Massachusetts cruise ship company fined for illegally dumping sewage

BOSTON - A Massachusetts cruise ship company has been fined $300,000 and ordered to publish apologies in regional newspapers after pleading guilty to dumping raw sewage from its boats into a Massachusetts river and coastal waters.

Marblehead-based Rockmore Co. Inc. was also placed on a three-year probation on Monday after prosecutors alleged that crew members for two of its vessels routinely pumped hundreds of gallons of raw sewage directly overboard or allowed holding tanks to overflow and spill contents into the ocean.

The sewage was dumped in Salem Harbor, off beaches in Marblehead and Beverly, in the Charles River and elsewhere between 1990 and 2006.

In a deal with federal prosecutors, the company agreed to report its activities to the U.S. Coast Guard. Its attorney says Rockmore disputes many