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MARINE MAMMALS The Office of General Counsel for International Law Right Whales and Ship Strikes The International Maritime Organization Approves U.S. Proposal to Realign the Traffic Separation Scheme Servicing Boston to Protect Critically Endangered North Atlantic Right Whales (December 9, 2006). In April 2006, the United States submitted to the International Maritime Organization (IMO) a proposal to reconfigure the "Traffic Separation Scheme" (TSS) that services Boston, Massachusetts. The proposed realignment was developed by NOAA and backed by a U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) analysis regarding navigational safety. Involving only a 12-degree shift in the northern leg and narrowing the two traffic lanes by approximately one-half mile each way, the realignment is expected to provide a significant reduction in ship strike risk to right whales and all baleen whale species occurring in the area, with minimal concurrent impact to mariners using the TSS. NOAA estimates that the changes in the TSS will result in a 58 percent reduction in the risk of ship strikes to right whales, and an 81 percent risk reduction in ship strikes of other large whale species occurring in the area. The IMO's Maritime Safety Committee endorsed the proposal on December 9, 2006. Additional reference information: "NOAA and Coast Guard Help Shift Boston Ship Traffic Lane to Reduce Risk of Collisions with North Atlantic Right Whales" (June 28, 2007). News Releases: NOAA and US Coast Guard. (HTML) NOAA Coastal Service Center, "Changing Lanes: Shifting Boston's Shipping Route to Help Protect Whales." (November/December 2007) (HTML) IMO Circular 58 (December 11, 2006) (HTM) as amended (February 26, 2007). (HTM) Also available at: IMO Circ. 58 (2006) and IMO Circ. 58 (2007). (PDF) Recommended Routes to Reduce Ship Strikes to North Atlantic Right Whales (November 17, 2006). Further reducing the anthropogenic threat of ship strikes to endangered right whales, NOAA, again backed by analysis and prepared by the USCG, established recommended shipping routes in key right whale aggregation areas on November 17, 2006. The routes have been established within Cape Cod Bay and the calving/nursery areas in waters off Georgia and Florida. Positioning of the routes is based on data from the USCG/NOAA jointly operated Mandatory Ship Reporting systems, and years of right whale sighting data. They are an attempt to reduce the co-occurrence of whales and ships by minimizing ship transit times in whale habitat, avoiding specific whale aggregation areas, while also ensuring navigational safety and minimizing adverse effects on the shipping industry. If routine use of the recommended routes is low (although it is not expected to be), NOAA will consider making the routes mandatory. Additional reference information: Further information on the routes, charts depicting where they occur, and a related press release can be found at Ship Strike Routes. (HTM) "Endangered Right Whales Headed South for Winter, Alert for Mariners and Fishers in Southeast U.S. Waters," NOAA News Release (November 13, 2007) (HTM)