Realigning the Boston Traffic Separation Scheme to Reduce the Risk of Ship Strike to Right and Other Baleen Whales
Collision with ships is a leading mortality factor for endangered
whales. The Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary (SBNMS)
is heavily used by endangered whales and a major shipping route.
The Boston Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS) crosses the sanctuary:
therefore, the area is a potential “hot spot” for collisions between
whales and ships. To reduce collision risk, we: (1) plotted the
distribution and relative abundance of North Atlantic Right and
Other Baleen Whale sightings within the Sanctuary and adjacent
waters – about 255,767 sightings during 1979 – 2004 during the April-
October season; (2) identified high use whale areas; (3) reconfigured
the current TSS path through the Sanctuary to spatially separate
whales and ships, and; (4) calculated the possible risk reduction. As
compared to the original TSS, whale sightings in the reconfigured
TSS were reduced by 81% and right whale sightings by 58%. Industry
transit times increased 9–22 minutes. The TSS shift was accepted
by the United Nation’s International Maritime Organization in
December of 2006 and became active in July of 2007. This was
the first shifting of a TSS to mitigate the collision of vessels and
endangered whales in the United States.
Wiley, David N., Michael A. Thompson, Richard Merrick. 2006. Realigning the Boston Traffic Separation Scheme to Reduce the Risk of Ship Strike to Right and Other Baleen Whales. Boston. In Katy Börner & Elisha F. Hardy (Eds.), 5th Iteration (2009): Science Maps for Science Policy Makers, Places and Spaces: Mapping Science.
