Latest news with #shipstrikes
Washington Post
03-07-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
Canada to take steps to protect vanishing North Atlantic right whales from ships
The Canadian government says it is taking steps this summer to protect a vanishing species of whale from lethal collisions with ships in its waters. The whale is the North Atlantic right whale , which numbers only about 370. The whales give birth off the southeastern U.S. in the winter and spring and migrate north to New England and Canada to feed. Along the way, the whales face dangers including ship strikes and entanglement in commercial fishing gear. Environmental groups have long faulted the U.S. and Canadian governments for not doing enough to protect the critically endangered animals. Canada is enforcing mandatory protection measures for the whale this summer, Transport Canada said in a June 27 statement. All vessels of 42.7 feet (13 meters) in length or more must comply with speed restrictions in designated areas of the ocean to avoid whale strikes, the agency said. Transport Canada said it is also requesting voluntary slowdowns in other parts of the ocean. The restrictions reflect the agency's commitment 'to the protection and conservation of endangered North Atlantic right whales,' the agency said. 'Transport Canada has been taking action to help protect this iconic species from vessel collisions in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, a high-traffic area where right whales are often seen,' the statement said. The restrictions are being enforced at a time when scientists are voicing concern about a lack of right whale reproduction . The New England Aquarium in Boston said earlier this year that this year's calving season produced only 11 mother-calf pairs. U.S. government authorities have said the whales need to have at least 50 calves per season to start recovering the population. The U.S. government decided earlier this year to withdraw a proposal that would have required more ships to slow down in East Coast waters to spare the whale. The move came in the final days of President Joe Biden's administration and federal ocean managers said there was no way to implement the rules before President Donald Trump took office in January. The whale was once abundant off the East Coast, but it was decimated long ago during the commercial whaling era. It has been protected by the U.S. Endangered Species Act for decades, but has been slow to recover.
BBC News
19-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
No structural damage to Brooklyn Bridge after ship crash
Update: Date: 20:16 BST Title: NTSB focused on ship strikes to bridges in recent months Content: Graham says the NTSB has recently issued recommendations for limiting risks of bridge collapse after ship strikes, referring to actions in the aftermath of the Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore in March 2024. New York officials say they have run this assessment and their calculation is below the threshold for concern for collapse. Update: Date: 20:14 BST Title: No significant structural damage to Brooklyn Bridge Content: Graham of the NTSB says there was "no significant structural damage" to the load-bearing parts of the Brooklyn Bridge, but there is some minor damage. There are no "structural issues" to the bridge at this point, Graham adds. Update: Date: 20:14 BST Title: NTSB working with Mexican government to access ship Content: Graham says the NTSB is currently working with Mexican government officials to gain access to the ship and he is optimistic that they'll have that soon. He said the US Coast Guard and the city's Department of Transportation will also participate in the investigation. Update: Date: 20:12 BST Title: 'This is the start of a long process' - NTSB Content: Graham goes on to say that the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will have a preliminary report in 30 days. It could take 12-24 months for a full investigation, the NTSB member says, but adds an urgent safety recommendation could be issued earlier if they see "some kind of safety issue". Update: Date: 20:11 BST Title: NTSB looking to gather 'perishable evidence' Content: Graham tells reporters the NTSB got to the scene yesterday and they are there to gather "perishable evidence" for their investigation. He said the investigation will take as long as needed, but cautions that he will draw conclusions or speculate about the cause of the crash today. Update: Date: 20:10 BST Title: NTSB gives condolences, confirming two people were killed Content: Michael Graham of the National Transportation Safety Board is speaking now, and begins by giving his "sincere condolences" after confirming two were killed after the crash. Update: Date: 20:05 BST Title: News conference begins Content: Authorities have stepped up to the microphone to give an update on Saturday's crash at the Brooklyn Bridge. Stick with us as we bring you all the top lines. Update: Date: 20:04 BST Title: In photos: ship crashes into the Brooklyn Bridge Content: The Mexican Navy ship crashes into Brooklyn Bridge at around 20:20 local time All three masts collapsed and footage shows some of the crew members dangling from the yards and sails The ship left the Mexican port of Acapulco on 6 April and its final destination was intended to be Iceland Update: Date: 19:58 BST Title: What happened with the crash? Content: On Saturday evening, a Mexican Navy ship crashed into the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City, leaving two sailors dead and several others injured. The Cuauhtémoc, a training ship, had 277 people on board and is believed to have lost power before the crash. Here's what happened: Update: Date: 19:56 BST Title: Watch: Moment Mexican Navy ship crashes into Brooklyn Bridge Content: The training tall ship ARM Cuauhtémoc crashed into Brooklyn Bridge on Saturday evening - watch it happen below. This video can not be played Video shows ship crashing into Brooklyn Bridge Update: Date: 19:56 BST Title: Brooklyn Bridge Navy ship crash press conference expected shortly Content: Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the aftermath of the Brooklyn Bridge ship crash, which happened on Saturday evening. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) - which is the US transport investigative agency - is expected to hold a news conference very shortly (15:00 EDT). We expect there to be updates from after the crash, which killed two young Navy cadets and left three other sailors critically injured. They were among the 277 crew members on board the Mexican Navy's sailing ship - known as the Cuauhtémoc - when its three masts snapped as they hit the bridge. You can follow the news conference live by pressing Watch Live at the top of this page, and we'll be filing any news lines as they come, so stick with us.
The Guardian
07-05-2025
- Science
- The Guardian
‘It's like putting a whale in a blender': the rise of deadly ship collisions in Chile
T he memory of a blue whale gliding past his small boat haunts Patricio Ortiz. A deep wound disfigured the crustacean's giant body – a big chunk had been ripped from its dorsal fin. Cargo ships are the only adversary capable of inflicting such harm on a blue whale, he says. 'Nothing can be done when they're up against those floating monsters.' Ortiz captains whale-watching expeditions for researchers and small tourist groups and has worked in Chile's Chañaral de Aceituno since 1978 – initially as a fisher. 'The whales are why I've stayed.' Patricio Ortiz says he has seen cargo ships travelling at 24-30 knots on the open sea. Photograph: Francis Pérez/The Guardian It is a place where time has stood still: the cove is dotted with small artisanal fishing boats, and a bus comes past only twice a day. While the village has retained an antiquated charm, Ortiz has observed worrying developments at sea. Shipping lanes are increasingly congested, and whales are paying the price. Chile records the world's highest whale mortality caused by ship strikes. A study published in the journal Marine Policy this year found that over the past decade Chile averaged five whale deaths a year due to ship collisions. Sri Lanka and the US west coast followed with between three and four killed annually, based on necropsies of dead beached whales. Researchers estimate these numbers are the tip of the iceberg, accounting for approximately 10% of the total deaths. Most struck whales sink or float out to sea, and carcasses that wash up on shore often lie undiscovered. 'The numbers only account for the carcasses we're finding on the coast,' says Frederick Toro, a vet at Santo Tomás University and lead author of the study. Toro, who conducts the necropsies, says the signs of collision are telling: 'We once located a giant haematoma [blood clot] in a blue whale's heart. That means something struck it with a lot of force,' he says. Susannah Buchan and her team tag whales so they can calculate the average probability of collision. Photograph: Francis Perez/The Guardian Chile's waters are home to 40% of the world's whale species, including at-risk baleen species such as the blue whale, sei whale and fin whale and the Marine Policy paper identifies a geographical correlation between dead whale sightings and saturated shipping lanes. 'These areas are big hubs of marine traffic associated with mining, fishing, cargo, transport and salmon farming,' says Susannah Buchan, an oceanographer at the University of Concepción and a co-author of the paper. She stresses that there are 'strike hotspots' in 'virtually every area' of Chile, from the copper-heavy mining zones of Antofagasta in the north to the very southern tip of the country in Magallanes, which is populated by industrial salmon fisheries. A short-finned pilot whale is left unable to swim after its tail was severed by a boat propeller, in Tenerife, the Canary Isles – another collision hotspot – in 2019. Photograph: Francis Pérez I n Chañaral de Aceituno, Buchan's team is tagging fin whales to compile a comprehensive dataset that, she hopes, will guide government policy on reducing strikes. Fin whales, the second-largest species, have the highest number of recorded deaths. Buchan and her team take a boat 10 minutes into the open sea, kill the engine and float silently, listening for blows and splashes. It is the oldest whale-tracking method in the book, yet still, they insist, the most effective. Once the animal is detected, the boat draws alongside it, never crossing its path. Racing with the whale at speeds of up to 45mph (72km/h), Buchan readies the tag – she only has seconds to apply it. When the animal eventually crests, she leaps forcefully towards the boat's edge, ensuring the tag's suction pads attach firmly. If successful, the tag will stay on the whale's body for up to 30 hours, monitoring dive depth, how far below the surface the whale feeds, and for how long. Once attached to a whale, the tag will stay on its body for up to 30 hours. Photograph: Francis Pérez/The Guardian This information helps the team calculate an average probability of collision. 'The more the whale is in 0-20 metres depths, the higher probability it will be exposed to strike,' says Buchan. skip past newsletter promotion Sign up to Global Dispatch Get a different world view with a roundup of the best news, features and pictures, curated by our global development team Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. after newsletter promotion The tags also register how much whales communicate. On average, 60% of the tagged fin whales do not vocalise. 'This is relevant because mining companies present acoustic buoys [floating devices used to record and transmit underwater sound] as a solution to the ship strike problem,' says Buchan. In Chile, it is common for private companies to build bespoke ports rather than share a centralised hub. This is largely due to mining companies operating in remote areas without existing infrastructure. The tags monitor the depth at which the whales feed and how much they communicate. Photograph: Francis Pérez/The Guardian However, this has led to a proliferation of privatised ports that lack cohesive environmental regulation. Chile has 56 ports, only 10 of which are state owned. 'Chile lives off mining, that's a reality. But what seems to be a lack of vision and planning is that every mining project has its own port,' says Buchan. 'There is no big picture.' The waters around Chañaral de Aceituno have long been encircled by the private companies, despite the fact that it is a protected marine habitat and refuge to species including whales, penguins and otters. One project aiming to operate in the area is Dominga, a $2.5bn (£1.9bn) mining-port operation, which was rejected in January for the third time over environmental concerns. Andes Iron, the company behind the project, has vowed to appeal against the decision. 'You wouldn't put a massive highway next to an area full of schools, would you?' says Buchan, who worries that the placid waters around Chañaral de Aceituno could turn into the next hotspot for whale strikes. The necropsy of a fin whale hit by a ship in Talcahuano, Chile. Researchers believe the bodies found on the country's beaches represent about 10% of total deaths. Photograph: Pablo Espinoza While academics and environmental activists oppose new port projects, they also highlight the need for greater regulations, including speed limits, to be implemented in existing strike hotspots. A strike from a cargo ship travelling at more than 18 knots [21mph], says Buchan, is like 'putting a whale in a blender'. Chile's undersecretariat of fisheries and aquaculture says its objective is to 'mitigate and reduce' ship collisions, but it also stresses that local governments have a responsibility to consider measures such as vessel speed restrictions and the modification of shipping routes in critical habitats. Meanwhile, back at Chañaral de Aceituno, Ortiz gazes at the small fishing boats dotted along the sleepy bay. He has seen cargo ships pass by him at 24-30 knots on the open sea, and worries the strike problem will only worsen. 'In this place, you can see the world's largest whales to the smallest, only 10 minutes from the shoreline,' he says, pointing towards the expanse of ocean. 'It's a diamond in the rough. What we have, we have to look after.'
