The indcident happended in October when the ship discharged more than 36,000 gallons of dirty water. The discharge consisted mostly of gray water, produced from kitchens and showers, but also included 264 gallons of treated black water, contaminated by human waste, and 2,118 gallons of processed bilge water, which contains oil and other lubricants from the ship's hull.

"This is a very serious incident," said Carl Anderson, Monterey's director of public facilities. "While we appreciate that Crystal has been forthcoming in reporting the dumping and has taken disciplinary actions, there is no doubt that they have violated their agreement with the City."

In a letter to the State Water Resources Control Board, Crystal Cruises said it had fired the ship's chief officer and given warnings to the captain and a junior officer after the incident.

[ 03-07-2003: Message edited by: Brian the Cavalier ]

CGT

[ 03-07-2003: Message edited by: CGT ]

Regrettably, on October 9, 2002, despite explicit written and verbal orders to the contrary Crystal Harmony discharged appropriately treated wastewater while the ship was in transit and crossed within a portion of the boundaries of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. This unfortunate incident took place approximately 14 miles off shore. (Maritime laws allow discharges of even untreated blackwater more than 12 miles off shore.) While this did not violate any maritime law, it did violate a pre-existing commitment we made to the City of Monterey, as well as our own corporate environmental policy.

It is Crystal Cruises’ policy to not discharge in any marine sanctuary – worldwide. Crystal takes its obligations to preserving the environment very seriously and we have been lauded for our efforts. We have made it very clear to all personnel that any infractions of this policy, or any other environmental policies, will result in the immediate dismissal of those individuals involved.

As evidence of our environmental commitment, immediately following our own internal investigation of this matter, we terminated the Chief Officer, who was primarily responsible for the occurrence of this unfortunate incident. In addition, two other senior officers, including the Captain, and a junior officer, were censured and given final warnings. Additionally, we have reiterated to our crew that if laws or regulations are violated in connection with any such incident, Crystal Cruises will fully cooperate with investigating officials. As no laws or government regulations were violated in this incident, no reports of the discharges were made to authorities. However, as soon as the California State Water Resources Control Board requested information about our visit to Monterey, we supplied detailed information regarding our location and the cubic feet of wastewater regrettably released.

This incident is particularly disturbing to us given our aggressive company-wide environmental education program, which includes onboard training, monthly environmental meetings held in our corporate office and on each of the ships, monthly useful environmental tips that are distributed to employees for home use, and environmental updates featured in each of our quarterly employee newsletters.

Crystal Cruises sincerely apologizes for the incident and truly regrets that vessel personnel did not comply with the firm instructions given them with respect to the call in Monterey.

THEY DIDN"T BREAK ANY LAWS/REGULATIONS !!

I think the only real loser in this situation is Monterey. I'm not familiar with the city, but can it afford to ban every ship/line that discharges waste? How dependent is it on the cruise tourism? Cruise lines will have no problems finding new ports to visit, I'm sure.

CGT

[ 03-07-2003: Message edited by: CGT ]

A ban for one year - I can definitely deal with that. That seems to be a good policy. A permanent ban, though, I am not too sure about. I guess we'll have to see how things play out.