A sea otter will die of hypothermia if soiled by even a very small spot of oil.  Offshore oil development is prohibited in Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, but several dozen oil tankers and container ships transit the California coast every day. Huge ships running aground (i.e. Exxon Valdez and Cosco Busan) or colliding (Arizona Standard and Oregon Standard tanker collision) pose the greatest risk of an oil spill catastrophe. 

Recommended shipping lanes were created in 2000 to separate various types and speeds of ships, and north and south bound traffic. However, The Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary has studied compliance with Central Coast shipping lanes and has found a number of container ships and oil tankers cut corners every year and navigate inside the lanes, passing dangerously close to shore.

In addition, in April of this year (2015), two Chinese container ships, each longer than three football fields, sailed into Monterey Bay and navigated randomly for more than 24 hours while waiting for dock space in San Francisco Bay.  Both vessels sailed more than 10 miles inside the internationally agreed upon large vessel traffic lanes and came within a few miles of shore.  Had the vessels collided or ran aground and spilled their thousands of barrels of fuel oil, a catastrophic oil spill could have occurred, sliming scores of miles of beach and coast, killing thousands of marine birds, strangling marine life, and decimating the endangered sea otter population.

The Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary and the US Coast Guard have the technology, staff, and authority to contact the container ships and tankers not in compliance with International Maritime Organization and industry vessel traffic agreements.

The following petition will be delivered to the appropriate managers at Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary and the US Coast Guard.

We the undersigned request that the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary and US Coast Guard cooperate fully and aggressively to insure compliance with International Maritime Organization (IMO) and industry vessel traffic agreements to protect the Marine Sanctuary and Sea Otters.

1)      Any large vessel transiting the Central Coast inside (shoreward) of the vessel traffic lanes should be contacted immediately and strongly advised of appropriate, agreed upon, procedures;

2)      The vessel owner of any large vessel refusing or failing to comply with IMO or industry agreements should be immediately contacted by the US Coast Guard and National Marine Sanctuary and informed of their vessel’s non-compliance;

3)      The owner and insurance company of any large vessel repeatedly in non-compliance should be contacted immediately by the US Coast Guard and National Marine Sanctuary and informed of their vessel’s non-compliance and potential liability;

4)      As agreed to by all stakeholders in 1998, if non-compliance continues, the US Coast Guard and National Marine Sanctuary should re-convene the 1998 stakeholder group and work towards mandatory regulation.