dumped into the waters of our oceans. Almost all U.S. ports have 

 receiving facilities for the proper and the legal disposal of ship-gen- 

 erated trash. 



I would like the industry to tell us today what is being done to 

 reduce the amount of plastic packaging being brought aboard ships. 

 Landfill space is becoming more and more scarce. Greater efforts, 

 in fact, should be taken to reduce the source of the problem as 

 most industries are doing by reducing the amount of plastics and 

 other packaging material that must end up being disposed of. 



As the cruise ship industry grows and more people enjoy cruising 

 in the Caribbean, we must be aware of the particular problems 

 that these small island nations face in disposing of trash from 

 cruise ships. With limited space and limited resources, these is- 

 lands, and I should add, the Florida peninsula and the states along 

 the Gulf Coast, simply may not be able to continue to receive gar- 

 bage from cruise ships in the future. 



I am hopeful that from this hearing we can identify means by 

 which the Coast Guard can improve its enforcement of these im- 

 portant laws designed to keep our marine environment clean. 



I would like now to recognize our ranking subcommittee 

 member, the Honorable Howard Coble, for an opening statement. 



STATEMENT OF HON. HOWARD COBLE, A U.S. REPRESENTATIVE 

 FROM NORTH CAROLINA, AND RANKING MINORITY MEMBER, 

 SUBCOMMITTEE ON COAST GUARD AND NAVIGATION 



Mr. Coble. Thank you, Mr. Chairman — good to have you all with 

 us this morning. Mr. Chairman, I thank you for having called this 

 oversight hearing about the pollution from the growing number of 

 cruise ships which sail into United States waters. I will be particu- 

 larly interested, as I am sure you will, to hear from the gentleman 

 who was responsible for having videotaped this exercise in the act 

 of violating the law. This case has given this important issue wide- 

 spread media attention. 



I furthermore hope that the publicity will give all cruise ship op- 

 erators pause when they consider their options in disposing of hun- 

 dreds of pounds, perhaps even tons of garbage that would be gener- 

 ated during the course of a cruise. I look forward to hearing as well 

 from the Coast Guard concerning its enforcement activities, Admi- 

 ral. 



And in closing, Mr. Chairman, I think this is a good example of 

 citizen involvement. Many times citizens don't want to become per- 

 sonally involved when they see a wrongdoing being perpetrated, 

 and this is, I think, a very illustrative example of people who did 

 care, who came forward, in fact, were very crucial in directing our 

 ultimate attention to it. Good to have you all here. Thank you, Mr. 

 Chairman. 



Mr. Tauzin. Thank you, Howard. Any other opening statements? 



Mr. Hastings. Mr. Chairman, very briefly. 



Mr. Tauzin. Mr. Hastings from Florida. 



