2012 Ocean Ranger Guidebook Revision 3-7-12 - Alaska ...

2012 Ocean Ranger Guidebook 3-7-12
Figure 6. Southeast Alaska General Permit Boundaries
Figure 6 outlines where the Alaska Large Commercial Passenger Vessel Wastewater General Permit
applies in Southeeast Alaska. All areas inside of the blue 3 nautical mile boundaries and all areas inside
of the red boundaries are covered by the General Permit. The 3nm boundaries in blue inside of the red
lines are known as “doughnut holes” and were closed to discharge of untreated sewage by Title XIV. The
blue boundaries still apply for all items other than wastewater as the boundaries of state territorial
waters.
There can be a large difference between what can be discharged and what actually is. For many cruise
ship operators, company policy is more stringent than what is required by federal and state regulations.
For example, some ships treat all sewage even outside of 12 nautical miles. Some operators voluntarily
hold treated wastewater in areas such as Tracy Arm.
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