Right Whale Change In Speed Restriction

Vessel Big Eagle was fined $6000 for violating the right whale speed restriction in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Applies to vessels over 13 meters, about 42.5'.
https://www.workboat.com/news/gover...jYVF5SDhlbjZwZWgrSk9hS1dBU2YrQTlxZnYzMkQifQ==

I hope local governments in the PNW don't find out about that.

This vessel was one caught but you cannot imagine how many do not respect navigation rules in place in gulf of St Lawrence.
I spent a week in the gulf of st lawrence, right where whales come to nest and reproduce. In a week I spotted at least 5 not being compliant, one CMA CGM container ship was cruising at 17knots, another bulk carrier at 15knots and so on.
If only coast guard were more vigilant on this they would respect more the rules. Also what is 6k$ for a ship moving hundred of millions in goods...

And even if you are not a whale lover it is hard to imagine the damage these are doing. In Montreal area one island already disapeared because of erosion caused by the waves, another already lost a third of its area.

L

Lou_tribal said:

This vessel was one caught but you cannot imagine how many do not respect navigation rules in place in gulf of St Lawrence.
I spent a week in the gulf of st lawrence, right where whales come to nest and reproduce. In a week I spotted at least 5 not being compliant, one CMA CGM container ship was cruising at 17knots, another bulk carrier at 15knots and so on.
If only coast guard were more vigilant on this they would respect more the rules. Also what is 6k$ for a ship moving hundred of millions in goods...
L

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You could call the USCG and suggest they come out and track the offenders.

OldDan1943 said:

You could call the USCG and suggest they come out and track the offenders.

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In my case it would be the CCG
But honestly, with AIS data it is not difficult to get SOG even if not right beside the vessel, this is more a matter of really want to enforce the rules... or not.

L

Lou_tribal said:

In my case it would be the CCG
But honestly, with AIS data it is not difficult to get SOG even if not right beside the vessel, this is more a matter of really want to enforce the rules... or not.

L

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Lou, you would report a drunk driver of a car speeding car endangering other drivers. So report a speeding boat.
If the get enough of those $6000 tickets, the company will be pissed at the Captain. Also, with many tickets, the captain may not be permitted in Canadian waters.

So I'll bite..
Is the GSL littered from the rotting carcass's of right wales?
Do they not tend to either sound or divert when they hear ( from miles away no doubt) a fast craft approaching?
The only time I ever have gotten near a whale ( at least that I saw ) was while sailing at about 5kts.. and I swear it came along side to have a look then passed us .
HOLLYWOOD

Well the fact is that in gulf of st laurence there are navigation rules that apply. Like it or not, agree or not, these are rules and were put in place because there were events of collision between boat and whales and also because this is a nesting/feeding area.
So these rules should be followed and respected, like it or not, agree or not, for whales, for erosion matter and so on.
And like on road or in the air, people should follow these rules or be sanctioned.

Another example... On Rideau waterway, speed limit is 5 knots, but also the rule is to be careful about your wave, waterway is narrow, and there are people living around as well as protected ecosystems that may be damaged by erosion from waves... but this did not prevent me to see some bloody idiots going 20knots on cruisers but also some trawlers at 8 knots making strong waves. Again it comes back to care about where you are and your impact. You may be just passing by, but some people are living there.

L

Lou, I agree with you. However, many of our fellow old-fart boaters don’t like ANT regulations, particularly if it is put in place for environmental concerns.

The other issue is one unique to the US where a large segment of our population simply don’t think that rules of any kind should apply to them. When faced with an inconvenient regulation or law, their first thought is “what is the likelihood that I’ll get caught?”

So what if there is massive beach erosion from wakes, or a few whales out of a population of 400 are killed by collisions? If the whales are too stupid to get out of the way they should become extinct. If erosion is such a problem, then the owners of the land being eroded should have known better than to buy it in the first place. No wake zones only are there to coddle the unprepared.... and so on, and so on....

We are experiencing extremely high waters here at this time. A lot of peoples seawalls are almost submerged so wakes are going over the seawalls. Unfortunately some idiots ignore the law and throw wakes over the low seawalls and are damaging property to say nothing about the boats that get damaged. Local LE just announced that they will issue citations if you get a photo of the boat making a wake and the registration numbers are visible. I think that is wonderful since there aren’t that many LE on the water and they seem to never be where they are needed. As a boat operator, I should be held responsible for knowing and following the laws, and not just when they are convenient.

hollywood8118 said:

So I'll bite..
Is the GSL littered from the rotting carcass's of right wales?
Do they not tend to either sound or divert when they hear ( from miles away no doubt) a fast craft approaching?
The only time I ever have gotten near a whale ( at least that I saw ) was while sailing at about 5kts.. and I swear it came along side to have a look then passed us .
HOLLYWOOD

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In 2017-2019, 18 Right Whales died in GSL waters. Half of them couldn't be examined but of the 9 that have a cause of death listed, 7 were from vessel strikes.

The last few years there have been more deaths than births each year, and the total population is only about 450 whales.

I believe Right Whales got their name because of whalers knowing how slow and fearless they are.....were easy to approach and harpoon....that's in addition to their value compared to other Whales mAking them a choice kill.


Thus they are susceptible to prop strikes.


There is a large area off Jacksonville, FL with speed restrictions ue to it being a Right Whale calving area .

Alas, laws, rules and regulations are written because 'common sense' is on the 'nearly dead' list.

Without the "rules", most boaters would not know the danger zones for these marine mammals and what the outcome of speeding through them in large vessels would be.


Every year I hear of many bozo boaters calling the Coast Guard about the zone off Jacksonville with no clue of what the requirements are. It's not common sense but there are many, many, many boating requirements that most recreational boaters, even those with large vessels, have no clue of.


How many here even heard of a right whale until people started speaking about the speed zones for them?

psneeld said:

How many here even heard of a right whale until people started speaking about the speed zones for them?

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Being interested in age of sail, I have heard of the Right Whale and my understanding of the name is just as you described earlier. I’ve never seen one of course.

I don’t begrudge the speed and distance restrictions from whales here in the Salish Sea. I just wish the US and CA could agree on them.

I can't resist jumping into this, and happy to see that most of you understand the issue with the right whales and appear to support enforcement of the speed restrictions. I took my forum name - CapeWhaler - because I spent ten years running a small aviation operation supporting the Center for Coastal Studies conducting aerial RW surveys in Cape Cod Bay and surrounding waters.

The origin of the RW name is correct: they were the 'right whales' to hunt according to the colonial whalers because they feed on plant life (zooplankton), not fish, and thus spend most of their time on or near the surface - thus the susceptibility to shipstrike. Secondarily, they often entangle themselves in commercial fishing gear although the other species do as well, mainly the humpbacks.

Many times we'd be over a pod of RWs gathering photos and behavioral data when someone would spot a boat heading for them at high speed. I would hail them on Ch 16 to advise of the whales ahead, requesting they slow and/or alter course. Maybe slightly more than half the time, the skippers would comply, but often not, with no radio acknowledgement. And a few times the radio acknowledgement was rude, even a rare "F--- the whales!"

That would really tick me off since my crew were young female marine biologists, very dedicated to their work and saving these magnificent animals. Whenever that happened I was always sorely tempted to go down to 50' or lower and make a low pass on the offender but better judgement prevailed; there are enough idiots on (and over) the water without me adding to the number.
Joe

PNW
Two weeks ago on the way to Saltspring from Vancouver harbour

Right under the Lion's gate bridge and just beside me i could see a killer whale feeding underwater.
Not much that i could do about slowing down at that point
I was 9 knots.

2/3 across (crossing the ferry lanes) i could see more 6 or more killers blowing as they were going up the straight so i slowed down .
5 min. after i did.
Don't know if it was a Hump back but it was big.
Surfaces 100 feet in front of me.

At that point i was thinking its getting pretty busy out here.
and passing Nose Point just coming into the harbor "dolphins everywhere"

Great for the guests
But nerve racking for me

Hitting big mammals gets exciting (in a bad way) fast. I was maneuvering my 17' skiff at night for a fireworks show just last month and found myself adrift near a group of manatees. Just before we got it anchored, one tried to surface under our boat. Quite a jolt, and, we were in about 3' of water with lots of other boats all around. We all felt bad, especially my teenage girls who cast an evil eye at me for letting this happen.

A friend of ours is currently doing the ARC (a 'round the world sailing event). On their last leg, from Vanuatu to Australia, one of the boats hit a whale in the middle of the night (they're sailing, so pretty darned quiet, and I guess whales sleep at the surface). Made a 6 foot long crack where the keel and hull come together, and almost sank the boat. They made it to Australia, but not without some tense moments.

Let me say how pleased I am to read all the posts here in defense of the whales, and of following rules and regs, even if you don't agree with them.

I am currently spending 3 days in eastern quebec and here is an example of what can be seen often. I just took a screenshot (note the speed)

L

...and coincidence I just came over this:

https://globalnews.ca/news/5721659/canada-reverses-speed-restrictions-right-whales/

There is no more any problem, now WOT is legal.

L