Carnival Cruise Lines Pays $20 Million in Pollution Cover-Up Case

Older, smaller model Carnival Cruise Lines ship at St. Lucia in the Caribbean.

Carnival Cruise Lines was hit with a $20 million penalty on June 3, 2019 for violating the probation terms from a 2016 illegal dumping case. In that case the Princess Cruise Lines paid $40 million for illegally dumping oil-contaminated waste into the ocean and the illegal acts of employees to cover it up.

The recent violations included discharging plastic into waters in the Bahamas, interfering with court supervision of ships and falsifying records. The 2016 penalty was the largest criminal penalty ever imposed for intentional vessel pollution. The Justice Department put the cruise line’s parent company Carnival Corporation on notice, but it was not enough to stop them from polluting.

Ariana Fajardo Orshan, the United States attorney for the Southern District of Florida, said in a statement, “A corporation is responsible to its shareholders and board of directors to be profitable, but not by breaking the law and destroying the very environment in which it navigates for profit.”

Because removing the waste from the ship at ports is expensive, one motive for the dumping, officials said, was to save money. Carnival’s stock market value is estimated to be nearly $35 billion.

To read two articles about the cruise ship industry’s impact on U.S. and international communities go to: fishermensvoice.com -E-Extras