emissions from the cruise ship.

Meyer Agency Ltd. pleaded guilty in Magistrates' Court to charges of being the agent of a ship that emitted offensive smoke.

Police Prosecutor Sgt. Donald Grant said Marine Police on patrol off Dockyard on July 7 noticed a large black cloud of smoke coming from the stack of the Meridian which was docked at King's Wharf in Dockyard.

The wind was blowing from the south resulting in the smoke heading straight into Dockyard.

Sgt. Grant told Magistrate the Wor. Edward King that 25 boats and the Pirate's Landing restaurant were affected by the soot.

Lawyer for Meyer Agency, Ms Kiernan J. Bell, told the court "the Meridian is a steam ship and the smoke and soot is the result of the ship's design''.

The ship has three boilers. And in the past two of them were shut down while in port and restarted when it was to set sail. Soot is emitted when the boilers are reactivated.

Ms Bell said at the time of the July 7 incident one of the Meridian 's super heater tubes had been damaged en route to Bermuda and was being fixed while the ship was in port.

Soot settled in the boiler while the repairs were being conducted and when the boiler was reactivated, all the soot blew out.

Ms Bell explained that the " Meridian 's captain immediately sent out a crew to try to clean up''. And she said since the incident her client had made arrangements to compensate those who suffered damages.

In addition to this, she said, more expensive fuel with a lower sulphur content had since been purchased to be used while the ship is docked.

"They have voluntarily put themselves through great expense to make sure it will not happen again,'' Ms Bell said.

After the July 7 incident, the Environment Ministry carried out pollution checks for two weeks near the ship. They found that the levels of sulphur dioxide regularly breached permitted levels, at one point doubling the permitted standards.

Regulations set by the Clean Air Act prohibit pollutants to exceed 150 micrograms in the sample taken.

All the Meridian breaches occurred when onshore winds were blowing, otherwise the levels were below the regulations around 20 or 25 micrograms.

Former Environment Minister the Hon. Gerald Simons has promised the ship's boilers will in future be started out at sea to avoid smoke being flushed out of the stack.

Yesterday, after fining Meyer Agency $1,000, Mr. King said: "I hope the ship will continue to come to Bermuda for a long time but without soot emissions''.