Changes in Vessel Operations May Reduce Risk of Endangered Whale Shipstrikes
High resolution (Credit: NOAA) May 26, 2009Years of study and effort by NOAA and the U.S. Coast Guard will pay off this summer when two changes to shipping lanes into Boston are implemented. Both changes significantly reduce the risk of collisions between large ships and whales. 
High resolution (Credit: NOAA) "Through years of study we have determined that these changes will likely provide a safer environment for whales and mariners, and at the same time, provide the least amount of disruption and impact to the economy," said Jim Balsiger, NOAA’s acting assistant administrator for NOAA’s Fisheries Service. "NOAA and our partners are working extremely hard to do all we can to help save this critically endangered species, while helping mariners stay safe and productive." Approximately 3,500 ships move through the entire Boston shipping lanes area every year, and more than half of the world’s North Atlantic right whales are known to be in this area during the spring. NOAA researchers used more than 20 years of sighting data to determine the risk of whales being struck by ships in and around the Boston shipping lanes to help develop these changes. Working with the Coast Guard, which assessed safety and navigational effects of ship lane modification to the shipping industry, NOAA proposed the changes to the International Maritime Organization in March 2008. The International Maritime Organization adopted both of these changes, so they will be reflected on all charts globally and used by the international shipping industry. NOAA’s Fisheries Service is working with NOAA’s Ocean Service and the U.S. Coast Guard to have these changes added to nautical charts and to the U.S. Coast Pilot as well. "NOAA's scientific expertise and their investment in research into the seasonal distribution of right whales provided the Coast Guard with valuable data and information and helped identify shipping lanes that reduce the likelihood of vessel interactions with this protected species. Fewer collisions involving commercial shipping vessels and right whales will be a great outcome for the agencies, for mariners and coastal commerce and for the public," said Steven Tucker, deputy chief for marine protected species, U.S. Coast Guard Law Enforcement Office. Existing protective actions also include seasonal and dynamic vessel speed restrictions in selected areas, mandatory lanes into certain ports, surveying whale migration routes by aircraft and mandatory ship reporting systems that provide advisories and information on right whale locations to mariners. NOAA understands and predicts changes in the Earth’s environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and conserves and manages our coastal and marine resources. 
News Release: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration |