Ottawa stalls while cruise ships dump toxic wastewater along West Coast

National Observer

18-07-2025

Cruise vessels are leaving billions of litres of wastewater in their wake despite longtime promises of action by the federal government.
Most water pollution discharged by ships showcasing the beauty of the coast is pumped out by scrubbers — an exhaust-cleaning system that uses seawater to 'wash' sulphur dioxide, toxic metals and carcinogens from ship fumes, only to flush them into the ocean.
The devices are widely used by the cruise industry and act as a loophole for shipping companies to continue burning cheaper, dirty, heavy fuel oils while still complying with the International Maritime Organization's (IMO) 2020 sulfur emissions standards, said Anna Barford, oceans campaigner for Stand.earth Canada.
The federal government, which promised to examine the issue of scrubbers in marine conservation areas in early 2023, held a general two-month public consultation on the exhaust systems early this year. The Transport Canada public input process didn't include details about what, if any, scrubber restrictions are being considered, nor any timelines for action.
Despite a host of Canadian and international marine conservation groups urging a ban on scrubbers in national waters, there's been no feedback or apparent movement by Ottawa to date, Barford said.
While Ottawa drags its feet, the problem is intensifying: There was a 14-fold increase in the total number of ships employing scrubber technology in coastal waters between 2018 and 2022, according to the Canadian government's own data. All ships employing scrubbers — including cruise ships, cargo ships, tankers and more — dumped an estimated 88 million tonnes of acidic wastewater laced with toxic metals along the BC coast in 2022 alone.
Among them, cruise ships were the worst offender, pumping out nearly half of scrubber wastewater despite only making up five per cent of the vessels using the systems, Barford noted.
While the cruise sector on Canada's west coast continues to swell, federal delays on scrubber regulations are putting endangered orcas — as well as ocean and human health — at risk.
'Our food sources are more important than fuel cost savings'
All vessels using scrubbers, including container ships and tankers, dumped 26,000 kilograms of different toxic metals in scrubber wastewater along the coast, according to Environment and Climate Change Canada. Nearly a third of that amount was discharged into critical habitat for endangered southern resident killer whales.
The constant stream of heavy metals and other pollutants into the marine environment doesn't only imperil the survival of the 73 remaining orcas and the Chinook salmon that rely on them, but has serious implications for human health as well, said Stephanie Hewson, a staff lawyer with West Coast Environmental Law, which called for a ban on scrubbers.
In addition to threatening the reproductive health of the whales and impairing shell formation in clams, oysters and crabs, the pollutants can impact marine life across large distances, potentially contaminating food sources like shellfish, she said.
'We're talking about ocean and ecosystem health, but we're also talking about the food we're eating,' Hewson said, adding numerous shipping lanes run near shellfish harvesting areas and aquaculture operations.
Scrubbers transform air pollution into water pollution and simply swap one environmental problem for another, instead of simply mandating ships to use cleaner but more costly fuels, she said.
'I think our food sources are more important than fuel cost savings,' Hewson said.
Shipping sector wants international consistency
Research by the International Council on Clean Transportation for the federal government in 2020 found that in addition to water pollutants, ships using scrubbers emit higher levels of carbon pollution, harmful air particles and black carbon — which pose serious health risks and accelerate climate change by darkening snow and ice, causing it to melt faster, especially in the Arctic.
The council has also urged the federal government to immediately stop allowing new scrubbers systems to be installed on vessels transiting national waters. It also called for an immediate ban on scrubber discharges into sensitive waters, such as marine-protected areas, coastal waters, the Arctic and internal waterways, including the Great Lakes. It also suggested Canada phase out all types of scrubber systems in all national waters within three years.
The Canadian Shipping Federation declined an interview request by Canada's National Observer but did provide its views to Transport Canada on potential scrubber restrictions.
The federation suggested any scrubber regulations should reflect international rules, take into account operational realities, and rather than regulating scrubbers, Canada should offer incentives that spur the development of net-zero fuels and technologies.
Canada should continue its international work on scrubbers at the IMO to avoid a 'patchwork' of varying rules at ports and different regions that increases the complexity of shipping operations and the risk of violating scrubber regulations, the federation said.
The federation acknowledged there's existing science on the harms of wastewater discharge to marine life and Canada's recent IMO submissions detailing air quality and human health concerns tied to scrubbers. However, some research 'paints a different picture," the shipping group said, referencing an unspecified Transport Canada port study that suggested scrubber discharge impacts on water quality are minimal.
Canada is contemplating scrubber discharge regulations in marine-protected areas, but rerouting vessels to avoid conservation sites may lengthen journeys, increasing carbon and particle pollution elsewhere, the federation said. Fuel-switching mid-journey could also increase safety risks such as engine failure, it said.
Global concerns over ocean pollution
Barford dismissed the assertion that science is still out on the harms associated with scrubber wastewater, noting there is plenty of peer-reviewed research on the subject.
Hewson agreed, noting concern based on science is widespread worldwide. The ports of Vancouver and Prince George have prohibited scrubber discharges and the Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) unanimously supported a ban on scrubber discharge and the use of cleaner fuels by vessels in 2022. California has already enacted cleaner fuel rules and a ban on scrubber discharge in coastal waters, while Denmark, Sweden and Finland launched a phased ban this month that will see all scrubber systems eliminated by 2029. More than a dozen European nations have pledged to do the same in the Northeast Atlantic starting next year.
The international rules set by the IMO should be considered the basement, not the ceiling, for scrubber rules, said Barford, who added that no international law prevents countries from protecting sensitive waters in their national jurisdiction.
She also disputed that regulations would be unduly harmful to business.
'Most of the vessels operating around the world have already switched to cleaner fuels and are seemingly doing business just fine,' she said.
If the cruise industry and global shipping sector are looking to avoid the complexity associated with meeting varying scrubber bans, they could make the switch to cleaner fuels overnight, she said.
'Using scrubbers adds complexity,' Barford said. 'If simplicity is their goal, the easiest thing is just to put cleaner fuel in their tank.'
Canada's statistics on scrubber discharge were only released after Stand.earth filed a complaint to the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC), an international forum where Canada, the US and Mexico address shared environmental concerns.
The CEC secretariat has now recommended its council take the next step and establish a 'factual record' — an investigation into how Canada is enforcing pollution regulations under the federal Fisheries Act related to scrubber wastewater.
The CEC complaint is in a holding pattern until the commission's council decides its next step, but now the federal government has 'no plausible deniability' about the harm scrubber waste water poses to ocean health and marine life, Barford said.
'We're thrilled with how the CEC process has gone so far,' she said.
'Canada's reply provides unequivocal evidence that they know that there's a problem, and it's impacting southern resident killer whales.'
A summary of the public input on scrubbers will be released later this summer, and extensive consultations with the maritime industry, Indigenous groups and port authorities will begin in the fall, said Transport Canada in an email.
The ministry didn't answer questions about when it would roll out scrubber rules for marine conservation areas. It also didn't clarify if it's considering any other regulations to protect coastal communities, important marine resources, or sensitive nearshore waters.
Canada's National Observer.