[seadog] Right Whales

North Atlantic Right Whale Management Measures 

Posted 6/5/02 at 4:12:PM

In August 2001, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) proposed ship
traffic management measures as a means of reducing the incidence of ship
strikes and resulting fatalities of the North Atlantic Right Whale. There
are approximately 350 surviving Right Whales, and they are considered to be
the most endangered of the large mammals. Through federal regulation, the
NMFS implemented a "mandatory ship reporting system" to increase the
industry's awareness of the problem and encourage the coastal shipping
community to take actions to reduce Right Whale fatalities. At the
insistence of the shipping community and several ports along the Atlantic
Coast, NMFS contracted for a report on the cost of such management measures
to the shipping industry. The final report provides an economic analysis of
the effects on shipping along the U.S. East Coast from Penobscot River,
Maine to Port Canaveral, Florida. The report assumes a 10-knot speed limit
imposed on vessel traffic into and out of most ports for a distance of 25
nautical miles during the annual migration "season" of 60 days. Some ports
would face additional constraints for up to 120 days due to the "critical
habitat sites" for the Right Whale. The average estimated cost of the
management measures for large ports are $1.3 million annually and $300,000
annually for smaller ports. Based on these estimates, the cost of the ship
strike management measures to vessel operators along the East Coast --
including tugs and barges -- would total between $10 - $16 million annually.
The analysis relied on vessel traffic data from the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers' Waterborne Commerce of the United States (1999) and specific port
call information provided by individual port authorities. The report
outlines vessel traffic for dry bulk carriers, tankships, container vessels
and tug and barge units. NMFS and the shipping community need to review and
approve the report prior to the promulgation of regulations for the
implementation of management measures. Source: AWO Letter 





-- Binary/unsupported file stripped by Ecartis --
-- Type: application/ms-tnef
-- File: winmail.dat

Other related posts: