MONTEREY — In less than 10 days, a cruise ship operated by a corporation guilty of gross polluting will anchor in Monterey Bay. Concerned with impacts a similar environmental breach could have on the city, one Monterey elected official urged the city attorney’s office to look into what Monterey can do to protect itself. The result: there’s precious little the city can do.
In mid-June Carnival Corp.’s Princess Cruise Line pleaded guilty to six probation violations, including the dumping of plastic mixed with food waste into Bahamian waters. It also admitted to sending teams to fix environmental violations just prior to inspections and falsifying training records. The cruise line’s Star Princess will drop anchor in Monterey Bay on Sept. 26.
Shortly after the guilty verdict, based on concerns raised by local residents and businesses, the city of Monterey and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary held an informational session to explain how regulators were protecting the public. And shortly after that City Councilman Alan Haffa requested the city attorney’s office look into what exactly the city is able to do.
“The city has no authority to ban cruise ships from docking in the Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary,” wrote deputy city attorney Ryan Donlon in a report he will deliver to the City Council on Tuesday. “And the city’s ability to regulate cruise ships within its tidelands is limited.”
Last year tourists seeking the pristine beauty of the Central Coast pumped $2.98 billion into the local economy, according to the Monterey County Convention and Visitors Bureau. Any fouling of the bay could have negative impacts on the tourist industry. But because the city’s hands are somewhat tied doesn’t mean cruise ships aren’t watched closely by state and federal agencies.
“Cruise ships are very heavily regulated because of the number of people on board,” said Scott Kathey, the federal regulatory and enforcement coordinator for the sanctuary. “As you can imagine, several thousand people produce hefty waste streams. Because of that, they are unique and heavily regulated.”
These large cruise ships began anchoring in Monterey in 2002, and indeed there are a number of economic benefits to local businesses, particularly if they introduce the region to tourists who may return for later visits, according to the city.
There are 13 more ships due to anchor between now and the end of the year, according to the city’s cruise ship schedule.
The inability of Monterey to regulate shipping is because of more powerful jurisdictions that have preemptive authority. While Monterey Bay is in California territorial waters, the federal government has jurisdiction in all “navigable” waters, Donlon said. All of Monterey Bay is considered navigable, consequently the U.S. Coast Guard issues regulations and actively enforces them, including those specific to cruise ships. Donlon cited case law supporting the federal authority.
“(Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary) and the Coast Guard perform joint random, unannounced inspections of cruise ships visiting Monterey to verify their compliance with numerous sanctuary and Coast Guard regulations,” Kathey said. “Inspectors review ship logs, interview crew members, and physically inspect engine room and other work spaces to ensure that prescribed environmental safeguards and practices are in order. After dozens of inspections during the past 15 years, we have only encountered one potential violation.”
Among the additional agencies charged with overseeing cruise ships are the Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary, the California State Lands Commission, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Office of Spill Prevention and the Monterey Bay Air Resources District.
The only parts of the bay that aren’t federally regulated are Monterey’s marina and harbor.
Since the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration actively administers the sanctuary, including cruise ship activities, “such federal involvement likely preempts local regulation of cruise ships,” Donlon said.
But there is a caveat. While the city is relatively powerless to regulate anchored cruise ships, it does have a say in how and when passengers are able to come ashore. As a result, cruise lines often contact the city’s harbormaster a year in advance seeking assurance the city will receive a vessel. Most of the traffic occurs in the spring when cruise ships sail north toward Alaska and then again in the fall when they sail south seeking warmer weather.
The city does not accept passengers during busy times of the year, such as during Classic Car Week, so cruise lines need to schedule accordingly. Neither will the city accept passengers from two cruise ships at the same time. These restrictions have the effect of regulating the number of vessels that call on Monterey.
Once passengers hit the city’s public dock, they must be processed according to policies set down by the Department of Homeland Security. The city also provides additional staff to load and unload passengers. In return, the city charges the cruise line $7 per passenger. In the case of the Star Princess, it’s capacity is set at 3,100 passengers, according to the cruise line’s own data.
The full report will be presented to the city council during the evening session that begins at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Council Chamber, 580 Pacific St.
