A federal decide has upheld measures handed by Bar Harbor, Maine city, to restrict cruise ship passenger numbers. U.S. District Decide Lance Walker dominated a referendum handed in 2022 doesn’t violate any present state or federal inter-state maritime legal guidelines.

Enterprise House owners Opposed Referendum Vote

The vote referred to as for a each day cap of 1,000 cruise passengers, however native enterprise homeowners took authorized motion to overturn it, saying it was unconstitutional. The decide disagreed.

“Congestion in downtown Bar Harbor is a seasonal reality of life, however it’s exacerbated by the common morning and afternoon pulse of ship passengers and tour buses,” Decide Walker wrote in his ruling. “The 1,000-person limitation is a big downshift from the passenger caps beforehand noticed in Bar Harbor. However that downshift additionally promotes noneconomic pursuits.”

City is closely reliant on seasonal tourism

As one of many state’s main ports for cruise ship visitors, Bar Harbor welcomed 272,000 cruise passengers in 2022. The city solely has a everlasting inhabitants of about 5,000. Attributable to its proximity to Arcadia Nationwide Park, round 4 million vacationers go to the city yearly.

Bar Harbor is a well-liked port of name on most New England and Canada cruise itineraries. The impacts of over-tourism have been felt for years, with visitors congestion and points over cruise ship capability limits starting to realize help in the course of the pandemic shutdown.

A survey by Pan Atlantic Analysis three years in the past discovered over half of Bar Harbor residents stated cruise ships negatively impacted the standard of life within the city.

Will this pan out? In the same transfer, the residents of Key West voted in opposition to giant cruise ship docking within the metropolis throughout a 2020 election. A majority of the residents voted for the ban and gained. Nevertheless, that call was overturned by Florida’s governor, who said that residents can’t management maritime commerce.