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Cruise Ship Pollution

An integral part of solving the current problem is taking action against all forces which are destroying marine life and the marine environment. One such force which the public is not generally aware of its pollution from cruise ships. California Represenative Sam Farr, whose district includes the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, writes, "The pristine ocean cruisers we see in TV commercials are also massive ocean polluters, often generating and dumping wastes equivalent to those of a small city into our coastal waters" (Clemmitt, 2005). Even more devastating are the effects of cruise ships on delicate environments, where the effects of pollution are magnified: In the United States, cruise ships are allowed to dump raw, untreated sewage into the ocean when they are more than three miles from land and many ships routinely perform this action. Indeed, this waste is filled with bacteria, killing and sickening marine life and harming human health (Clemmitt, 2005).