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On April 15, 1993 the U.8. Attorneys office for the Southern District of Florida, filed a 

 criminal charge against Princess Cruises for discharging plastic bags filled with garbage 

 into the sea. On April 26th, Princess, as part of a plea agreement, plead guilty to the crime 

 and was fined $600,000, the maximum under the law. 



Although we are pleased that our videotape played a major role in the successful 

 outcome of this case, it is distressing to us, to recall the significant additional effort that 

 went into moving the case along. If the Coast Guard would not take action on a well 

 documented and videotaped incident, how will they respond to a less well documented 

 case? 



Perhaps the lack of responsiveness on the part of the Coast Guard was due to the fact 

 that this is the first well documented case of this nature presented to them. The thought 

 of a few bags of garbage thrown overboard may have taken tow priority given their wide 

 range of responsibilities. Now that the first case has been successfully concluded and 

 the Coast Guard's role clarified, we would hope that procedures have been established 

 and formalized so that citizen complaints are handled more aggressively in the future. 



The Center for Marine Conservation and the U.S. Attorney's office are to be commended 

 for the professional, intelligent and diligent efforts that went into the successful outcome 

 in this matter. 



