Blue Whales and Blue Skies Vessel Speed Reduction Programme
node · earth · California coast
A voluntary scheme asking large vessels of 300 gross tons or more to slow to 10 knots or less through designated zones along the California coast, covering feeding grounds and migration corridors, and incentivising shipping lines to comply. Reporting on the 2025 season states that 787 vessels from 44 shipping lines slowed over more than 481,000 nautical miles, that participating vessels cut fatal strike risk to blue, fin and humpback whales by 40 percent against a 2016 baseline, and that underwater radiated noise intensity fell by 70 percent. It is being extended as a statewide voluntary programme under California Assembly Bill 14. It is a rare case where a mitigation for a migratory species is measured in the same units as the shipping it regulates.
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