New Protections for Endangered Whales Along California Coast Adopted
By National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
The International Maritime Organization (IMO), the United Nations agency that governs safety and environmental standards for shipping worldwide, has adopted a U.S. proposal to increase protections for endangered blue, fin and humpback whales off the California coast. The proposal takes effect this summer and expands areas that vessels should avoid to give whales more space, and extends vessel traffic lanes west of, in and around NOAA’s Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary.
The Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council's Marine Shipping Working Group originally recommended the modifications in 2015. NOAA partnered with the U.S. Coast Guard to submit the proposal to the IMO in 2022.
The International Maritime Organization recently approved changes to vessel traffic lanes in and around NOAA’s Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary. The changes will take effect summer 2023. (NOAA)
“The IMO’s decision will enhance navigation safety and improve protection of whales,” said John Armor, director of NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries. “These adjustments demonstrate a successful collaboration between the United States, the IMO and the global shipping community.”
The U.S.-recommended adjustments will enhance navigation safety and protect whales from ship strikes in an area containing some of the highest densities of commercial maritime traffic in the world.
A 13-nautical-mile extension of vessel traffic lanes, known as the “traffic separation scheme,” will result in vessels lining up for port entry farther west and away from the continental shelf, in deeper waters where there are lower concentrations of whales. The area to be avoided by vessels is expanding by more than 2,000 square nautical miles, and will cover, in total, approximately 4,476 square nautical miles of important whale feeding habitat off Point Conception and Point Arguello in Santa Barbara County, California.
Blue, fin and humpback whales are protected by the Endangered Species Act, Marine Mammal Protection Act and National Marine Sanctuaries Act.
Learn more about NOAA’s efforts to understand the ship strike risk to whales along the West Coast.
6 Comments
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Jan 10, 2023 09:07 AMRight now the average wind farm is about 150 turbines. Each wind turbine needs 80 gallons of oil as lubricant and we're not talking about vegetable oil, this is a PAO synthetic oil based on crude... 12,000 gallons of it. That oil needs to be replaced once a year.
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Jan 10, 2023 04:44 PMCOAST - so what? No one ever said wind turbines are 100% green. You know what else needs oil? Boats, cars, planes, etc. Are you upset about those too?
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Jan 09, 2023 10:07 PMHey CW - When you constantly post comments that are immediately exposed as falsehoods, do you ever give a moment's thought to seeking out better sources of information? Or do you just conjure these fantasies up yourself?
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Jan 09, 2023 11:36 AMMeanwhile, those same migration routes will be inundated with giant windmachines producing noise frequencies that will affect whales and dolphins, not to mention all the frequently required 1000's of gallons of gear oil changes on these "green energy" white elephants... The masses have bought into this ridiculous minuscule energy source that will have massive environmental issues. A better, more advanced system is the tidal energy generators, but lets RUSH into these wind machines to appease the Green Agenda.
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Jan 09, 2023 10:00 PMCOASTWATCH - not true. There will be no wind turbines within this area.
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Jan 09, 2023 09:36 PMNope. Just more disinformation being promulgated by the carbon industry.