An Appraisal of Potential Cruise Liner Environmental Liabilities - Coral Reefs - August 2017

This refers to a comprehensive guidance document prepared for the insurance and cruise line industries in an attempt to contextualise the gravity of avoidable damage to coral reefs and the reasons why the potential damage liabilities are so high. It has been written against a background of legislation in the form of the "Coral Reef Protection Act of 2017" and a layman's explanation of coral reef growth, status, restoration and recovery. Extracts of the guidance document are shown below.

The Initiative

The initiative – to provide underwriters of Cruise Ship operators with an appraisal of potential environmental liabilities – has arisen specifically from the involvement of www.consonamus.com in a claims assessment of one of two recent high profile incidents in which damage was caused to coral reefs by cruise vessels. The recent increase in cruise vessels and, in particular, the rise of eco-destinations has prompted me to identify and address the following pointers to assist the insurance industry in understanding the potential liabilities:-

• Eco-destinations
  
• Scale of liability
• Protocol development & adherence
• Framework for compensation
• Corporate responsibility

 
These pointers have been discussed following a summary of the legislative frameworks enacted to protect coral reefs through the recovery of monetary damages.

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Unavoidable & Avoidable Damage

Coral reef destinations, by their very nature, are areas of important biodiversity and are sensitive to changes in water quality and physical damage. These changes (features) fall loosely into 2 categories. Those that are unavoidable and those that are avoidable as follows:-

The features in the table above all result, individually or in combination, in the degradation of the reef. The loss of biodiversity resulting from this degradation renders the coral reef unappealing to the eco-tourism sector. With the exception of physical and long term antifouling damage, all of the features above are caused by or exacerbated by the presence of cruise vessels maintaining geostationary position at the edge of the reef. The reasons for this practice are twofold:-

• tour operators wish to operate close to the reef to enable their clients to have easy access
• newly opened up eco-destinations have neither infrastructure nor enforceable protocols to prevent this practice – the reasons for this are discussed below. 

For various geo-political reasons, certain areas have only recently become available as cruise destinations and the regulatory procedures governing the way in which this eco-tourism can be exploited have not kept up with the demand for the resource. The resources needed to manage an entire coastline are beyond the reach of most developing countries, and conflicts with development pressures and local patterns of use are politically contentious. Physical infrastructure in the form of mooring points has not been provided, resulting in the presence of cruise vessels lying adjacent to reefs with auxiliaries (bow thruster etc.) running in order to maintain a geostationary position. The consequences of this activity include, amongst other things, an increase in water temperature and turbidity, the erosion of the reef platform edge, and a displacement of fish and turtles as a result of elevated noise levels. Fish and coral larvae, and decapod crustaceans are attracted to the sounds produced by coral reefs and actively orientate themselves towards the reefs using the sounds to guide them. Physical damage to the reef may arise as a result of catastrophic cruise vessel grounding or anchoring incidents. Less catastrophic but still relevant is the damage caused by footfall (in shallow areas), small vessel deployment, and diver fin abrasion of the reef. Many of these cruise eco-destinations have been designated as national parks or marine conservation zones and are protected by statute in the relevant country. These areas are often outstanding examples of pristine coral reef and are therefore prime destinations for tourism and research.

Disclaimers

The document does not address the following issues as they relate to the global environment:-

• potential catastrophic marine pollution issues
• operational gaseous & particulate emission
• anti-fouling
• carbon footprint
• climate change per se
  

The document is not intended to form a part of the excellent body of academic literature available on all aspects of the biology of coral reefs – indeed, I have made every effort to cite or summarise recent research in order to make it accessible in my quest to corroborate the scale of (and reasons for) potential environmental liabilities.