Where’s the Fire?

Posted on June 24, 2006 by glasscastle

An ocean speed limit proposed by the federal government
yesterday could help protect endangered right whales, but is expected
to face stiff opposition from the shipping industry.

The migration paths of the North Atlantic right whales significantly
overlap with major East Coast shipping lanes, and ship strikes and fishing
gear entanglement are the commonest causes of death for the whales.

from the Boston Globe

At the risk of sounding stupid
(a risk the Dowbrigade has been know to take on in his sleep) can
we ask
why
ships
don’t
use some sort of high-frequency warning horn to tell those pesky
whales to get out of the way? We always thought that whales had exceptional
underwater hearing, what with the Whale Songs of the Seas and all
that.

With all of the pork barrel projects getting milked
like zits on an adolescent by lawmakers of all stripes and political
persuasions these days (see this
Boston Herald article for juicy details
on line items such as $150,000 for a UMass study of the winter moth
worm,$50,000 to restore a stagecoach in Barre and $40,000 for Seine
Boat replicas in Gloucester), one would think the government could
spare a couple of hundred grand to figure out what kind of sub-sea
sounds
whales just hate, to clear them out of the area. Hell, if we have an
"ultrasonic teenage repellant", why not one for whales?

How much could it cost to mount one of these sonic
cow-catchers on the prow of every cargo ship and liner plying the Atlantic
shipping lanes. A lot less than this proposed "speed limit"! How much
would it cost world business and shipping concerns if all of our steel,
Toyotas and fashion footware took longer to get to the US because of
a mid-ocean speed limit! Think of the rock-hard avocados and rotting
mangos we would be facing on supermarket shelves! Think of the added
costs in labor and maintenance when 10-day trips become 15-day trips.

Think of the fiendish complexity alone of the necessary
efforts to enforce the limit! Maritime troopers on jet skis flagging
down million-ton oil tankers? Submarine speed-traps hidden beneath
the waves? A fleet of confiscated cigarette boats passing out infractions?

How about we impose a speed limit on the WHALES, huh?
They’re supposed to be smart – aren’t their brains even bigger than
ours? Why can’t they slow down by 5 or 10 knots, and watch where they
are going? What’s their hurry, they late for choir practicce? They aren’t on the clock.  What
right do they have to impede the wheels (or screws, in this case) of
commerce and cost tax-paying businesses millions?

We think it is time for the Whales of the World to
step up and do their part to keep the shipping lanes free. We all have
to share this planet, after all.

Nobody wants to see the whales get hurt.  But
of you insist on playing in traffic, sooner or later you will be hit.
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One Response to Where’s the Fire?

  1. Jenn says:
    July 7, 2006 at 2:36 pm

    The Herald article had already been archived by the time I saw this post, unfortunately, and Romney had already vetoed the winter moth money since then. Unfortunately he did it in a way that shows that he doesn’t really understand the problem. To insinuate that it’s UMass Amhert’s responsibility to front the money for the project ignores the fact that the winter moths are impacting the entire state. The money was earmarked by a Dem and a Rep who are seeing the tree defoliation in their own districts, which are on the coast. The money was to develop a biological control system, it’s not just some random study. If you are interested, there is a response from the “pro” funding side here: http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/9424204/detail.html

    I guess pork is pork, whether it is tree pork or whale pork, but I hate how the press and the governor are making the winter moth project sound like it is something frivolous.

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