still allowed. Good news? Not so fast. Untreated sewage from sinks and showers is still allowed inside the 3-mile limit. Can you say loufa or hock-a-loogey?
Cruising is a wonderful experience. Mankind atop the waters of the world, calling in far off and exotic ports, is the stuff we are made from. Since man was able to tie a few sticks of wood together with twine he has taken to the sea. Our hearts haven’t changed, but our circumstance has.
Cruise ships are not the only culprits when it comes to dumping the unspeakable into our oceans. Corporations and municipalities will not escape our future entries.
We are flushing more than waste into our seas. We are flushing our very existence away and that is the very real, very tragic waste.
Labels: Cruise Ships, Ocean, Sewage, illegal dumping
© 2009, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
Vinnie Isn’t the Only Thing Sleeping with the Fishes
