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Asking yielded little cooperation.
Four years ago, federal officials set up a voluntary program, asking ships to slow down in the Santa Barbara Channel to prevent deadly collisions with whales. The measures took effect for a few months each year, when whales are drawn to the area by heaping supplies of krill.
But fewer than 1 percent of ships have cooperated, said Sean Hastings, resource protection coordinator with the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary.
Officials now are looking at offering the shipping industry an incentive to slow down — a proposal also endorsed by those responsible for cutting air pollution.
"It's a complex problem. ... We're looking at it in a lot of ways," said Eric Kett, chairman of the Sanctuary Advisory Council and a longtime dive boat captain.
Officials say slowing down might help ships avoid whales or vice versa, and also reduces the likelihood that a whale involved in a collision will be killed.
While the voluntary measures haven't garnered much compliance, an incentive program could help by compensating ships for the lost time.
Meanwhile, the slower speeds also could cut the amount of greenhouse emissions by as much as 50 percent, according to the Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District.
"Speed reduction is a tool in the toolbox that is under serious consideration for the whales and very serious consideration for air quality," said Brian Shafritz, a division manager for the agency.
To get funding, officials have proposed the idea to the California Air Resources Board, which recently reached out to the public on how it should use proceeds from greenhouse gas cap-and-trade auctions.
The cap-and-trade program was a key component of California's landmark legislation that sought to roll back greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. Along with setting a cap on greenhouse emissions, the plan called for letting businesses exceed that cap by buying credits to do so.
Auctions are scheduled to start later this year, and officials have received a range of requests on how the money should be used. Any use must reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
In its letter to the board, Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District notes that a successful incentive program already exists in the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles. The program, which rewards shipping operators for voluntarily reducing speeds when approaching the ports, cuts pollution and has high rates of compliance.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is in its fifth year of voluntary measures on ship speeds for large vessels traveling among Sandy Point, Santa Rosa Island and Point Hueneme.
It's hard to say whether the increased awareness may have had an impact. Each year, officials find three to five whales that have been struck by ships along the California coast, but authorities think the real number could be 10 times greater, Hastings said. Once hit, whales sink or drift away, leaving many collisions undetected.
Instead of mandatory speed reductions, officials decided to work with the shipping industry, try the voluntary recommendations and work on moving shipping lanes away from whales. Recently, an international group that governs shipping worldwide agreed to move the lanes about a mile away, which will be a big step forward, Hastings said.
Shipping industry officials, which also support moving the lanes, have tried to be proactive on the issue, said T.L. Garrett, vice president of the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association.
"Our goal is to limit or minimize the negative interactions between whales and ships," he said.
But they want a plan based on good science and want to see definitive research on the effectiveness of slowing down, Garrett said. The scope of the area involved also can be an issue for shipping operators expected to deliver cargo on a set schedule, he said.
In effort to boost cooperation this year, federal officials set a new slow speed zone, reducing it from about 100 to 65 miles that have the highest concentrations of whales, Hastings said.
His agency also is optimistic with plans for an incentive-based program, which would compensate the ships for their lost time and has garnered a broad base of support, he said.
Research into the whales' behavior is ongoing, but studies show that whales are more likely to survive a collision with a slow-moving ship, he said. "Slower ships are safer ships for whales."
Four years ago, federal officials set up a voluntary program, asking ships to slow down in the Santa Barbara Channel to prevent deadly collisions with whales. The measures took effect for a few months each year, when whales are drawn to the area by heaping supplies of krill.
But fewer than 1 percent of ships have cooperated, said Sean Hastings, resource protection coordinator with the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary.
Officials now are looking at offering the shipping industry an incentive to slow down — a proposal also endorsed by those responsible for cutting air pollution.
"It's a complex problem. ... We're looking at it in a lot of ways," said Eric Kett, chairman of the Sanctuary Advisory Council and a longtime dive boat captain.
Officials say slowing down might help ships avoid whales or vice versa, and also reduces the likelihood that a whale involved in a collision will be killed.
While the voluntary measures haven't garnered much compliance, an incentive program could help by compensating ships for the lost time.
Meanwhile, the slower speeds also could cut the amount of greenhouse emissions by as much as 50 percent, according to the Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District.
"Speed reduction is a tool in the toolbox that is under serious consideration for the whales and very serious consideration for air quality," said Brian Shafritz, a division manager for the agency.
To get funding, officials have proposed the idea to the California Air Resources Board, which recently reached out to the public on how it should use proceeds from greenhouse gas cap-and-trade auctions.
The cap-and-trade program was a key component of California's landmark legislation that sought to roll back greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. Along with setting a cap on greenhouse emissions, the plan called for letting businesses exceed that cap by buying credits to do so.
Auctions are scheduled to start later this year, and officials have received a range of requests on how the money should be used. Any use must reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
In its letter to the board, Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District notes that a successful incentive program already exists in the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles. The program, which rewards shipping operators for voluntarily reducing speeds when approaching the ports, cuts pollution and has high rates of compliance.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is in its fifth year of voluntary measures on ship speeds for large vessels traveling among Sandy Point, Santa Rosa Island and Point Hueneme.
It's hard to say whether the increased awareness may have had an impact. Each year, officials find three to five whales that have been struck by ships along the California coast, but authorities think the real number could be 10 times greater, Hastings said. Once hit, whales sink or drift away, leaving many collisions undetected.
Instead of mandatory speed reductions, officials decided to work with the shipping industry, try the voluntary recommendations and work on moving shipping lanes away from whales. Recently, an international group that governs shipping worldwide agreed to move the lanes about a mile away, which will be a big step forward, Hastings said.
Shipping industry officials, which also support moving the lanes, have tried to be proactive on the issue, said T.L. Garrett, vice president of the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association.
"Our goal is to limit or minimize the negative interactions between whales and ships," he said.
But they want a plan based on good science and want to see definitive research on the effectiveness of slowing down, Garrett said. The scope of the area involved also can be an issue for shipping operators expected to deliver cargo on a set schedule, he said.
In effort to boost cooperation this year, federal officials set a new slow speed zone, reducing it from about 100 to 65 miles that have the highest concentrations of whales, Hastings said.
His agency also is optimistic with plans for an incentive-based program, which would compensate the ships for their lost time and has garnered a broad base of support, he said.
Research into the whales' behavior is ongoing, but studies show that whales are more likely to survive a collision with a slow-moving ship, he said. "Slower ships are safer ships for whales."
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