The Center for Biological Diversity has issued a petition to the Federal Government to set speed limits for traffic out in the Santa Barbara Channel to help protect these amazing and endangered creatures.
“Whether the blue whales are being disoriented by military sonar, toxic algae or something else entirely, what is actually killing them is speeding ships,” said Brendan Cummings, oceans program director for the Center for Biological Diversity. “The single most effective thing we can do to protect blue whales is to slow down large ships.”
Ship strikes are one of the leading causes of death of large whales worldwide. Research on the U.S.’s east coast has identified ship speed limits as the most effective method to reduce whale mortality.
The Center’s petition asks the National Marine Fisheries Service, the U.S. agency in charge of enforcing the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act, to set a speed limit of 10 nautical miles per hour in the Santa Barbara Channel for all vessels 65 feet or larger until the whales have left the channel. The Fisheries Service has proposed similar speed limits on the east coast to protect the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale.
Most large vessels plying the Santa Barbara Channel are heading to or from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Several thousand container ships transit the channel each year and are a major source of air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Because vessel fuel consumption increases dramatically with speed, speed restrictions on large vessels will also reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants. - Center for Biological Diversity
Love the petition. Love the Center's little "green" logo, too. We'll gladly "hop" on board this idea with a little email or call to the Honorable Lois Capps' office.
1 comment:
Blue Whales are the largest animal to ever exist on Earth. We should do everything we can to protect them.
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