Map of old and new shipping lanes through the Santa Barbara Channel. By Sarah Bennett.
For whales migrating off the coast of Long Beach, traffic from our bustling port complex doesn’t just get in the way of swimming channels, it also means potential collisions and injuries to the animals. Starting this June, however, ships across the west coast will be re-routed around feeding areas and migration routes to avoid injuring these massive creatures.
As more and more ships pass through the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles endangered blue whales, fin whales andhumbacks are killed or severely injured by run-ins with barges and boats, particularly during the whale migration season in Southern California that runs roughly from late December to mid May.
Around 200 blue whales (10 percent of the entire Pacific Ocean population) pass between Catalina Island and the mainland each year on their way to the Santa Barbara Channel where they feed on krill before moving on to summer feeding grounds farther north. Whale deaths, while not an annual occurrence, have been reported in previous years as current shipping lanes go directly over these feeding grounds. In 2007, a report found that an unprecedented five blue whales were struck and killed in the Santa Barbara Channel.
Near miss between a container ship and whale in Santa Barbara Channel. Photo courtesy of NOAA.
Starting this year, a plan devised jointly by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Coast Guard is expected to take effect that will greatly reduce (if not eliminate) these numbers. Ocean-going cargo vessels, tugboats and automobile carriers near the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach will be slightly re-routed so as to avoid colliding with the massive sea creatures. New routes will also be implemented in the San Francisco Bay as well as the Channel Islands, creating a one-mile buffer between the ships and the whale’s migration routes.
Though the changes will not reduce all risks, it does drastically drop them. The International Maritime Organization adopted the changes back in November.
“Though approved this past year, there is a comment period that is now required,” said Dick McKenna of the Marine Exchange of Southern California. “This will be conducted by the Coast Guard shortly, and unofficially there appears to be no opposition to the move. However, things don’t go into effect until the process is officially completed.”
The new shipping lanes will be reduce the space between the north and southbound pathways from two miles to one and the northbound lane will be moved one mile closer to the mainland. The changes are expected to take place at the end of this June.
For more information on whale ship strikes within the Santa Barbara Channel, read this report conducted by the Environmental Defense Center.