Blue whales that live in the North Pacific Ocean are the largest animals on Earth, and they are also endangered. There is a growing blue whale population of around 25 hundred that lives off the coast of California, but a new study shows that shipping lanes between Los Angeles and San Francisco cross the whales’ feeding habitat.
Blue whales that live in the North Pacific Ocean are the largest animals on Earth, and they are also endangered.
There is a blue whale population of around 25 hundred that lives off the coast of California,
but a new study shows that shipping lanes between Los Angeles and San Francisco cross the whales’ feeding habitat.
Even though there are already speed limits and whale tracking systems in place, three whales were killed by ship strikes in 2007, and at least a hundred whales were hit between the years 1988 and 2012 according to statistics from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Researchers suggest that the shipping lanes be moved south to protect the animals.
Daniel Palacios of Oregon State University's Marine Mammal Institute is quoted as saying: “You will eliminate many of the ship strikes on blue whales by moving the shipping lanes south of the northern Channel Islands.”
But because the United States Navy reportedly has testing sites nearby the shipping lanes, rerouting them will be difficult.
The International Maritime Organization has already moved some of their shipping lanes to reduce the potential danger to whales in the area.
