CLINTON ADMINISTRATION UNVEILS NEW SHIP REPORTING SYSTEM
TO PREVENT COLLISIONS WITH ENDANGERED RIGHT WHALES
BOSTON, June 25, 1999
— U.S. Commerce and Transportation Secretaries William M. Daley and Rodney E. Slater teamed with the International Fund for Animal Welfare and shipping groups today to announce a new program designed to help prevent collisions between commercial ships and the world's most endangered whale species.
Starting July 1, large ships entering two important feeding and nursing grounds of the highly endangered North Atlantic right whale will employ new efforts to save the last 300 whales through a mandatory call-in system that alerts vessel captains to nearby right whale movements and gives collision avoidance procedures. The mandatory ship reporting system will run year-round in a 6,700 square mile feeding area off of Cape Cod, Mass., that includes all 842 square miles of NOAA's Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, and from Nov. 15 through April 15 in a 2,500 square mile nursery area near the Georgia/Florida border.
"Today, we take a step to ensure the survival of these majestic but endangered creatures. Our action demonstrates that, working in partnership with industry and the conservation community, we can restore and protect our precious oceans and the magnificent diversity of life they sustain," said President Bill Clinton.
In April 1998, President Clinton authorized the U.S. government to seek international approval of the mandatory ship reporting system by the United Nation's International Maritime Organization (IMO). The IMO voted unanimously in December 1998 for implementation of the system by July 1, 1999. The system was developed over a two-year period by the Commerce Department's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Transportation Department's U.S. Coast Guard, with technical assistance from the International Fund for Animal Welfare. It was built and implemented by Performance Engineering Corporation, a high-tech firm headquartered in Fairfax, Va.
"The ship reporting system is essential to the survival of the endangered right whale. This conservation tool will significantly improve protection for these slow-moving whales, and give mariners important information to avoid right whales that may be found in shipping lanes near East Coast ports," Secretary Daley said. "This effort reflects an innovative partnership needed to develop news ways to address this problem, and will complement other ongoing measures being taken to help recover the species."
Secretary Slater said, "Because these whales do not recognize or avoid the hazards our shipping poses to them, we must take special measures to avoid injuring these rare creatures. This reporting system demonstrates President Clinton's and Vice President Gore's leadership in establishing partnerships between the government, environmental organizations and industry to protect our natural environment."
"IFAW is delighted to be working with the Departments of Commerce and Transportation on this vital initiative. A whale once hunted to the brink of extinction is safer today because of this partnership. Together we are making a difference for these critically endangered animals," said Fred O'Regan, president of the International Fund for Animal Welfare.
For unexplained reasons, right whales either do not detect oncoming ships, or do not perceive them as threats and do not move to avoid collisions. Ship strikes account for almost 90 percent of known, human-caused right whale deaths, with about two fatal collisions occurring each year. Under the ship reporting system, all commercial ships 300 gross tons and greater that enter the two areas will contact a Coast Guard-operated shore station to report course, speed, location, destination and route. In return, a ship will receive the latest information about right whale sightings and avoidance procedures that may prevent a collision. The information will be transmitted in minutes by satellite to the ship's bridge computer. The reporting system will affect no other aspect of vessel operations and there is no cost to the mariner.
In addition, officials expect the ship reporting system to yield data on the number of ships and the routes taken through right whale habitat that will be useful in identifying other possible measures to reduce future ship strikes. The entire program will be reviewed in three to five years to assess its effectiveness, and to introduce advances in ship communication technologies that have become available.
Legislation that provided the Coast Guard with the authority to implement the system came from an effort spearheaded by Congressman William Delahunt (Mass). NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service, the Coast Guard and IFAW equally shared the funding for system development and implementation. Ongoing communication costs will be shared by the Coast Guard and the Fisheries Service.
NOAA's National Marine Sanctuary Program and Fisheries Service and the Coast Guard have taken several steps to protect right whales, including establishing federally designated critical habitats and updating nautical charts to show right whale habitat, as well as modifying other navigational publications and providing educational materials. For example, an aircraft survey system, jointly funded by the Fisheries Service, the Coast Guard and the state of Massachusetts, has been implemented off Massachusetts for the past two years in cooperation with the state. Biologists in boats and aircraft go out several times a week to survey waters that are shipping lanes for commercial traffic and feeding grounds for right whales. When they locate right whales, the Fisheries Service-led teams forward the information to the Coast Guard so whale alerts can be broadcast to mariners via radio, faxes and Internet postings.
While ship strikes are known to kill individuals of nearly every species of large whale, right whales appear especially susceptible. Their feeding and calving areas and migratory corridors are near several designated shipping lanes. Right whales also spend much of their time at the surface, feeding, resting, mating and nursing. Particularly vulnerable are calves, which must remain near the surface due to their undeveloped diving capabilities. At the surface, right whales appear focused on what they are doing and make little effort to move from the path of oncoming ships. Right whales are difficult to spot because of their dark color and low profile in the water. In some cases, ships may hit right whales without ever knowing a collision occurred.
The Northern Atlantic Right Whale was listed as endangered throughout its range in 1970. Several thousand right whales once existed in the North Atlantic Ocean. Years of commercial whale hunting at the turn of the century severely depleted the stocks. Whalers considered the animal the "right whale" to hunt because they were slow moving, migrated close to shore, and stayed afloat after being killed. Today, despite more than 60 years of protection, right whales have not fully recovered.
The northern right whale is a medium-sized baleen whale. Adults are 45 to 55 feet long. Distinctive features include: lack of a dorsal fin, a large head, narrow upper jaw, and a strongly bowed lower jaw. Right whales reach sexual maturity at five to nine years, with females giving birth to a calf every three to five years. Calving occurs in the winter along the southeast coast of the United States. Calves nurse for at least nine months.

MARINE MAMMAL PAGE

[NOAA Report: Sea Lions, Seals Harm Salmon Stocks See April 1997 Issue]

16 JUNE 99
Background Concerned groups and individuals are working to build a huge global wave of public support for the gray whale sanctuary. If we can get the United Nations World Heritage Committee to give them "In Danger" status, it could stop Mitsubishi's ill-conceived industrialization plans.
According to Natural Resources Defense Council, the lagoon was named a World Heritage Site in 1993. Now the whale sanctuary is threatened by a massive salt works proposed by Mitsubishi.
The best chance to protect it at the international level lies in getting the World Heritage Committee to add it to the "In Danger" list. Presented with compelling evidence that Mitsubishi's plan poses a dire threat to the sanctuary, and with an unprecedented outpouring of public concern, the Committee agreed to dispatch an investigative team to Laguna San Ignacio.
That means that the Committee could vote by the end of the year to declare the sanctuary "In Danger" -- a move that could deliver the death blow to Mitsubishi's proposal. But the World Heritage Committee isn't likely to take that step -- and Mitsubishi certainly won't back down -- without a continued showing of support from concerned citizens around the world, like yourself.
Why would Mitsubishi choose the gray whale nursery for its plant? Doesn't it seem like a bad choice to put the largest salt factory in the world, (salt can be mined almost anywhere) in the LAST pristine sanctuary of the gray whale? Besides putting the gray whale at risk -- just a few years after its recovery from near-extinction -- the factory also threatens numerous rare and endangered species in the surrounding International Biosphere Reserve. Why? Corporate profits; Mexico is cheap and so is nature.
Mitsubishi already operates a salt factory at Guerrero Negro, another calving lagoon (there are 3 in all). A spill of toxic brine wastes from this facility caused the death of 94 endangered sea turtles in December 1997. And in May, scientists observed another spill of more than 4 million gallons that resulted in large fish kills. These incidents, which prompted more than 50 environmental groups to file criminal charges, clearly illustrate the danger posed by the proposed plant at Laguna San Ignacio, which each year would produce one billion gallons of wastes containing deadly concentrations of magnesium, bromides and other chemicals.
--Natural Resources Defense Council
What can we do about it? Well, we can stand by and do nothing, and then explain to future generations how, in the name of corporate profit, we've allowed the destruction of the very last gray whale sanctuary and the ensuing destruction of this magnificent creature. We can show our grand children pictures of the great 40 ton, gentle giant, because we have wiped them out in nature. OR, we can do something now to prevent the corporate rape of their last sanctuary in Baja California. With millions of dollars in export income at stake, the Mexican Ministry of Environment will be under enormous political pressure to allow Mitsubishi to go ahead. That's why its important that the World Heritage Committee declare the whale sanctuary "In Danger" and we rally a global call to action now. Construction could begin as early as the end of the year! Mitsubishi has received thousands of letters of protest. Let's makes it millions with a global Internet campaign! We must act now.
Email the World Heritage Committee
Send a letter of protest to Mitsubishi
Write to Mexico's Secretary of Environment
Email the World Heritage Committee: Ambassador Koichiro Matsuura President, World Heritage Committee (wh-info@unesco.org)
Sample letters (please feel free to use or personalize): Dear Ambassador Matsuura, I want to applaud you and the entire World Heritage Committee for agreeing to dispatch a delegation to the Whale Sanctuary of El Vizcaino in order to study the threat posed by construction of a massive, industrial salt works by a Mitsubishi joint venture. I urge you to appoint the highest-level delegation and to make the success of this fact-finding mission an absolute top priority in 1999. By doing so you will send a signal that the World Heritage Committee is seriously committed to protecting the unique natural and cultural treasures that belong to all humankind.
Send a letter of protest to Mitsubishi: Mr. Hiroaki Yano President Mitsubishi International 520 Madison Avenue New York, NY 10022 Dear Mr. Yano: I strenuously oppose Mitsubishi's joint venture to build the world's largest salt factory at Laguna San Ignacio -- the Gray Whale's last unspoiled nursery and a World Heritage Site that belongs to all humankind. As you know, the World Heritage Committee has decided to dispatch a fact-finding delegation to the Whale Sanctuary to study the threat posed by your facility. In the wake of that decision I implore you to protect our World Heritage -- and Mitsubishi's good name -- by scrapping your plans now. Sincerely,

13 JUNE 99

Dead Creatures Say Trouble At Sea