MARINE MAMMAL COMMISSION - Annual Report for 1998 



either were not seen in front of a ship or were not 

 seen in time to avoid the collision. In this regard, 

 large vessels under way have a limited ability to 

 change course or speed within distances of a few 

 thousand yards. Third, it is often impossible to see 

 whales beyond a few hundred yards (e.g., in fog, at 

 night, or when whales are submerged). 



To meet this challenge, efforts have been focused 

 on the following approaches: (1) modifying operating 

 procedures for government vessels that frequently 

 transit key right whale habitats; (2) establishing early 

 warning systems to advise vessel operators of the 

 location of whales on a real-time basis and on the 

 need for special caution; (3) preparing educational 

 materials for mariners on the need and ways to avoid 

 hitting right whales with ships; (4) developing manda- 

 tory ship reporting systems in key right whale habi- 

 tats; and (5) conducting research to better understand 

 and mitigate collision risks. 



Vessel Operating Procedures — The U.S. Navy, 

 the Coast Guard, and the Army Corps of Engineers 

 routinely operate vessels in waters where right whales 

 occur. The Navy has several major installations, 

 including the Kings Bay Submarine Base and the 

 Mayport Naval Station, adjacent to the right whale 

 calving grounds off Florida and Georgia; the Coast 

 Guard carries out enforcement and search and rescue 

 missions throughout the right whale's range along the 

 U.S. Atlantic coast; and the Corps of Engineers 

 oversees the operation of dredges in ship channels 

 extending into the right whale calving grounds. Each 

 of these agencies, in consultation with the National 

 Marine Fisheries Service, has developed vessel 

 operating directives to reduce the risk of hitting right 

 whales while continuing to meet their respective 

 missions. In so doing, these agencies have helped to 

 define new standards of prudent seamanship with 

 regard to operating large vessels in essential right 

 whale habitats. 



The Corps of Engineers was the first agency to 

 establish special measures to protect right whales. 

 Some dredges transporting dredged spoil to offshore 

 disposal sites are capable of speeds approaching 15 

 knots. Since 1989 the Corps has required that dredg- 

 es operating in the right whale calving area during the 

 calving season (December through March) post a 



lookout trained in detecting right whales. If a right 

 whale is seen, the dredge must slow to 5 knots. This 

 speed also is to be maintained when a right whale has 

 been reported within 15 miles (24 km) of a dredge's 

 transit corridor during the previous 24 hours and 

 when transiting at night or during other periods of 

 limited visibility (e.g., fog). 



Special operating directives to protect right whales 

 were issued for Navy and Coast Guard vessels in 

 1996. As with Corps dredges, the Navy has directed 

 that its vessels operating in the right whale calving 

 area during the calving season must post a lookout 

 trained in identifying right whales. If a right whale is 

 seen from the ship or reported within 5 miles (8 km) 

 of a ship's position during the previous 12 hours, the 

 vessel is to slow to a speed below normal safe operat- 

 ing speeds (e.g., less than 15 knots) and, if necessary, 

 to slow to the minimum speed needed to control the 

 vessel's course. To ensure that its vessel operators 

 are aware of recent right whale sighting reports, all 

 Navy ships entering the area's designated right whale 

 critical habitat plus a buffer area 5 nautical miles 

 (nmi) wide around the critical habitat, must contact 

 the Navy's Fleet Activities Control and Surveillance 

 Facility before doing so. The facility, which serves 

 as a clearinghouse for the regional right whale early 

 warning system (see below), relays whale sighting 

 locations as they are received and, based on these 

 sightings, may issue special whale protection recom- 

 mendations to Navy ships in the area. 



In addition, the Navy has issued other directives 

 applicable to its ships during the calving season. 

 These include prohibiting north-south transits of the 

 calving area to minimize travel distance through areas 

 where right whales are most abundant; avoiding vessel 

 approaches closer than 500 yards (457 m) to right 

 whales; to the extent possible, limiting night transits 

 through the calving area; moving gunnery and bomb- 

 ing ranges farther offshore and away from the desig- 

 nated critical habitat and the associated buffer area; 

 requiring that gunnery and bombing exercises use 

 inert ordnance; and limiting vessel exercises within 

 the critical habitat and the buffer area to those that can 

 be conducted at very slow speed. 



To reduce the chances that its vessels might hit a 

 right whale, the Coast Guard has directed its cutters 



