Sea lanes off US altered to protect whales (California)

June 1^st, 2013. AN effort to avoid large ships striking and killing endangered whales has led to new shipping lanes off the California coast.

The changes that start on Saturday affect ship traffic in and out of San Francisco Bay, the Santa Barbara Channel and the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

Migrating blue, fin and humpback whales are prone to strikes since they are lured to the California coast in years where there’s plentiful krill to feed on.

All three species are endangered. Blue whales, the largest animals on earth, can grow up to 27 metres long but are tiny compared to large cargo ships.

There are believed to be about 2000 blues in the northeast Pacific, about 2000 fin whales and about 2500 humpbacks.

An increase in fatal whale strikes led federal maritime officials to work with the shipping industry and environmentalists to find ways to reduce the deaths.

Source