Minister of the Environment and Natural Resources Vaughn Miller said the government has been in talks with cruise lines on the topic of pollution and is dealing privately on matters of pollution with one or more entities.
Miller would not say which cruise lines his government is having “extensive” conversations with, but contended that if any cruise line is found to be in violation of this country’s environmental laws, it will be taken seriously.
“We’ve had extensive conversations, particularly with some cruise lines that I’m not at liberty to mention, to let them know how seriously we take this,” said Miller.
“And there are some matters we’re dealing with privately that we will take to the maximum extent that the law would provide us to enact upon them.”
He added: “We want them to be compliant. Ultimately, that is what we desire. Once they are complaint and they help us to maintain our environment, that’s really what we want. But of course, you know there will be violators and you deal with them to the maximum extent the law has made provision for.”
Miller gave those remarks to the press during a tour of Royal Caribbean International’s Wonder of the Seas vessel, with 80 STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) for Oceans students at Nassau’s cruise port.
Those students toured the ship’s inner workings and found out how Royal Caribbean ships help to preserve the environment, through state-of-the-art processes aboard the ship.
Miller said he hopes the students remain consistent with these studies so they might continue to be stewards of The Bahamas’ environment.
“That is why cruise ships come to The Bahamas. Because of our water. Because our environment is very attractive.
“If we lose that edge we lose the industry. We lose the business. And so we’ve very excited about this [STEM program] and very hopeful that they continue this for a long time,” said Miller.
