Big ships entering and leaving Puget Sound will be asked to slow down to reduce underwater noise this fall in an effort to help the Pacific Northwest’s critically endangered orcas.
Washington state is importing the voluntary slowdown from British Columbia for container ships, tankers, freighters, cruise ships and car carriers coming from the Canadian province, Northwest News NetworkThe slowdown is scheduled to run from Oct. 24 to Dec. 22 and covers the shipping lanes from Admiralty Inlet by Port Townsend south to Kingston and Mukilteo.
Aronson said for most the request would be a 30% to 50% slowdown over 20 nautical miles. She estimated that participating might add between 10 minutes to an hour of ships’ travel time, depending on their usual speed. The population of resident killer whales in the waters of the Pacific Northwest and southwestern British Columbia has declined to 73 individuals. Orcas primarily use sound — including echolocation — to hunt for food, orient and communicate. Ship noise can mask the whale calls, effectively blinding the mammals.
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