Cruise ship increase approved.(TOURISM)

The number of cruise ship entries into Glacier Bay will increase by 10 percent beginning in 2007, according to a recent decision by the director of the National Park Service.

NPS Deputy Director Steve Martin signed the decision document, agreeing to a recommendation proposed by the superintendent of Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve. The proposed increase was announced last fall, and public comment on the proposal was taken earlier this winter.

The level of seasonal cruise ship entries into Glacier Bay is controlled by special regulations found at 36 CFR and by a vessel plan completed in 2003. The superintendent is required to determine, with the director's approval, the number of cruise ship entries for the following season. The decision increases the June-July-August total to 153, up from 139. No more than two ships will be in the bay on any single day. The number of entries for summer 2006 remains at 139.

The decision to increase cruise ship use days is a result of guidance provided by an exhaustive public planning effort, reviews of available scientific information collected both by National Park Service and by scientists independent of the agency, recommendations from the Glacier Bay National Park Science Advisory Board, and an assessment of that report provided by the NPS Alaska Regional Science Advisor.

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