Cruise Ships Dumping Waste In Caribbean Sea

Miles from shore in the open Caribbean Sea, cruise ships are dumping ground-up glass, rags and cardboard packaging. But vessels in other waters such as the Baltic and North seas are prohibited from throwing any solid waste overboard other than food scraps.

The difference? Many countries with coastlines on the world’s most fragile seas abide by a United Nations dumping ban that requires them to treat ship-generated garbage on land.

Caribbean islands, however, have yet to adopt the ban, saying they simply don’t have the capacity to treat ship garbage on shore. They also fear the ban could push ships to dock in less-regulated ports of call.

“We don’t have space to take nothing from nobody,” said Travis Johnson, assistant harbor master in Saba, an island of 1,500 people that is building a new pier to accommodate larger cruise ships.

The U.N.’s International Maritime Organization outlawed dumping in 1993 for the Caribbean, a largely enclosed area where the string of islands blocks currents that would flush waste into the Atlantic Ocean. It will not take effect, however, until enough of the surrounding nations report their capacity for treating trash from cruise ships — information that the vast majority of nations so far have withheld.

The United Nations created the ban to protect areas that are vulnerable because of heavy ship traffic or sensitive ecology. It has already taken effect in the Antarctic, the Baltic Sea, the North Sea and the Persian Gulf and is due to come into force in the Mediterranean in May.

Environmentalists say debris dumped in the ocean can entangle sea creatures, damage water quality and alter ecosystems by providing habitats for opportunistic organisms. Not enforcing the ban also has its consequences for tourism. Some trash dumped in the ocean washes ashore with the winds and currents, fouling the beaches. In the Cayman Islands, the government has traced milk cartons on shore to a passing cruise ship.

“If you just dump this out at sea, eventually it gets back up on land,” said Jeff Ramos, a Curacao-based U.S. Coast Guard officer.

In the Mediterranean, environmental officials say, coastal nations are highly aware of marine litter and did not resist the ban. Under the current Caribbean regulations, ships can begin dumping garbage, including metal, glass and paper, three miles from shore as long as it is ground to less than an inch. Almost anything but plastic can be dumped beyond 25 miles.

The ban, if approved, would outlaw discharging of any solid waste at any distance except for food, which  could still be dumped three miles from shore. The islands scattered across the Caribbean have struggled to establish a common policy because when it comes to the cruise industry, they see themselves as competitors.

Cruise-ship arrivals are major economic events, with passengers spending roughly $1.5 billion annually in Caribbean ports. Governments are wary of driving away ships that might find fewer requirements or lower fees elsewhere.

In one notorious example, Carnival Cruise Line withdrew from Grenada in 1999 amid a dispute over $1.50-a-head tax to pay for a new landfill.

“Countries haven’t forgotten that,” said Christopher Corbin, a Jamaica-based officer with the United Nations Environmental Program. “They are worried that they will get played off against each other.”

Source: seattletimes.nwsource.com

CLICO Belize Lastest To Be Placed Under Judicial Management

CLICO operations in Belize are the latest to be affected by the financial troubles of parent company, CL Financial.

A judicial order has placed CLICO (Belize) Limited under the management of the Supervisor of Insurance Alma Gomez who has secured the assets of the company and now has full control of its statutory reserves. A government statement said the action had to be taken to protect the interests of policyholders after the Supreme Court of the Bahamas recently ordered that CLICO (Bahamas) Limited, which has operations in Belize and the Turks and Caicos Islands, be placed in liquidation in preparation for operations to wind up.

Under the Belize court order Gomez has placed a number of restrictions on CLICO.

“These restrictions refrain the company from issuing any new insurance contract, but allows the company to continue serving existing insurance contracts which were in effect prior to 25 February 2009; from varying any existing contract; from repatriating any funds out of Belize and from disposing any of its assets without the prior written consent of the Supervisor of Insurance,” the statement said.

“CLICO policyholders can rest assured that their interests are being protected,” it added.

Gomez is expected to meet with the appointed liquidator this week.

The government has sought to assure citizens that CLICO’s problem in the Bahamas is not a reflection of the entire Belize insurance industry.

“At the end of 2007 the insurance companies held BZD$165 million (US$83.7 million) in assets and wrote BZD$111million (US$56.3 million) in gross premium income, of which CLICO only holds five per cent,” it said.

Apart from Belize and the Bahamas, CLICO operations in Guyana have also been facing problems. The Guyana company was placed under judicial management last week, a day after the liquidation order issued in the Bahamas.

Source: caribbean360.com