NGOs Sues to Protect Whales from Ships Docking in California’s Ports

The never-ending controversy over commercial ships' threats to endangered whales and other species in the Californian waters has flared up again after conservationist groups sued the Trump administration for failure to protect the mammals.

With reports showing that at least 10 gray whales have been killed by probable ship strikes in the San Francisco Bay Area so far this year, while several more whales have died from undetermined causes, the Center for Biological Diversity and Friends of the Earth now wants the courts to compel the administration to impose strict navigation rules to contain strikes from ships docking in California’s major ports.

The lawsuit filed against the National Marine Fisheries Service and the U.S. Coast Guard also targets air pollution from vessels. The case will be heard in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

The non-governmental organizations (NGO) argue in the lawsuit that California’s shipping lanes overlap with important feeding grounds for blue, fin, humpback, and Southern resident killer whales, as well as critically endangered leatherback sea turtles.

Owing to the failure by the federal agencies to reroute lanes or impose restrictions on ship speeds, the suit argues that the number of fatal ship collisions with the endangered species has been on the rise. Records show that ship strikes are now the leading cause of death for blue and fin whales off the California coast, besides being the second-largest mortality source for humpback whales. Between July and November, ship strikes are believed to cause over 80 deaths of large whales annually.

Considering the carcasses of whales and sea turtles killed by collisions often sink before stranding or washing up ashore, it is estimated that the actual number of ship strikes could be 10 or 20 times higher than the documented strandings suggest.

The NGO also contends that apart from causing deaths, underwater noise pollution and risks of oil spills also threaten the survival of the mammals. It cites the Southern Resident killer whales, which need to echo locate prey but noise pollution interferes with their communication and can mask sounds for hunting. In effect, reduced prey availability has become one of the primary threats to their sustainable existence.

“Commercial shipping is proving deadly to whales and sea turtles, but it doesn’t have to be that way if federal officials get their act together,” said David Derrick, Center for Biological Diversity staff attorney. “Rerouting and slowing ships in hotspots can prevent strikes, curb noise and air pollution and save endangered marine life”.

He added that the Trump administration is legally required to look at how to minimize harm to whales and sea turtles, and officials need to take this problem seriously and make a plan.

In filing the lawsuit, the two NGOs have been emboldened having won another lawsuit in December 2022 in which the courts admonished the federal agencies for failure to protect endangered whales from being struck by ships using ports in the Los Angeles, Long Beach, and San Francisco Bay regions. The ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles alone record about 4,000 vessel calls annually.

Despite the high numbers of commercial ships in the California waters, existing designated shipping lanes route shipping traffic through several “hot spots” where whales congregate, including the Santa Barbara Channel and the northern approach to the San Francisco Bay. For this reason, the agencies are being accused of failure to implement measures, including imposing mandatory speed limits to reduce ship strikes and cut down on air pollution.

“Whales are dying preventable deaths,” said Hallie Templeton, Friends of the Earth legal director. “It shouldn’t take another lawsuit to force federal officials to fulfil mandated duties to assess and manage risks to whales from shipping traffic, yet here we are.”