Local News in Brief : Boat Owners Fined for Dumping Waste
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The city of Avalon has levied $500 fines against the owners of six boats, including the 730-passenger cruise ship Southward, for illegally discharging human waste into the harbor off Catalina Island, city officials said.
The Southward, a Norwegian Cruise Lines ship, was cited last Saturday when harbor officials on a routine patrol saw waste in the water near the ship, said Mary Salisbury, a city harbor administrator.
Fran Sevcik, a spokeswoman at Norwegian Cruise Lines’ headquarters in Coral Gables, Fla., said that the discharge was caused by an accidental “technical malfunction” of the ship’s sewage-treatment system and that the ship’s captain had apologized to city officials.
City and county health officials, who have been monitoring bacteria levels in the harbor since a raw sewage leakage closed the beaches for a week in July, said the beaches will remain open for Labor Day weekend.
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