FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                         ENR
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 8, 1995                           (202) 616-0189
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888

                                 
             CRUISE SHIP COMPANY CONVICTED OF DUMPING
            SENTENCE TO INCLUDE $250,000 CRIMINAL FINE

          CONVICTION HIGHLIGHTS INDUSTRY DUMPING PROBLEM

     Regency Cruises, Inc., a cruise ship company, was ordered this
afternoon to pay $250,000 by the Federal District Court for the
Middle District of Florida for deliberately dumping plastic garbage
into the Gulf of Mexico in 1993.  Regency Cruises, owner of the
Bahamian flag cruise ships Regent Rainbow and Regent Sea based in
Tampa, Florida, and which ply the waters of the Gulf, was charged
with and pled guilty to violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from
Ships. 

     "Congress and the international community have banned plastic
pollution because of its damaging effects on the environment and
wildlife," said Lois J. Schiffer, Assistant Attorney General for
Environment and Natural Resources.  "Dumping is all too common a
problem in the shipping industry.  Today's sentence should send a
clear message to the shipping industry that any dumping of plastics
will not be tolerated." 

     This is only the third case to charge dumping of plastic in
violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships ("APPS") and
the first to charge dumping of plastic beyond the U.S. 12-mile
territorial limit.  In U.S. v. Princess Cruises, Inc., the first
APPS case, the owner of the Regal Princess cruise ship was
sentenced to a $500,000.00 fine for a single act of dumping plastic
garbage bags and the cruise ship passenger who videotaped the
violation was rewarded half that amount.  This year, the Department
of Justice filed its first two cases under the Act for dumping of
plastics in inland water ways.

     Today's sentence stemmed from two specific instances.  On
February 6, 1993, local fishermen saw a school of porpoises
swimming through a swarm of plastic garbage bags approximately 25
to 30 miles off of St. Petersburg Beach.  The fishermen immediately
notified the Coast Guard Marine Safety Office in Tampa, Florida.  
                                 
Following the Coast Guard's instructions, the fishermen were able
to retrieve some of the bags, which contained information
pertaining to that week's voyage of the Regent Rainbow.

     The second crime was detected after a cruise ship passenger
aboard the Regent Sea witnessed the crew dumping plastic bags
approximately 29 miles off Cortez/Bradenton, Florida, during a
cruise that departed and returned to the Port of Tampa during
Valentines Week, February 7-14, 1993.

     In addition to the fine, U.S. District Court Judge Ralph W.
Nimmons, Jr. required the company to implement an environmental
compliance program to prevent and detect environmental crimes and
publish letters of public apology in two major Florida newspapers
-- the St. Petersburg Times and the Tampa Tribune -- and a trade
journal -- Florida Environments.  The public apology from the
company states:  "Our company has taken steps to insure that such
violation swill not occur in the future and hope that our guilty
plea will be a lesson to others that environmental laws must be
respected."  

     In announcing the sentence at a 4:00 p.m. hearing today, Judge
Nimmons commended the citizens who reported the crimes and added
that "without their cooperation, these offenses could not have been
prosecuted."  Judge Nimmons said he will ask a Magistrate-Judge to
recommend whether and how much the fishermen and cruise ship
passenger who reported the crimes should be rewarded.  Under the
Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships, those providing information
leading to conviction may be rewarded up to one half of any fine
amount.  

     The Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships made it a crime to
violate an international treaty, known as the MARPOL Protocol,
which prohibits various types of ocean dumping including plastic
and to which the U.S. is a signatory.  The Act and Coast Guard
regulations make it a crime to knowingly discharge plastic within
the U.S. 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone.  

      "Ocean dumping threatens Florida's beaches, tourism and
industries.  This sentence, which includes a criminal fine, Court
supervised environmental compliance program and public apology is
an appropriate sanction to punish this defendant and deter others," 
said Charles R. Wilson, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of
Florida.

     Schiffer and Wilson also commended the outstanding work of the
Coast Guard Marine Safety Office in Tampa and the FBI in
investigating this case.  


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