Stop ships killing whales in Australian waters by enforcing slower ship speeds where whales gather.

I am asking The Honourable Tanya Plibersek MP, Minister for the Environment and Water, to reduce ship speeds by 10% in zones where whales and ships co-occur. 

Ships strike and kill around thousands of whales every year, globally. It's hard to get an exact number on this since strikes often go unreported.  There are no enforced measures to slow ship speeds in areas where whales and ships co-occur in Australia (there are laws, but they say that you can chose to slow down if you want). Research shows that slowing ship speeds by 10% will reduce strikes with whales by half. 

Why is this important? Aside from the fact that many large whales are endangered, whales are vital to stop global warming. They can do this in two ways. One is increasing oxygen in the atmosphere. The other is reducing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Both of these things will cool the earth.

Whales increase oxygen and decrease carbon dioxide in two ways. First, whale poo feeds phytoplankton. Phytoplankton are tiny plants floating in the ocean. They absorb 40% of the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Phytoplankton also make 2/3 the oxygen in the atmosphere. Whale poo provides nutrients that phytoplankton need to survive. Without whales, phytoplankton dies. The more whales there are, the more phytoplankton and the healthier our earth will be. Second, whales absorb 33 000 kg of carbon dioxide in their bodies if they live to old age. Thats around 1500x more than trees. When whales die, this carbon is locked away for hundreds of years. In these ways whales can stop global warming.

However, ship collisions with whales are killing thousands of whales every year. Often these strikes go un-noticed and the whale’s body sinks to the bottom of the ocean. Slowing down ships reduces the chance of ship strikes, and of the whale being killed. Australia doesn’t have enforced rules about slowing down ships. Right now the Australian Government ‘urges’ seafarers to:

·      maintain a look out for cetaceans (whales, porpoises and dolphins)

·      warn other vessels in the vicinity if cetaceans have been seen

·      consider reducing vessel speed in areas where cetaceans have been seen

·      consider modest course alterations away from sightings.

Unfortunately, whales often aren't visible. We need to stop letting ships kill 55 whales every day. I am asking The Honorable Tanya Plibersek MP, Minister for Water and the Environment, to slow ships speeds by 10% in all zones where whales and ships co-occur in Australian waters. For a ship journey from Melbourne to Singapore, this is only asking ships to slow down by 10% for around 9% of their journey. 

Please sign my petition asking the Australian Federal Government to make ships slow down by 10% in zones where whales and ships co-occur, to save whales and to help stop global warming.