35°

State environmental monitors on cruise ships have not always had full access to areas they're supposed to inspect, according a mid-season report on the first full year of the Ocean Rangers program.

"The general feeling is that both Holland America and Princess Cruises have issued guidelines to the onboard crews on how to restrict and control the observations of the rangers," wrote Paul Johnsen, manager of the Ocean Rangers program.

Both Holland America Line and Princess Cruises are owned by Carnival Corp & PLC, based in Miami and London.

Princess spokesman Bruce Bustamante said he was "not aware of the exact details" of a policy to restrict access to Ocean Rangers. He said access would improve.

"We're investigating those situations, and we want them (rangers) to be able to complete their reports," he said.

Alaska voters approved a cruise ship ballot initiative in 2006 that directed the state to hold cruise ships with more than 250 berths to new wastewater discharge and pollution standards. The Ocean Rangers monitor ships' compliance in Alaska waters. The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation hired Crowley Marine Services Inc. to run the program.

Ocean rangers are U.S. Coast Guard-certified marine engineers. They stay on ships in berths paid for by the state, or they board ships at ports and inspect them. Rangers send daily reports on such ship activities as safety, environmental compliance and sanitation, using checklists developed by DEC.

Rangers said 18 of 28 large cruise ships gave them all the access they needed.

"They are anxious to show the ranger - and, by extension, the people of Alaska - how well they are doing," wrote Johnsen of the cooperative ships.

Ten ships, however, limited rangers' access, the report said. On those ships, rangers couldn't get into the control room unless escorted by the executive officer; they couldn't come with the executive officer on daily rounds, or could only go for two hours a day and less if the executive was busy; they couldn't ask engineers questions; or they were limited access to ships' logbooks, records or drawings.

One ranger reported a chief engineer denying his request to see the ship's records of graywater tank levels on a daily basis while in Alaska waters.

Johnsen wrote in the report that there were "no hard feelings" between crew and rangers, but that the results were still "unacceptable."

"I believe Alaskans will be offended when they learn that some cruise ships feel they have the right to restrict what and when the ranger is allowed to observe. These practices will likely be interpreted by the public as an attempt to hide something."

Denise Koch, DEC cruise ship program manager, said she had expected some kinks in the program's first year.

"We expect the cruise lines to provide access. By and large, they have. The Ocean Ranger program has been working well," she said.

One of the more important issues from the report, she said, was that ocean rangers were given just two hours to observe ship activities. Depending on what they have to do, the daily job may take three to eight hours to finish, Koch said.

"We already discussed this with the cruise ships to let them know the ocean rangers are not limited," she said.

• Contact reporter Kate Golden at 523-2276 or e-mail kate.golden@juneauempire.com.