Vessels entering and leaving Puget Sound will be asked to temporarily slow down to reduce underwater noise this fall. Washington state will launch this strategy from British Columbia on a trial basis, in order to help the Pacific Northwest’s critically endangered killer whales.
The voluntary slowdown for container ships, tankers, freighters, cruise ships and car carriers is scheduled to run from October 24 to December 22. The slowdown area covers the shipping lanes from Admiralty Inlet by Port Townsend south to Kingston and Mukilteo.
When large vessels slow their speed they reduce the amount of underwater noise they create and less underwater noise means better habitat for the endangered Southern Resident killer whales
said Rachel Aronson, the program director of Quiet Sound, adding that the requested speed reduction varies by vessel type, but for most it would be a 30% to 50% slowdown over a distance of 20 nautical miles.
Recently, ICS encouraged the shipping industry to take action to reduce the risk of harm to endangered whale species, saying that significant steps have already been taken by the industry to help protect marine mammals.
This is an issue that the shipping industry takes seriously, and has resulted in the implementation of measures that aim to prevent collisions between whales and ships, from reducing vessel speed and rerouting to engaging stakeholders to raise further awareness.
This includes areas around the world where speed limits apply to vessels, such as the St Lawrence River in Canada and the Gibraltar straits.
