RB has the right of way?

"Gilligan" wrote in message
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Right whales gain right of way in bay (endangered species Mandated by the
United Nations)
Boston Globe ^ | Jul. 6, 2003 | Colin Nickerson


Right whales gain right of way in bay

SAINT JOHN, New Brunswick - Oil tankers and other ships that ply the Bay
of
Fundy are yielding the right of way to right whales.

On June 30, the shipping lanes between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia
shifted
4 nautical miles to the east, away from the feeding grounds where the
world's largest herd of the endangered cetaceans spends the summer months
gorging in the plankton-rich waters off Grand Manan Island.

The move, mandated by the International Maritime Organization, a United
Nations agency, marks the first time that a world shipping lane has been
altered to protect an endangered species.

Shifting a shipping lane might seem a minor change, but the process took
five years of planning by sea captains, the Irving Oil company based in
Saint John, Canadian regulatory agencies, environmental groups, fishermen,
scientists monitoring the whales, and the United Nations.

The shift of the route used by supertankers, freighters, and other large
ships could save many northern right whales from death or serious injury,
say protectors of the whales, and the outcome was achieved through close
cooperation between groups that more typically are at odds.

At least three right whales have been killed and scores badly injured by
ships in the Bay of Fundy over the past decade, an alarming casualty rate
because the world population of northern right whales is only about 350,
making them the most endangered species of big whale.

"With a population so small, every animal is precious," said Moira Brown,
marine biologist and senior scientist with the Center for Coastal Studies
in
Provincetown, Mass., which works closely with Boston's New England
Aquarium
and was the key group that spurred the United Nations into action.

"This is a simple move that should make right whales a lot safer," Brown
said.

By moving the designated sea lanes 4 nautical miles, close encounters with
whales are expected to drop by more than 80 percent