By Jesse Ryan March 18 at 7:30 AM One day last May, a container ship entered the San Francisco Bay with extra cargo.
Cargo ships are so big that crews often have no idea they struck a whale unless they see a carcass when they reach port. Many container ships that enter the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are more than 1,000 feet long. Vessel strikes are one of the leading human-related causes of whale deaths. In the past 10 years, at least 60 blue, gray, fin, and humpback whales with signs of ship strikes have been found dead in California, Oregon and Washington, according to records from NOAA’s Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Program, which keeps track of injured and dead marine mammals. Many go unreported.
Recovery rates are low because struck whales tend to sink upon death. Others are never spotted because of ocean currents and decomposition. Ship strikes alone kill more than 80 whales off the West Coast each year, according to 2017 estimates made by Point Blue Conservation Science and Cascadia Research Collective.
Slower ship speeds have been shown to reduce the likelihood of a ship-whale encounter and the lethality of a collision. The number of right whale mortalities has dropped since the rule was created. Some conservationists believe that rerouting the shipping lane behind the Channel Islands could decrease the risk of ship strikes. But the waters behind the islands are a part of the Navy’s 36,000-square-mile Point Mugu Sea Range. The Navy is resistant to funneling ships through the area they use for missile tests and training exercises.
Following the blue whale deaths, the Center for Biological Diversity petitioned NOAA Fisheries to create a mandatory seasonal 10-knot speed limit in the Santa Barbara Channel. After the petition was denied, the center filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Coast Guard accusing it of failing to ensure ship traffic does not jeopardize the lives of endangered species.
The Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary continues to drive efforts to mitigate ship strikes in California, but it doesn’t have regulatory authority beyond its boundaries. Creating mandatory regulation to protect whales from vessel strikes would require either the Coast Guard or NOAA Fisheries to draft a proposed rule and shepherd it through an interagency approval process.
Only ONE made sense. If they don't hear one coming then they're sick. 16k speed
You know the WAPO has some.of the most IGNORANT, uneducated, childish fans. The 415m long 63m beam...'should get out of the way of the whales' 'Greed'...lol as he heats his home runs his car uses plastic in his home and office. You see what I mean? lol
My father warned little kid me that if I could catch an animal like a squirrel, rabbit, bird or deer that meant that it was probably sick/dying & might have rabies. Everyone loves whales but what if they r just too sick/dying to avoid a big slow moving cargo ship?
oh my this is disturbing not to mention plastics
Our country won't help the whales, we're to greedy!
Think of an animal and we are working on a way of killing them all.
Whales have the right of way , get out of their way.
Uh paint sharks in the bottom of the ships? Cmon guys easy stuff here
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