[Coral-List] Cruise ships
Eugene Shinn
eugeneshinn at mail.usf.edu
Wed Dec 11 19:39:05 UTC 2019
Peter and Steve, I share your concern regarding cruise ships. They are
like a double edge sword. Last month I was on a 10-day family trip to
the Windward Islands. We stopped at 6 different Islands all of which
have large facilities for giant cruise ships. There were as many at 3
such ships at one stop and ours was not the largest. We only had about
3,000 people in addition to another 800 crew. Eating and drinking along
with shopping and shore trips to beaches and coal reefs appeared to be
the most common activity. Everyone was friendly and courteous and I saw
no garbage, sewage or other trash going overboard such as was common in
the past. What struck me was the number of overweight people (some >100
lbs.) at the three swimming pools slathering on sunscreens. The pools
were salt water that I assume is recirculated to the ocean. Thanks to
Steven Miller a computer search revealed 28 million people took cruises
in 2018. Nevertheless it is also obvious this industry provides
incredible numbers of jobs including the manufacture of the multitudes
of components that go into these giant ships not to mention food liquor
and toilet paper. The industry is clearly a boon to our economy
including the islands and ports they visit. A list of their economic
benefits would likely fill several books. That’s the double edge sword. Gene
--
No Rocks, No Water, No Ecosystem (EAS)
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E. A. Shinn, Courtesy Professor
University of South Florida
College of Marine Science Room 221A
140 Seventh Avenue South
St. Petersburg, FL 33701
<eugeneshinn at mail.usf.edu>
Tel 727 553-1158
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