Cape & Islands News

Hy-Line wants to set new standard for ferry operations

   Hy-Line Fast Ferry meets the SSA car ferry at Buoy #7 in Hyannis Harbor. - Photo by Sam Pearsall

New Pump-out facility planned by local owners
Hy-Line won't be dumping in Sound in a year or two

By Sam Pearsall , Falmouth Bureau

With the growing concern of sewage disposal in Nantucket Sound, Hy-Line Cruises plans to set a new standard for ferryboat operations around the Cape with a new onshore pump-out facility.

No records are kept of where and when the sewage discharges take place in the Sound because there is no need to and no laws requiring itVice President of Operations at Hy-Line, Murray Scudder, Jr. explained that as of now, the passenger ferries that travel to and from Hyannis, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket dispose of their untreated sewage right there in the Sound.

The smaller vessels that cruise around in Hyannis Inner Harbor do not leave state waters; therefore they use onshore pump-outs every time they need to discharge their wastewater.

Scudder says that no records are kept of where and when the sewage discharges take place in the Sound because there is no need to and no laws requiring it. "Only when it is necessary, we discharge outside state waters," he said.

Scudders as stewards 

According to Scudder, within the next year or so, Hy-Line plans to fund and install its own private onshore pump-out for the passenger ferryboats in the Hyannis South End ferry terminal. This means that Hy-Line won't be using the Sound as a dumping ground any longer and will be alleviating much pollution in those waters.

The Scudder family is one of the oldest here on Cape Cod and have always shown a concern for the environment, so this investment came as no surprise to to those familiar with the family's history. 

If you take away the waters where vessels are allowed to discharge their sewage, you need to replace them with alternativesAs the very first state to designate all of its waters as No Discharge Zones, the state of Rhode Island has received its fair share of complaints from commercial ferryboats and the shipping industry that there is no where to dump their wastewater.

Steamship Authority officials in Woods Hole could not be reached by phone and have not returned any phone messages regarding this issue. But one can only hope that other commercial boat operations, like the SSA take notice of the precedent that has been set and follow suit.

Save the Bay Narragansett BayKeeper, John Torgan

As the very first state to designate all of its waters as No Discharge Zones, the state of Rhode Island has received its fair share of complaints from commercial ferryboats and the shipping industry that there is no where to dump their wastewater.

John Torgan, Narragansett BayKeeper for Save the Bay of Rhode Island, says that if you take away the waters where vessels are allowed to discharge their sewage, you need to replace them with alternatives. "We recognize that we need to do something to give these boats another option."

One of the vessels used by the RI group.The Clean Vessel Act provided federal funding to Rhode Island for onshore pump-outs to be used by large commercial-size vessels so they no longer have to discharge in open waters. Regarding the sewage dumping issues the Cape is facing now, Torgan said, "It's time we take some steps to end that practice."

He recommends that Massachusetts take similar steps and ask for federal funding from the Clean Vessel Act to put toward building onshore pump-out facilities on the Cape and Islands for commercial-size vessels to use.

The nearby Rhode Island Soundkeepers is a full-fledged, grassroots environmental origination with an impressive schedule of goals and activities to accomplish their mission to save  the sound and bays.

Cape Soundkeeper thinks staff, number of boats irrelevant 

"We don't have a boat. We borrow one when we need to"After several calls to the Nantucket Soundkeeper's Susan Nickerson she called back late afternoon and said she did not want to comment on their staff and number of boats they use, or where they keep their boat (singular) because she did not feel it was relevant to my story. 

A reliable source said today,  "We (Nantucket Soundkeepers) don't have a boat. We borrow one when we need to."

See the previous reports below;

• Read Part 1 - How 3 million flushes may spoil your next swim.
• Read Part 2 -  850 billion gallons of sewage, 5,500 illnesses
• The Sound as Sewer
• SSA General Manager refutes Moses Calouso Op Ed
• Pollution + Dilution = Solution

Samantha Pearsall is a sophomore and a Contemporary Journalism major at Endicott College on the North Shore. A native Cape Codder from Falmouth, she writes about Cape issues affecting college-aged Cape Codders. Check out her "20 Something" CapeBlog  here.