From noaa-whale-advisory-l at rain.org Fri Oct 5 11:43:49 2012 From: noaa-whale-advisory-l at rain.org (Whale Advisory E-mail List for NOAA West Coast) Date: Fri, 5 Oct 2012 11:43:49 -0700 Subject: West Coast Whale Announcements: New NOAA Website, Updated Advisories Message-ID: Greetings Whale Advisory Listserv subscribers! Thank you for joining this e-mail list; we hope it will be an effective method for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) staff to communicate whale information for the west coast to members of the shipping industry. We have some important announcements that I would like to share with you. First, we have developed a Shipping Industry Outreachpage on our new Office of National Marine Sanctuaries Ship Strike website. This is a great site to bookmark, because it contains information and materials from recent west coast shipping/NOAA meetings and updates to seasonal whale advisories. Materials from the Sept. 5th meeting at the Port of Oakland are now available; materials from the May 8th meeting in San Pedro will be available soon. Second, there have been some recent changes to our 2012 whale advisories: - In southern California, the 10-knot slow speed recommendation has been discontinued through the Santa Barbara Channel. NOAA continues to advise mariners to exercise caution and reduce speed from Point Arguello to Dana Point, as whales are still being sighted in this area. - In central/northern California, the 10-knot slow speed recommendation has been discontinued in the shipping lanes outside of San Francisco Bay. NOAA continues to advise mariners to exercise caution and reduce speed when traveling around the 100m fathom isobath, Cordell Bank, Farallon Islands and the shipping lanes. ***These notices are included at the end of this message and on our website Additional Announcements: We need your help - if you see a whale in distress or a dead whale, please call: 877-SOS-WHALe (877-767-9425). Please take pictures if possible and be ready to provide the general location of the animal, whether it was alive or dead, the nature of distress, and the animal?s condition. Over the past month, the USCG has received two reports of whale sightings from Maersk and China Shipping Line vessels at the entrance to San Francisco Bay. These sightings help NOAA staff to better understand the distribution of whales in the area. Reports to USCG are relayed to NOAA and are appreciated and encouraged. If you have any questions or comments, please contact Sara Hutto, sara.hutto at noaa.gov, (805) 966-7107. UPDATED West Coast Whale Advisories: SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA - WHALES - POINT ARGUELLO TO DANA POINT NOAA recommends that vessels transiting the area between Point Arguello and Dana Point, including the Traffic Separation Schemes in the Santa Barbara Channel and San Pedro Channel, from May through November, should exercise caution and reduce speed. These areas contain populations of endangered blue, humpback and fin whales. Collisions with these animals resulting in their injury or death is a violation of the Endangered Species Act (16 U.S.C. 1538 et seq.), the Marine Mammal Protection Act (16 U.S.C. 1361 et seq.), and the National Marine Sanctuaries Act (16 U.S.C. 1431 et seq.). Additional information can be found at: http://channelislands.noaa.gov/focus/alert.html, http://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/protect/shipstrike/welcome.html. Mariners are advised that large numbers of whales have recently been observed around Catalina Island south to the waters off of Orange County and to keep a sharp lookout for whales in the area. Please report any collisions with whales or any observed injured or dead whales, including the time and position, to NOAA at 877-SOS-WHALE (877-767-9425) or to the U.S. Coast Guard on VHF Channel 16. CENTRAL AND NORTHERN CALIFORNIA - WHALES - POINT PIEDRAS BLANCAS TO BODEGA BAY NOAA recommends that vessels transiting between Point Piedras Blancas and Bodega Bay during the months of May through November exercise caution and reduce speed when traveling around the following: the 100 fathom isobath, Cordell Bank, Farallon Islands, inbound and outbound of San Francisco Bay. These areas contain populations of endangered blue, humpback and fin whales. Collisions with these animals resulting in their injury or death is a violation of Federal Laws including the Endangered Species Act (16 U.S.C. 1538 et seq.), the Marine Mammal Protection Act (16 U.S.C. 1361 et seq.), and the National Marine Sanctuaries Act (16 U.S.C. 1431 et seq.). -- Sara Hutto Sea Grant Fellow Resource Protection Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary 113 Harbor Way, Suite 150 Santa Barbara, CA 93109-2315 805-966-7107 x371 sara.hutto at noaa.gov -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: