super cruise ships to berth in Bermuda.

The Trust also said it was "disturbed'' that plans for a huge pier to accommodate these larger liners were not being subjected to any environmental impact study.

Trust Marine Environmental Committee chairman Wayne Carey said the organisation was opposed to any policy that increases the number, size or passenger capacity of cruise ships arriving in Bermuda. He said the Trust recommended that Government look at attracting smaller cruise ships to the Island.

He stated that the organisation was "sufficiently convinced of the considerable risk of damage to our environment and further deterioration of our quality of life'' if mega-cruise ships were to be accommodated at the Island's docks. The Trust was responding to last week's news that an unpublished Government report contained plans for the building of a six-hundred-foot pier to deal with larger vessels.

Citing that the Island had an inadequate infrastructure to cope with the demands that larger cruise ships would impose, Mr. Carey added: "The social, financial and environmental costs of upgrading our infrastructure to the level required is likely to far outweigh any consequent benefits to Bermudians.

"The Trust finds it extremely disturbing that the alternative development schemes put forward by the consultant Bermello, Ajamil and Partners Inc., in the draft report have not been subjected to a full environmental impact assessment.

"In other jurisdictions, such major developments would undergo rigorous environmental scrutiny to determine the potential for impacts on the environment and the affected community.

"Yet Bermudians are being asked to accept the costs and consequences of extensive cruise port upgrading to accommodate larger cruise ships without any environmental assessment at all.'' Mr. Carey noted that the Trust was continuing in its trend of recommending that Government investigate the availability of smaller cruise ships, "with a view toward the long-term creation of a niche market for such vessels'' He said a survey in the Conde Nast Traveller Magazine had stated that small ships "score big'' with their readers.

He also questioned the independence of Bermello, Ajamil and Partners Inc., the firm commissioned by the former UBP Government to produce the report.

Mr. Carey said the firm listed as its clients Carnival and Royal Caribbean Cruise Line.

CRUISE SHIPS SHI