Vessel Impacts
Channel Islands

map of shipping lanes through channel islands national marine sanctuary — An effective way to reduce ship strikes is to reduce the co-occurrence of ships and whales. CINMS has successfully worked with the Coast Guard to modify the International Maritime Organization's (IMO) shipping lane approaches to ports thus reducing the co-occurrence of ships and whales in the Santa Barbara Channel. Credit: CINMS, NOAA

Why is it a concern?

The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, San Diego, San Francisco Bay Area, Portland, and Seattle together service more than 50% of all container ship traffic coming to and from the United States. In order to access the ports, these large ships routinely travel through west coast sanctuaries, including the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary. The intersection of high traffic zones, cetacean feeding areas, and migratory whale routes result in a marked increase risk of ship strikes to whales that can result in serious injury or death to whales.

In the fall of 2007, five blue whale fatalities were confirmed in the Santa Barbara Channel, with the cause assumed to be from commercial vessel strikes. Between July and October 2010, two blue whales (one pregnant female that resulted in the loss of the fetus), one humpback, and two fin whales were found dead in and around Monterey Bay, Greater Farallones, and Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuaries. Accordingly, mortality from ship strikes has been identified as a threat to population recovery of these vulnerable whale species. Their distribution often coincides with ship traffic and in certain areas, also overlaps with shipping traffic lanes. Large whales are vulnerable to collisions with all vessel types, sizes, and classes throughout the world's oceans. Between 1988 and 2012, there were 100 documented large whale ship strikes along the California coast. In California, ship strikes of gray whales are the most commonly reported followed by fin, blue, humpback, and sperm whales. When large vessels such as container ships are involved, the ships crew may be unaware a strike has occurred. As such, the number of ship strikes to whales is likely under reported.

Overview of Research

Project Name	PI and contacts	Links
Response of Commercial Ships to a Voluntary Speed Reduction Measure: Are Voluntary Strategies Adequate for Mitigating Ship-Strike Risk?	SIO, Megan McKenna	http://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/protect/shipstrike/pdfs/mckenna2012.pdf
Reducing the risk of vessel strikes to endangered whales in the Santa Barbara channel: an economic analysis and risk assessment of potential management scenarios	Bren School of Environmental Science and Management	http://www.bren.ucsb.edu/research/documents/whales_report.pdf
Response of Commercial Ships to a Voluntary Incentive Based Speed Reduction Program	CINMS, Sean Hastings and Sean Herron; Environmental Defense Center, Kristi Birney; Santa Barbara Air Pollution Control District, Brian Shafritz; Ventura Air Pollution Control District	http://channelislands.noaa.gov/news/pdfs/press_080414.pdf
Spatial and Temporal Occurrence of Blue Whales off the U.S. West Coast, with Implications for Management	Marine Mammal Institute, Oregon State University, Bruce Mate; National Marine Fisheries Service, UC Santa Cruz, and University of Maryland	http://www.plosone.org/article/fetchObject.action?uri=info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0102959&representation=PDF
Tracking and behavioral monitoring of cetaceans near CINMS shipping lanes	Cascadia Research, John Calambokidis	No URL available.
Port Access Route Study	US Coast Guard	http://www.environmentaldefensecenter.org/learn/ current_cases/save_the_whales/PARS_11-1-11.pdf

Science Needs and Questions

How do whales use the water column and how can this information inform policies to mitigate collisions between whales and shipping?
How do whales react to the approach of vessels and how can this information inform policies to mitigate collisions between whales and shipping?
How much diel, annual and inter-annual variability exists in the underwater behavior of endangered whales and how can this information inform policies to mitigate the risk of ship strikes to whales?

Education and Outreach Material

Protecting Blue Whales and Blue Skies Forum overview

Vessel Speed Reduction podcast with Sean Herron

Ship strike podcast with Sean Hastings

Whale spotter app

References

Abramson, L., S. Polefka, S. Hastings, K. Bor. 2010. Reducing the threat of ship strikes on large cetaceans in the Santa Barbara Channel region and Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary: recommendations and case studies. Marine Sanctuaries Conservation Series ONMS-11-01. U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, Silver Spring, MD. 59pp. http://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/science/conservation/pdfs/ship_strikes.pdf

Betz, Sarah, et al. "Reducing the Risk of Vessel Strikes to Whales in the Santa Barbara Channel." (2010).
http://www.bren.ucsb.edu/research/documents/whales_report.pdf

Berman-Kowalewski, Michelle, et al. "Association between blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) mortality and ship strikes along the California coast."Aquatic Mammals 36.1 (2010): 59-66. http://www.marinemammalcenter.org/assets/pdfs/vetsci-stranding/scientific-contributions/2010/blue-whale-mortality.pdf

McKenna, Megan F., et al. "Response of Commercial Ships to a Voluntary Speed Reduction Measure: Are Voluntary Strategies Adequate for Mitigating Ship-Strike Risk?." Coastal Management 40.6 (2012): 634-650.

Redfern, J. V., et al. "Assessing the risk of ships striking large whales in marine spatial planning." Conservation Biology 27.2 (2013): 292-302.
http://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/protect/shipstrike/pdfs/redfern2013.pdf

Vessel Impacts Channel Islands