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Shipping Industry Outreach
Seasonal Whale Advisories:
The West Coast Region sanctuaries continue to work with staff from NMFS, U.S. Coast Guard and National Weather Service to provide seasonal notices and whale advisory zone chartlets to mariners when large whales have returned to the Channel Islands area and the entrance to San Francisco Bay, including Gulf of the Farallones and Cordell Bank (chartlet and regional notices provided below).
UPDATE Effective 11/1/12: Based on the best available whale sightings data, NOAA has determined that it is appropriate to discontinue the seasonal whale advisories in the Southern California and Central/Northern California regions, including the Traffic Separation Schemes. Feeding whales typically move away from the California coast in late fall, and begin to reappear in the spring. We will keep our advisories up-to-date to reflect these changes as they occur. Please check back here to stay current with whale activity in the area. To receive these notices to your e-mail, please sign up on the whale advisory listserv below.
Whale Advisory Listserv
In the fall of 2012, the West Coast Sanctuaries, along with their partners at NMFS, developed a listserv to enhance their communications with members of the shipping industry. This listserv is used to distribute whale advisory and sightings information, and to notify industry members of upcoming meetings and events.
If you are a member of the shipping industry in California and would like to receive future email updates directly from NOAA on the presence of whales in and around shipping lanes and whale conservation and management issues off the California coast, please sign up or e-mail a request to Sean Hastings.
Shipping Industry Meetings:
Sanctuaries staff, along with colleagues at NMFS Southwest Region (SWR), have met with industry representatives to discuss industry collaboration in reducing the risk of ships striking whales. At these meetings the following topics were discussed as potentials to increase collaboration from industry:
- Using ships as platforms of opportunity to monitor the presence of whales
- Creating a feedback loop and more effective dialogue between NOAA managers and the shipping industry on the industry's response to seasonal notices.
Southern California:
The latest Southern California meeting took place May 8th, 2012 at the Marine Exchange in San Pedro. Materials from that meeting will soon be available:
- Meeting agenda
- Meeting notes
- Science Presentations
Northern California:
The latest Northern California meeting took place September 5th, 2012 at the Port of Oakland. Materials from that meeting are now available:
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