Global shipping companies recognized for protecting whales and limiting pollution by controlling vessel speeds off California coast
SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif. – Marine shipping companies participating in the 2022 Protecting Blue Whales & Blue Skies program received their awards for successfully transiting at ten knots or less in the San Francisco and Southern California regions.
The 23 shipping company participants received recognition and financial awards based on the percentage of distance traveled by their vessels through the Vessel Speed Reduction (VSR) zones at ten knots or less.
The Southern California VSR zone extends from Point Arguello in Santa Barbara County to the waters near Dana Point by the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
The San Francisco VSR zone extended the control zone approximately 130 miles to include all of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary and add three new associated partners to the program.
The voluntary incentive program ran from May 1 through Dec. 15 of 2022 with participation greater than any other year of the program.
Of the 23 participating companies, 14 of them: OOCL, MSC, COSCO Shipping Line, CSL Group, Ocean Network Express (ONE), Maersk, "K" Line, Wallenius Wilhelmsen, Wan Hai, Evergreen Shipping, Swire Shipping, Hapag Lloyd, GALI, and Yang Ming declined all or part of their financial awards.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), U. S. Coast Guard (USCG), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requested that vessels 300 tons or larger reduce their speeds to the ten knots target during the months of peak air pollution and transit periods for endangered blue, humpback, and fin whales.
The Protecting Blue Whales and Blue Skies program is a collaborative effort by Ventura County Air Pollution Control District; Santa Barbra County Air Pollution Control District; San Luis Obispo County Air Pollution Control District; Monterey Bay Air Resources District; Bay Area Air Quality Management District; Channel Islands, Greater Farallones, Cordell Bank, and Monterey Bay national marine sancturaries; The Volgenau Foundation; California Marine Sanctuary Foundation; National Marine Sanctuary Foundation; Greater Farallones Association; Environmental Defense Center; Point Blue Conservation Science; Starcrest Consulting; and Scripps Whale Acoustic Laboratory/Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
