Reducing whale-ship collisions by better estimating damages to ships

Abstract

Collisions between ships and whales raise environmental, safety, and economic concerns. The management of whale-ship collisions, however, lacks a holistic approach, unlike the management of other types of wildlife-vehicle collisions, which have been more standardized for several years now. In particular, safety and economic factors are routinely omitted in the assessment of proposed mitigation solutions to ship strikes, possibly leading to under-compliance and a lack of acceptance from the stakeholders. In this study, we estimate the probability of ship damage due to a whale-ship collision. While the probability of damage is low, the costs could be important, suggesting that property damages are significant enough to be taken into consideration when assessing solutions. Lessons learned from other types of wildlife-vehicle collisions suggest that the whale-ship collision should be managed as wildlife-aircraft collisions. For several years, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) manages collisions between aircrafts and wildlife at the international level. We advocate that its United Nations counterpart, namely the International Maritime Organization (IMO), get more involved in the whale-ship collision management. Further research is needed to more precisely quantify the costs incurred to ships from damages caused by whale-ship collisions.Please note that this is an author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication following peer review. The definitive publisher-authenticated version is available on the publisher Web site.

The Current Situation And Practice Of Wildlife Management In The United States And China

“…These animals were killed always by the cars and vehicles. Some marine wildlife even could be hurt by ships (Sèbe et al 2020). In the airport, the birds are so often hit by the airplane in the world (Hu et al 2020).…”

Opinion: To save whales, look to the sky

“…Risks to safety and property from whale–ship collisions are lower, and so the shipping industry treats animal strikes as a relatively low priority ( 14 ). That makes environmental concerns the major driver to reduce whale–ship collisions.…”

“…In addition, mandatory speed reductions, which represent one of the most effective solutions, have never been accepted by the IMO, mainly because of related high costs (e.g., delays arriving at a given port). Hence, without a comprehensive and robust proposal, the IMO decision makers cannot make a decision ( 3 – 5 , 14 ).…”

“…Although, the probability of collision might be of similar magnitude for aircraft and ships ( 14 ), in the case of whale–ship collisions, mandatory reporting measures are scarce and rely on initiatives from individual nations. At the international level, the IMO casualty event database does not include any whale-ship collision events [Global Integrated Shipping Information System (GISIS) ( 3 )].…”

“…Overall, for whale–ship collision management, the lack of a coordinated top-down process, an extensive global strike database, and standardized protocols often leads to a low level of compliance with suggested mitigation measures ( 3 , 5 , 14 ). Following the ICAO rationale, because compliance markedly increases with regulation ( 25 ), these companies would be more likely to comply with IMO mandatory measures aiming at mitigating their impacts on whales.…”