Petition against Mayport Village Cruise Terminal

A historic fishing village in Mayport, Florida, is threatened by extermination by the cruise industry.

The Port of Jacksonville has plans to wipe out the shrimping community so that the mega-corporate cruise industry can make more profits.

Not only will a new cruise ship terminal forever erase Mayport from the landscape, but it will displace the few remaining shrimp fishers and small business people who make a living here.

The pollution and environmental impacts from the ships will be huge. Not only can these ships dump sewage and graywater directly in to the harbor with little, if any, treatment, they pollute the air by burning the dirtiest fuel on the planet: bunker fuel.

One ship at the dock produces as much pollution as 35,000 cars in one visit. The smokestacks emit large volumes of soot and invisible particulate matter that is inhaled and lodges in the lungs.

These ships also have the potential to strike and kill highly endangered right whales and sea turtles that live along the coasts of Florida and Georgia. Sea turtles nest within a mile of the proposed new terminal.

I have met and worked with some of the shrimpers along this coastline when the turtle-safe shrimp certification program was underway. These fishers are committed to using the Turtle Excluder Devices that protect sea turtles from drowning when caught in shrimp trawl nets. I wonder what the cruise lines plan to prevent running over or scaring sea turtles from their homes.

A cruise terminal at Mayport will be bad news for all, except for the corporate bottom line of the cruise industry bi-opoly of Carnival and Royal Caribbean, which post multi-billion dollars profits and invest little if anything in environmental protection or the ports where they call.

To find out more and help support the fight at Mayport, go to: www.SaveMayportVillage.net