Vessel Watch Project Watches for the Next Cosco Busan
California Assemblymember Jared Huffman to Make Special Appearance at July 12th Trip Launch
By Robert Ovetz, Ph.D.
Executive Director
Seaflow, an educational
nonprofit based in the Marin Headlands and working to protect the
oceans, will set sail for the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine
Sanctuary and newly proposed state Marine Protected Areas on July 12th
. Trip participants will endeavor to become “the ears and eyes of the
ocean” for a day. With the help of an onboard naturalist and an
acoustician from Scripps Marine Laboratory they will use hydrophones to
listen to and record sounds of whales and other marine mammals and
wildlife. Volunteers will also use radar to monitor large cargo ships
traveling through our Sanctuaries, watching for potential Cosco Busans,
checking ships for Coast Guard violations and reporting back to the
public on www.vesselwatchproject.org.
“There is a superhighway through our Yosemites on the Sea that leads
straight through the Golden Gate. All three contiguous national Marine
Sanctuaries at the mouth of the Golden Gate are used as traffic lanes
by thousands of large cargo vessels and oil tankers each year as they
enter the Port of Oakland, the third busiest port in California.
Concerned citizens are looking for something they can do to protect
the bay, beaches and the ocean from more and worse Cosco Busans. The
Vessel Watch Project offers them a hands on way to have an immediate
impact by becoming watchful ears and eyes for the ocean.
The ocean is being damaged by a “death of a thousand cuts” from
large cargo vessels and oil tankers—which emit intense low-frequency
noise at the same frequency used by baleen whales, seals, sea lions,
dolphins and fish, all species that depend on hearing for their
survival. Large vessels are the biggest source of ocean noise pollution
in the ocean today and it’s growing worse as the level of ocean noise
pollution in some areas has been doubling every decade for the past
four decades. Cargo vessels and tankers also contribute to global
warming and air pollution in port communities by burning bunker fuel,
and are one of the leading causes of death for large whales across the
globe due to striking and killing marine mammals in their rush to
deliver goods to port.
To address the rapidly growing threat of noise pollution in our four
California coastal marine sanctuaries, Seaflow is launching its
Sanctuaries Campaign to bring effective protections to our sanctuaries
and new planned network of state Marine Protected Areas along the North
Central Coast that will reduce and regulate growing levels of noise
pollution in our fragile sanctuaries. So far, Seaflow has been
successful in achieving Vessel No Traffic Areas in the newly proposed
state MPAs being established along the North Central Coast under the
1999 Marine Life Protection Act.
The Vessel Watch Project is a volunteer driven citizen watch program
modeled after the Beach Watch movement. Concerned citizens, ocean
lovers, surfers, swimmers, beach walkers and many others who use our
beaches and ocean for recreation will monitor large vessel traffic in
San Francisco Bay and ocean noise levels around our National Marine
Sanctuaries and state MPAs. The evidence gathered will be used to
support Seaflow’s campaign for slower, quieter, cleaner, and safer
sanctuaries.
To sign up for the July 12th or August 2nd trip go to www.vesselwatchproject.org or contact Jackie Dragon, Campaigns Director at (415) 229-9354 , Jackie@seaflow.org
Robert Ovetz, Ph.D. is executive director of Seaflow, a marine conservation organization based in Sausalito. See www.seaflow.org and www.vesselwatchproject.org for more information.
Posted on July 02, 2008