Large cargo ships will change direction on the California coast to protect endangered whales from ship accidents.
The decision to change the course of cargo ships was taken to save endangered whales from shipping accidents. The large travelling vessels will be directed to new traffic lanes, Saturday, using the San Francisco Bay, the Santa Barbara Channel and the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
The federal maritime officials discussed the issue with the shipping industry and environmentalists over a two-year period in a bid to protect the whale population.
According to the CBS Local News, only about 2,000 blue whales, 2,000 fin whales and about 2,500 humpback whales remain in existence in the northeast Pacific.
"Our goal is a balance between the safe passage of commercial vessels into our busy ports and protection of endangered whale populations in and adjacent to national marine sanctuaries," William Douros of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in a statement, according to CBS News.
The blue whales are the world's largest animals growing up to 90 feet long, but they are no match to the gigantic cargo ships, which are about four football fields long.
This effort to decrease the fatal whale strikes may be a good choice, but according to John Calambokidis, an Olympia Wash.-based scientist who has studied ship strikes off the West Coast for decades and who participated in the effort, it may not be a concrete solution to the problem. "This will be a significant improvement but it will only result in a modest reduction in ship strikes and there are a number of additional steps we need to take to make more progress on this," he adds, reports CBS.
The Pacific Merchant Shipping Association has extended its support to this effort to balance human and marine life.
"We are in full agreement with the shipping changes as they will help assure the protection of both human and marine life and the continued safe and efficient flow of commerce in and out of California ports," TL Garrett, the association's vice president, said.
