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December 8, 2024 | 10:21 am
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Environmental activists claim that the damage to Great Barrier Reef in Australia is partly caused by the increasing number of cruise ships sailing around it. The damage to the world's largest coral reefs is harmful to the environment and local wildlife.
A spokesperson for Whitsunday Conservation Council (WCC) said that cruise ships produce contaminated wastewater and CO2 emissions.
"It is estimated that an average-sized cruise ship (about 3,000 passengers and 1,000 crew) generates around 680,000 liters of wastewater (from the kitchen, laundry, and guest/staff quarters) every day," said the spokesperson for Whitsunday Conservation Council (WCC) to local news outlet Whitsunday News.
They added that cruise ships generally can only store this wastewater for an average of 56 hours due to limited holding capacity. "This indicates that a large amount of contaminated water is directly dumped into the marine park," they said.
They claimed that 700,000 liters of contaminated acidic seawater, containing high levels of sulfur, nitrate, and heavy metals, are produced every hour from exhaust gas scrubber waste. "That's 16.8 million liters per day, just from one cruise ship," they added.
The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA), responsible for managing the park, does not consider wastewater or exhaust gas scrubber by-products as waste under existing laws, designed almost 50 years ago before the emergence of large cruise ships.
"And CO2 emissions aren't even factored into the risk assessment when granting permits to cruise ship operators," the group added.
Rapid Growth of Cruise Ships
The cruise ship industry is the fastest-growing tourism sector in Australia today. "Over the past five years, GBRMPA and state governments have issued more than 103 permits for cruise ships to operate in the marine park," said Trevor Rees, a Whitsunday tourism operator with over 25 years of experience.
Tony Fontes, president of Whitsunday Conservation Council and a local dive operator, said concerns about cruise ship pollution have been overlooked.
He said the response from GBRMPA was startling and disappointing to the group, considering their primary focus is on protecting the health and biodiversity of coral reefs.
"There have been vague efforts by CLIA (Cruise Lines International Association Australasia) to examine a code of ethics for the industry, but so far, nothing has happened. No one is suggesting that we ban the cruise industry, we simply want them to improve their actions. And, believe it or not, this can be done fairly easily."
Practical solutions proposed by WCC include treating all wastewater and disposing of waste only at acceptable levels before discharge, storing wastewater in containment tanks while in the marine park, and requiring ships to use carbon offsets to account for their emissions.
GBRMPA stated that reef authorities support environmentally sustainable cruise ship operations in the marine park and have strict regulations in place for cruise ships. "All ships in the Great Barrier Reef marine park must comply with international pollution prevention regulations."
The Great Barrier Reef is a marine park with diverse and beautiful underwater ecosystems on the northeastern coast of Australia. This area has the largest collection of coral reefs in the world, with 400 coral species, 1,500 fish species, and 4,000 mollusk species. The area is also home to species such as dugongs and green sea turtles, which are endangered. Almost the entire ecosystem was designated as a World Heritage Site in 1981, covering an area of 348,000 square kilometers.
INDEPENDENT | WHISUNDAYNEWS | UNESCO
Editor's Choice: Hottest Oceans in 400 Years Endanger Great Barrier Reef, Scientists Say
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