August 3rd, 2009 By Harriet Blake Green Right Now “Don’t let the
vacation ruin the destination.” These words of wisdom hail from
environmentalists who have legitimate concerns about ocean
pollution due to cruise ship dumping. Cruise ship vacations have
gained in popularity in the last decade, according to the
Environmental Protection Agency, which states that the industry
has grown nearly twice as fast as any other means of travel
during that time frame. And, at the same time, the average ship
size has been growing at about 90 feet every five years. Ships
used to average about 3,000 passengers, but today some carry as
many as 8,000. So with larger ships carrying more passengers,
there is mounting concern about how this growth will affect the
ocean’s marine life and water quality. Recently the World
Wildlife Federation’s Baltic Sea chapter recommended that area
ports upgrade their facilities to cope with contamination from
cruise ship sewage. The WWF said that Baltic-area ports are not
keeping their facilities