Cruise companies are paying for independent inspectors to board ships unannounced and check on wastewater management, emissions, marine mammal protection and compliance documentation.
“We would not have an inspection program if the Ocean Ranger program didn’t exist,” he said. “We were really hopeful that the Ocean Ranger program would continue.”
The program’s defunding put the park and cruise companies in a tight spot because they signed a decade-long contract that legally commits them to inspections. The park covers 3.3 million acres, and it’s considered one of the gems of Southeast Alaska. Coastal temperate rainforest there is punctuated by deep, glacier-carved fjords and snow-covered peaks. About 650,000 people visit the park each year and more than 95% of them arrive by cruise ship.
The state’s Department of Environmental Conservation still does port inspections on cruise ships, but Gende says they don’t go far enough. The park needs inspectors that are on the ships while they’re at sail and who arrive on cruise ships unannounced for random inspections. Their independent contractor checks those boxes, but Gende says he hopes it’s a temporary solution.
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