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Sewage and Greywater Pollution

A large tanker ship pumping is bilge.
Sunsinger / Adobe Stock

More Ships, More Wastewater

Most large vessels discharge wastewater into the ocean, including sewage and greywater—the drainage from showers, sinks, dishwashers and laundries.

As shipping increases in the Bering Strait region, so do the risks related to release of sewage and greywater.

An oil tanker at anchor in Alaska pumping its bilge water.
Mizamook

Polluted Shellfish, Oxygen-Starved Fish

Clamshells on wilderness beach in Alaska.
Betty Sederquist

When ships discharge sewage and greywater, it can raise fecal coliform levels in shellfish – a real concern for communities that rely on marine-based diets.

It can also deplete oxygen needed by fish and other species, and cause harmful algal blooms.

Walruses swim in the Arctic Ocean.
OLEG BOZHOK

Less Ice, More Cruise Ships

Cruise ship traffic is growing in the Bering Strait region and presents a special concern. Because they carry so many passengers, cruise ships discharge large volumes of sewage and greywater.

In the summer of 2019, seven cruise ships were scheduled to visit the Port of Nome, the most of any season to date.

“Cargo and cruise ships are large pollution producers. They could change their dirty ways but won’t do it willingly. If we could find ways to hold accountable big energy, oil, industry and commercial and agriculture—which comprise the remaining GHG emissions—I think we probably would be in a better shape globally.”

—Austin Ahmasuk, lifelong Nome resident, hunter, trapper and fisher.

To read more from Austin, see his guest blog → We are in a Climate Crisis, Reflections from Nome on Cruise Ships Navigating an Increasingly Ice-free Arctic

A cruise ship in the Bering Sea entering stormy weather.
RUBEN RAMOS