The Santa Barbara Channel off of California. Photo: Cascadia Research | John Calambokidis
According to a report for the Los Angeles Times, a trial program developed by federal wildlife officials, environmentalists and air quality regulators is telling cargo ships to SLOW DOWN. How “persuasive” are they willing to be? Well, they’re putting their money where their mouth is.
The voluntary initiative is an effort to combat both air pollution and collisions involving blue whales. Presently, the shipping lanes overlap with prime feeding areas for the migrating marine mammals, off the coast of Santa Barbara, California. How much, exactly, are they planning on compensating the shippers for their whale-conscious ways? $2500 for each trip through the 130-mile stretch from Point Conception to the Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex completed with a maximum speed of 12 knots, down from a normal cruising speed of 14 to 18 knots.
Currently six companies are participating in a total of 16 of these reduced-speed trips running July through October.
Read the full story over at LATimes.com. And be sure to check out a recent study on the environmental impacts from the Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Bourns College of Engineering, at the University of California, Riverside.
