[CINC] Fwd: Marine fuel regs

[Diane Rennell]

Fromk my friend Randy Bush, sailor extraordinaire:
. . . .
Catherine has the gist of it. Here is a short blog entry I did in response
to many inquiries.  Feel free to share.

. . .

Many sailors and frequent passengers in the Santa Barbara Channel have
noticed and asked about the increased  ship traffic in the shipping lanes
in recent months.  Here is the scoop:

Beginning in July of 2009, the California Air Resources Board (CARB),
required all ships operating within 24 nm of the California shoreline to
burn only low-sulfur marine fuel oils.  As you know, the shipping lanes in
the Santa Babara Channel are well within that 24 nm limit.  Since the
low-sulfur fuel costs more, most operators elected to operate outside the
24 nm limit, which resulted in noticeably less traffic in the shipping
lanes.

In December of 2011, the boundary was extended out to 24 nm from the
shorelines of all of the channel islands--substantially further than the
original boundary.  In addition, an exempt zone was created off of Pt.
Conception to encourage ships to enter into the existing shipping lanes.
And finally, many ships are now equipped with fuel switches that enable
them to switch over to the low-sulfur fuel oil when operating off of
California.  Hence, now it is probably less expensive to burn the
low-sulfur oil and transit closer to shore, than to burn the cheaper fuel
and travel the extra distance.  So--most shipping is using the original
lanes again.

On 3/11/2012 8:48 AM, Diane Rennell wrote:



---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Catherine French <cfrench1366 at aol.com>
Date: Sat, Mar 10, 2012 at 7:46 PM
Subject: Re: [CINC] Islander 3-9
To: dean.benjamin at sbcglobal.net, channel_islands_naturalist_corps at rain.org


Sine the AQMD regulations about burning clean fuel have been extended to
include the ocean waters beyond the islands,  vessel Operators have caved
to the new regs that have been getting stiffer over the past few years.
Hence, no good reason to go way off shore to burn cheaper fuel. Thus, we
are just beginning to see an  increase in shipping traffic.

Calm Seas,

Catherine French
Writer, mentor, naturalist
805.570.0432
To own is to have; to share with friends, is to enjoy.



-----Original Message-----
From: Dean Benjamin <dean.benjamin at sbcglobal.net>
To: CINC RAIN List <channel_islands_naturalist_corps at rain.org>
Sent: Sat, Mar 10, 2012 6:55 am
Subject: [CINC] Islander 3-9

AM
200 Common Dolphins


PM
3 Gray Whales
200 Common Dolphins


The morning trip was a raucous one with two 2nd grade classes from
First Presbyterian School of Ventura.  Lots of energy, but the kids were
great and lots of fun.  One small pod of perhaps 25 commons on the way out
to the rig line, then a long time with 200 more between Cavern Point and
San Pedro Point.


The afternoon trip started with 1 Gray about 2 mile2 out of Ventura, but
after Captain Anthony spotted the first spout, it disappeared.  We headed
east and found 200 Common Dolphins along the way, then 2 Grays 2 miles off
of Point Mugu runway.  We followed them on their rapid westerly course,
then out to Anacapa and home.  Visitors from Israel, Dallas, Oklahoma, and
Austin.


Captain Anthony at the helm, with Andrea and Luke crewing.


 Of Note: There were more large vessels in the shipping lanes than I have
seen in quite a while.  I asked Andrea about it and she said she would do
some research and relay her
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