What is Fair Sailing?

Fair Sailing advocates for regenerative cruise tourism practices that prioritize the interests of residents, local businesses, and the environment of Victoria and its cruise terminal’s host neighbourhood, James Bay.

We seek to maximize economic benefits to local businesses while minimizing the negative social, health, and environmental impacts from the annual arrival of hundreds of cruise ships carrying over 900,000 passengers, overwhelming the resident population.

What does ‘Fair Sailing’ mean?

‘Fair Sailing’ is a fundamental rule of sailing based on the principles of good sportsmanship and fair play.

We adopted Fair Sailing to represent our expectation of regenerative cruise tourism practices in our residential neighbourhood. We advocate for the interests of residents, businesses, and the environment of Victoria, Canada's highest volume port-of-call.

Who is Fair Sailing?

Fair Sailing started as an initiative of the James Bay Neighbourhood Association (JBNA) in the spring of 2021 as part of their commitment to protect the local environment. In 2023, Fair Sailing became an independent volunteer initiative separate from JBNA. Fair Sailing registered as a not-for-profit society in 2024 and is operated by a group of local volunteers.  Fair Sailing is a member of the Global Cruise Activist Network (GCAN).

Why are you doing this now?

James Bay has been advocating for more responsible cruise tourism practices since 2006. Issues of emissions, noise, traffic and overtourism have only gotten worse - it’s past time for genuine action.

Aren’t Cruise lines committed to sustainable tourism?

‘Sustainable’ tourism and ‘regenerative’ tourism are concepts that cruise lines have adopted in marketing campaigns, but in practice, cruise ships have negative impacts that harm the port communities they claim to respect.

Cruise ships are known to bring overcrowding, noise, traffic, and air and ocean pollution to ports-of-call, and these actions are contrary to many industry talking points.

For example, CLIA (Cruise Lines International Association, a cruise industry trade association) notes that “cruise lines carefully follow waste management and recycling practices to prevent waste in oceans.”

In reality, in 2016 five of Carnival’s Princess Line ships were found to use equipment to circumvent pollution control systems. Four of the five found to be purposely polluting the oceans had been port-of-call ships in Victoria. 

In addition to the $40 million fine for dumping oily waste into the ocean, Carnival’s Princess Cruises pleaded guilty to seven felony charges, relating to what US officials called “a campaign of obstruction in an effort to hide the deliberate pollution”.  In 2020 a court found Carnival had violated the terms of its 2016 probation, and assessed a further $20 million in fines.

In 2022, Carnival’s Princess Cruises was found to have violated probation due to its criminal conviction for environmental crimes a second time.

This does not indicate a genuine commitment to the principles of ‘sustainability’ claimed as core values. Fair Sailing believes that industry adoption of our Solutions would be a step towards proving a real commitment.

We expect the cruise industry to truly ‘do no harm.’ It’s only fair.

Is the Victoria City Council aware of the problems experienced in James Bay?

Yes, current and previous City Councils are well aware. Both JBNA and GVHA presented their views to Councillors in December, 2019. See the video for presentations and comments by Mayor and Councillors.

https://jbna.org/2019/12/jbna-presents-to-council-at-cruise-workshop/