Vessel Speed Reduction to Protect Whales
Container ships are of the largest vessels that transit through the sanctuaries. Credit: Jess Morton/NOAA
Informed by the advisory council recommendations, Greater Farallones and Cordell Bank national marine sanctuaries, in collaboration with the United States Coast Guard, implemented a vessel speed reduction (VSR) program requesting vessels 300 GT (gross tons) and larger to reduce speed to 10 knots (11.5 mph) maximum speed in the shipping lanes approaching and leaving San Francisco Bay, to reduce fatal collisions between ships and whales.
Vessel speed is a contributing factor in the occurrence and severity of vessel collisions with large whale species (Vanderlaan and Taggart 2007), and impact forces involved in a collision increase with increasing vessel speed (Conn and Silber, 2013). In 2008, NOAA issued mandatory vessel speed restrictions of 10 knots or less for all vessels 65 feet and greater in length along the U.S. eastern seaboard in designated seasonal management areas. (NOAA Vessel Speed Restrictions)
Starting in 2015, Greater Farallones and Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuaries have coordinated with Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary to issue voluntary Vessel Speed Reduction (VSR) requests from May 1 through December 15 to slow vessels during the period of peak whale abundance in the San Francisco and southern California regions to reduce vessel strike risk. NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries distributes this 10-knot speed request in partnership with NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the Environmental Protection Agency through the U.S. Coast Guard’s published and broadcast Local Notice to Mariners (LMN), NOAA hourly broadcasts on marine band weather radio, and direct communication with the maritime community through email and letters to the shipping industry. This includes bar pilots, Pacific Merchant Shipping Association, Harbor Safety Committees, West Coast ports, commercial operators, and other government organizations.
In 2023, the San Francisco region VSR zone was expanded to include the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, and the southern California VSR zone was expanded to include recent International Maritime Organization modifications to the Santa Barbara Channel Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS) and Area To Be Avoided (ATBA).
Through the Protecting Blue Whales and Blue Skies Program partnership and direct NOAA outreach, the sanctuaries annually recognize shipping lines with high levels of cooperation in reducing speed in the VSR zones. This is done publicly, through news media and advertising in international and regional shipping industry publications, and helps foster a growing partnership between commerce and conservation, leading to increased protection for endangered whales. At the end of each season, NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries sends summary statistics about VSR cooperation to shipping lines with vessels over 300 GT that transited within the VSR zones during the season time frame. Sanctuaries report vessel speed reduction progress at public Sanctuary Advisory Council meetings. View the Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council updates here: 2014, 2015, 2018, 2019, 2022.
Partnership with Air Districts to Slow Vessels
Sapphire award winning companies who showed a high level of cooperation with NOAA sanctuaries vessel speed reduction program. Credit: Jess Morten/NOAA
In addition to reducing the risk of lethal ship strikes to whales, VSRs also reduce air pollution. NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, in collaboration with California air control districts and partnering foundations, conducts the "Protecting Blue Whales and Blue Skies" incentive program from May through November which offers container and car carrier lines relation incentives based on the percent of distance traveled by their vessels through the VSR zones at 10 knots or less. The program encourages the fastest ships to travel more slowly, producing less air pollution and reducing the risk of lethal ship strikes. The VSR program contributed toward the goal adopted by the International Maritime Organization in April 2018 to reduce the total annual GHG emission by at least 50% by 2050 compared to 2008. "A modest 10% speed reduction across the global fleet has been estimated to reduce overall GHG emissions by around 13% (Faber et al., 2017) and improve the probability of meeting GHG targets by 23% (Comer et al., 2018)" (Leaper 2019).
Ships transiting the California coast generate nitrogen oxides (NOx, a component of smog), sulfur oxides (SOx), particle pollution, and greenhouse gases. For example, in 2020, 16 shipping companies slowed to 10 knots or less for a total of 181,306 nautical miles, which reduced 748 tons of smog-forming nitrogen oxides (NOx) and 24,258 tons of GHGs. The typical passenger vehicle emits about 4.6 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year. In 2020 the VSR program removed the equivalent of 5,273 smog-forming cars from the road.