Shipping vessel partnership celebrates a decade of limiting impacts with whales and reducing emissions
SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif. – A vessel speed reduction partnership amongst environmental groups, government agencies at the county and federal level, and now 49 international shipping companies is celebrating its success protecting whales while also reducing emissions in the local area.
Protecting Blue Whales and Blue Skies is a voluntary program in its tenth year that requires shipping vessels entering waters off the coast of Northern California and transiting the Santa Barbara Channel to reduce their speeds to ten knots or less during peak whale visitation season.
"To whales, sound is everything. Ninety percent of the ocean is pitch black, and whales have evolved over the millennia to use sound for their daily life functions. Whales use sound to navigate, communicate, and keep in contact with each other during long migrations," explained Dr. Vanessa ZoBell of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. "However, noise pollution from ships disrupts these essential behaviors, threatening their ability to thrive in today’s increasingly noisy oceans. One proven solution is vessel speed reduction, an effective operational measure to mitigate noise impacts on whales. BWBS [Protecting Blue Whales and Blue Skies] has shown that reducing vessel speed significantly decreases ship noise pollution, with an approximate reduction of 1 decibel per knot. Implementing vessel speed reduction programs, like BWBS, in regions with high whale presence is a crucial step in mitigating the harmful effects of chronic noise pollution and protecting these vulnerable species."
The average container ship measures about four football fields, can carry about 15,000 standard 20-foot containers, and facilitate most of the world's maritime trade.
The routes those large shipping vessels use often overlap with marine habitats critical to transiting whale species including the endangered blue and iconic humpback.
Unfortunately for whales, a major contributor of mortality for whales is collisions with shipping vessels and are acutely of concern in whale hotspots during certain parts of the year.
When large shipping vessels reduce their speeds to ten knots or less in whale hotspots, the risk of fatal collisions is reduced by at least half shared Protecting Blue Whales and Blue Skies in a press release Wednesday.
Reduced speeds also results in lower emissions of air pollutants as well as greenhouse gases and that is why the partnership works to incentivize shipping company participants in key areas off the coast of California.
"For the last 10 years, this voluntary program has shown what impressive environmental benefits can be achieved through partnerships," shared Aeron Arlin Genet, Executive Director of the Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District. "As an air district, we recognize the significant improvements in air quality for our communities through this program. As voluntary cooperation of vessel operators has grown from 27% in the 2017 program to 85% participation in 2024, we have been able to reduce more than 4,500 tons of smog-forming pollution and more than 153,000 metric tons of greenhouse gases. These air quality wins are shared with wins for the magnificent whales that mean so much to us all. We’re proud to be a founding partner of Protecting Blue Whales and Blue Skies and look forward to what further environmental benefits this program brings."
Vessel Speed Reduction Season coincides with the migration periods for the most at-risk whale species as well as during peak ozone seasons along the coast explained Protecting Blue Whales and Blue Skies.
The Santa Barbara Channel's unique geography draws whales to the area as shown in the image below, courtesy of the Channel Islands National Park.
In 2022, the program had 23 participating companies and during this last season, that number had increased to 49 participating companies.
"Wherever ships, whales and coastal communities overlap is an area of opportunity for BWBS to protect whales from ship strikes and ocean noise, improve the air we breathe and maintain ocean commerce," said Sean Hastings, Co-Founder of Protecting Blue Whales and Blue Skies. "In the near term, BWBS aims to work with the same ships and whales found off California that transit through the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary off Washington. Along the eastern seaboard where NOAA regulates vessel speed ships and whales would also benefit fromBWBS recognition incentives and co-benefits analysis. The high level of voluntary shipping industry cooperation is a testament to the strength of the BWBS coalition, our team’s skilled ship tracking and environmental benefit verification capacity, the power of effective awareness campaigns, and of course, the power of companies willing to be leaders in environmental protection. Expanding this program for whales, people and the planet is not only necessary but well within our capacity."
While the information above details the impact the partnership has had, there may be no more powerful example of the program's success than warnings about larger-than-usual numbers of whales in the area.
