Within the past month, about three cruise ships have come through the Santa Barbara Harbor, each weighing in at about an average 230,000 tons. 

A little over a year ago, Santa Barbara City Council held a meeting regarding the cruise ship problems. According to a Noozhawk article, in 2024 it was reported that the council voted 6-1 to downgrade the number of cruise ships to protect the environment affected by ships. 

“I hate them, they’re just a money scheme,” an anonymous fisherman said. 

He went in depth on how the tourists on the cruises don’t come to Santa Barbara for the grand scenery or to help Santa Barbara’s local economy. He said the majority of tourists are here to board shuttles to experience Montecito wine tasting. 

“They don’t even come to any of the local shops, I mean a couple will come and buy a hat or something, but most don’t come around here,” the fisherman said. 

Policy Associate for the Santa Barbara Channelkeeper, Nate Irwin, explained the poor side of the cruise ships.

“Cruises cause a lot of environmental concerns,” Irwin said. “They need to burn their diesel engines by just sitting there.” 

Irwin said in 2022 after the COVID-19 pandemic they saw about 30 cruise ships and it was a wake up call to how many ships stop in Santa Barbara. 

Since the Santa Barbara Harbor is too small to dock an actual cruise ship, they need to anchor down a half mile out. 

Irwin said Santa Barbara is a beautiful place, the water is clean and the marine life is healthy, but Santa Barbara City Council has been trying to come up with solutions. They want to keep the tourists coming, but in a safer and cleaner manner. The solution is to work towards a clean and safe fuel so that tourists can still enjoy Santa Barbara. 

“Cruise ships have scrubbers, an exhaust cleaning system,” Irwin said. 

Cruise ships have a cleaning system that dumps waste into the ocean. He made it clear that Santa Barbara’s elected officials understand and are working on solutions to keep Santa Barbara clean and safe.

The Noozhawk article said past records confirm that annually during cruise ship season, which lands in September through May, around 15-30 cruises come to Santa Barbara. The cruise ships bring in around $3-5 million a year in support of the local economy. 

“The cruise ships need to have a specific GPS system to detect where they are dropping their 10-20 ton anchor to avoid destroying or killing any wildlife,” the fishermen said. “Most don’t do that, Santa Barbara has very small coral reefs, most have been damaged, along with the deaths of lobsters.”

When cruise ships dock in Santa Barbara they spend a lot of time transporting the tourists to and from the ship. Big orange transportation ships go to and from the harbor multiple times a day to get tourists on land. Since there has been a rise in cruise tourism in the past 20 years, there has been a continuous amount of concerns for the environment toward the carbon footprint a singular cruise ship holds. 

“Just such a waste,” the fisherman said. 

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