Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary News

U.S.-based Pacific shipping company Matson announced it has adjusted its sailing routes to help reduce the risk of whale strikes off the coast of California.Shipping channels into and out of San Francisco Bay and the Los Angeles/Long Beach port complex transit federally protected national marine sanctuaries. These sanctuaries –Monterey Bay, Greater Farallones, and Cordell Bank national marine sanctuaries–are destination feeding areas for threatened and endangered humpback and blue whales from late spring through the fall.In 2015…

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has adopted a U.S. proposal to increase protections for endangered blue, fin and humpback whales off the California coast. The proposal takes effect this summer and expands areas that vessels should avoid to give whales more space, and extends vessel traffic lanes west of, in and around NOAA’s Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary.The Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council's Marine Shipping Working Group originally recommended the modifications in 2015. NOAA partnered with the U.S.

Partners in an initiative to cut air pollution and protect whales have announced results from the 2017 program and publicly recognized the 11 shipping companies who participated, reducing speeds to 12 knots or less in two regions. For the first time the program included speed reduction zones in the San Francisco Bay Area in addition to the Santa Barbara Channel region. The voluntary incentive program started July 1 and ended November 15, 2017. Automatic Identification System (AIS) data for ship speeds in the program verified that more than 140 transits were successful in reducing speeds to 12 knots or less, and more than half of these were successful in achieving a bonus incentive for slowing to 10 knots or less.

The shipwreck remains of a historic U.S. Coast Guard cutter have been discovered off of Southern California 100 years after the vessel was lost at sea. In its heyday, the Coast Guard Cutter McCulloch – commissioned in 1897 as a cruising cutter for the U.S. Treasury’s Revenue Cutter Service, a predecessor of the Coast Guard – saw its share of action, having served with Commodore George Dewey in the Battle of Manila Bay in 1898 as part of the U.S. Asiatic Squadron that destroyed the Spanish Pacific fleet in the first major battle of the Spanish-American War.

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL)  is pleased to announce that the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary has honored MOL with an award for the company's participation in the 2016 Vessel Speed Reduction (VSR) incentive program. Launched in 2016 by NOAA's Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary, Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District, Ventura County Air Pollution Control District, National Marine Sanctuary Foundation and Volgenau Foundation, the VSR program is a voluntary program that incentivizes containerships to slow down to speed at or below 12 knots, thereby reducing air pollution and enhancing protection of endangered whales in the Santa Barbara Channel.

Evergreen Line has received recognition for its excellent performance in a voluntary environmental and ecological protection program, which started on July 1 last year and ended on November 15. The initiative was aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions of vessels and avoiding whale collisions by encouraging slow sailing speeds in California's  Santa Barbara Channel region. The recognition ceremony took place on January 23, 2017. Vessels enrolled in this program were required to reduce speeds to 12 knots or less within 95 nautical miles of the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. This practice helps to minimize the emissions of greenhouse gases and thus reduce their influence on air quality within the port community.

NOAA, NASA and the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) have joined together to support three demonstration projects that will lay the foundation for the first national network to monitor marine biodiversity at scales ranging from microbes to whales. The projects, to be funded at approximately $17 million over the next five years, subject to the availability of funds, will demonstrate how a national operational marine biodiversity observation network could be developed. Such a network would serve as a marine resource management tool to conserve existing biodiversity and enhance U.S. biosecurity against threats such as invasive species and infectious agents.

With eyes on more than 400 environmental and safety concerns, the U.S. Coast Guard officially stopped the clock last week on the approval process for the liquefied natural gas (LNG) project planned for the southern stretches of the Santa Barbara Channel. A proposal from Texas-based NorthernStar Energy to convert the Platform Grace oil rig — some 10 miles off the coast of Santa Barbara and directly adjacent to the boundaries of the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary — into an LNG facility had been on a fast-tracked review process that could have seen the Clearwater Port project approved as soon as next June — until now, that is. In a letter sent directly to NorthernStar on October 30, the Coast Guard, in conjunction with the U.S.

$1,029,368 in grants for 12 community-based marine debris prevention and removal projects. These projects are funded by the NOAA Marine Debris Program and administered by the NOAA Restoration Center. The program provides financial and technical assistance to local groups to clean-up marine debris, and prevent its introduction into coastal environments. The Marine Debris Program awarded $333,868 in the northeast region to support marine debris removal, research and education. (GIS) analysis to target the source of marine debris in New Hampshire and will investigate the effectiveness of marine debris removal activities. The State of Rhode Island, Clean the Bay, and other local partners will remove more than 500 tons of debris from Narragansett Bay.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is soliciting proposals for the construction of a new catamaran research boat for the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary in southern California. The new boat will be equipped to perform various marine research projects along the Southern California coast, including oceanographic studies, rockfish studies, intertidal research, seabird surveys, and whale habitat investigations. Accommodations and equipment will include a full galley, sleeping space for up to ten people, full head with shower, wet and dry labs, a clean electrical power distribution system for sensitive research electronics, dedicated researcher work stations in the pilothouse and on the flying bridge, a scientific winch, A-frame, and diving support equipment.

NOAA's Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary will christen its new research vessel on May 12. sanctuary use. emerging management issues. Frank Kelly, Santa Barbara Harbor Commissioner Captain Ted I. Lillestolen (NOAA Corps), associate deputy assistant administrator for NOAA's National Ocean Service, Daniel J. Basta, director, National Marine Sanctuary Program and Chris Mobley, manager, Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary.