~ Bluewater Network ~

Safeguarding the Seas
Stopping the pollution of our oceans by ships and fast ferries and preventing deadly collisions with whales

FROM LATITUDE 38 magazine:

January 31, 2007 - Off the California-Oregon Coast
Text and photo by Skip Allan of the Capitola-based Wylie 28 Wildflower

Here's an interesting photo of a large whale, presumably a Blue, that was T-boned across the bow of Matson containership Kauai. The ship was southbound yesterday evening off the coast of Oregon and Northern California en route from Seattle to Oakland, when the bridge watch noticed the rpms had dropped from 100 to 90, with a subsequent drop in speed from 22 to 20 knots. There was also an abnormal wake pattern astern. At daybreak the whale was spotted just above the bulb on the bow. The ship was backed down to clear the whale.

Around the world, collisions with cruise liners, fast ferries, and cargo ships are causing the needless and bloody deaths of an alarming number of whales. The death toll is projected to rise as waterways are transformed into marine highways for commuter traffic, luxury travel, and cargo delivery.

Nearly 80,000 ships weighing more than 100 tons now travel the world's oceans - each one easily capable of crushing a whale. In some waterways, vessel collisions account for the demise of between one-third to half of all whales found floating at sea, washed up on beaches, or carried into port on the bow of a ship. And international shipping is expected to double by 2020.

Most ship-whale collisions occur in coastal waters with high concentrations of whales and vessels. Whales become more vulnerable in feeding, nursing, calving, and mating grounds where they spend more time on the surface. In 93 percent of ship strikes, ship operators do not see the whales at all, or do not see them in time to avoid a collision. One collision with a whale by a ferry in the Canary Islands was so violent that a ferry passenger was also killed. In Alaska's Glacier Bay, a pregnant humpback whale was killed by a cruise ship.

The highly endangered northern right whale may disappear forever due to the intrusion of cargo ships and tankers into critical breeding and calving grounds along the East Coast of the United States. In addition, the survival of fin whales, humpback whales, and gray whales is seriously threatened by ship collisions.

It is clear that government agencies responsible for marine safety, including the National Marine Fisheries Service and the US Coast Guard, have a responsibility to protect whales from ship collisions. Bluewater Network will pressure these agencies to live up to their responsibility to the fullest extent possible. Bluewater Network is advocating for slower vessel speeds and special routing in whale habitat, designated whale look-outs, mandatory ship reporting of whale strikes, aerial surveys of whales in shipping channels, low-draft vessel designs, and research into passive sonar technology for locating whales. We are also working with ferry operators and cruise ship lines to promote environmentally sound vessels, with a particular focus on protecting whales.

Read the Latest News

Cruise ship docks with dead whale on bow, (August 20, 2006)

Rare right whale found dead in Bay of Fundy, (July 25, 2006)

Plethora of whales slows marine traffic (August 8, 2004)

Environmentalists eye East Coast whale rules (June 9, 2004)

Whales Decimated by Ship Strikes (May 25, 2004)

Cruise Passenger Reports Whale Strike Under Golden Gate Bridge: Bluewater Network calls for investigation (May 8, 2004)

Container ship drags whale carcass into port (April 19, 2004)