Ship Speed Limit May Help Rare Whales Survive Strikes
Last Monday, researchers aboard a Cessna aircraft spotted a right whale and her calf loitering in the Atlantic about six miles east of Hilton Head Island, S.C. They fired off a bulletin to the Coast Guard, the Navy, and ship captains up and down the coast:
"WHALE ALERT 18NM NE "T" (SCGA003) 24NOV2008, 1440(L), 3209.3N, 08027.8W, 1 ADULT, 1 CALF, NW"
The endangered North Atlantic right whale can live as long as a human being. It breathes air, like other mammals, but can submerge for 30 minutes and feed on plankton 600 feet below the surface. It generally stays close to shore but can cross the open ocean from Maine to Norway. What this creature cannot do, usually, is survive a collision with a ship.
That's a critical problem this time of year, when pregnant females cruise south from the cold waters off Canada and New England to the warm nursery off the southeastern U.S. seaboard. It's a journey of 1,500 miles or so, through some of the busiest shipping lanes in the world.
