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| Wednesday, May 26, 2005
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: PCCS-WHOI Study Advises Re-Routing Ships in Cape Cod Bay to Reduce Risk to Critically Endangered North Atlantic right whales(Provincetown, Cape Cod, MA) - A new joint study by the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies (PCCS) and the Marine Policy Center at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution recommends that commercial ships using the Cape Cod Canal switch to western routes in Cape Cod Bay to avoid striking North Atlantic right whales.PCCS Aerial Survey Coordinator Owen Nichols and WHOI scientist Dr. Hauke L. Kite-Powell have constructed a two-dimensional model to estimate whale/ship collisions based on systematic aerial surveys of Cape Cod Bay conducted by PCCS from 1998 to 2002, and shipping traffic logs of the Army Corps of Engineers (USACE,) which oversees the Cape Cod Canal. [Dr. Robert Kenney of the University of Rhode Island and Dr. Moira Brown of the New England Aquarium also participated in the study.] About seven large vessels, most by tugs and barges, transit the canal each day when right whales are present in the Bay, according to the Army Corps. The study, funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA Fisheries,) recommends that routing shipping traffic farther to the west could reduce potential ship-whale encounters by as much as 45%. Results of the PCCS/WHOI study have been submitted to the federal agencies working to implement a ship strike reduction strategy for right whales. The study establishes an estimated baseline of risk to right whales, and, what Nichols calls "a quantifiable reduction of risk" resulting from a proposed management action should NOAA Fisheries heed the report's recommendations. If NOAA Fisheries lengthens traditional commercial shipping routes while overhauling its management strategy, it will cost marine interests more money to make longer journeys, however, whale conservation and safety justify may justify a potential management decision to alter present routines. "It's important to present numbers based on the 'best available data' to demonstrate the potential benefit to the whales," clarifies Nichols. Right whales start coming to feed in Cape Cod Bay in December and January, increasing in numbers through March and April before the whales start leaving the bay in early May. The whales are predominantly in the bay's eastern side in an arc extending from Provincetown southwest towards Barnstable. "As the whales increase in number and occupy more of the western bay in late March and early April, their distribution overlaps with routes taken by large vessels transiting the bay from the mouth of the canal to and from Boston and ports north of the Bay," explains Nichols. Since 1998, PCCS has conducted systematic aerial surveys and research cruises to monitor right whales in their winter and spring habitat in Cape Cod Bay. Carried out as part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Right Whale Conservation Plan and funded by Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, these data provide valuable information on the distribution, abundance and population characteristics of the right whales in the Bay.
[Image Courtesy of PCCS:]
 Nichols points out that little is known about how whales react to vessels and other factors that turn a ship-whale encounter into a fatal collision. "Until we reach a better understanding of the specific factors which lead to whales being injured or killed by vessels, one of the best available options for managers seeking to reduce right whale mortality is to attempt to minimize the likelihood of ships and whales being in the same place at the same time." ** The news in the research community that 28 calves were born in 2005 is tempered by a high rate of death in the critically-endangered population beginning in 2004. Since February 2004, eight right whales are known to have died, including six adult females, three of whom were pregnant. At least two of the pregnant females were killed by ship strikes. Each death is a blow to the North Atlantic right whale population, known as the 'right whale' to hunt by 18th and 19th century hunters because they floated after being lanced by whalers. To learn more about the study and other programs at the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies, please visit PCCS on-line at: www.coastalstudies.org The Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies is a private, non-profit institution founded in 1976 to preserve marine coastal environments and to protect marine mammals through public education, research and conservation.# # # ContactTheresa M. Barbo Director of Communications Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies (508) 487-3622 x103 (office) (774) 353-8034 (mobile) ccsmedia@coastalstudies.org
Owen Nichols # # # | ||
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