I have worked for NASA for over 20 years. I am a senior engineer and researcher that works across programs. When there are challenging problems related to avionics it is my job to pull together teams to solve them.  About a year and a half ago I became acquainted with the cruise industry and began to learn first about their business practices, and later about their pollution, and its impacts. I started to do what I have been trained to do. I worked to bring a team of smart dedicated people together to understand and address the problems associated with the cruise industry. We have talked with people from around the world - many from port communities. We have worked with marine biologists and other researchers to understand pollution impacts. We have examined regulations and approaches to manage the negative impacts of this industry. We have identified approaches that worked to regulate this industry despite its strong well-funded lobby. As with most problems there are multiple facets to it: water pollution, air pollution, public health, community impacts, seafood industry impacts, and economic benefit. After taking a hard look at these issues, this petition for regulatory action points to needed measures for the Commonwealth to take to protect its citizens, our marine ecosystems, and our seafood industry. There is ample evidence from cities and states in the US and from around the world that the large "ocean-class" cruise ships with many thousands of passengers are an unhealthy industry when unregulated. The Commonwealth should educate itself on the detrimental impacts caused by cruise ships and act. To paraphrase Apollo 13 astronaut Jim Lovell - Virginia, we have a problem. Now we need to pull together and fix it. Thank you for your consideration of this petition.