Stop ships killing whales in Australian waters by enforcing slow zones for ships aligning with whales’ migration paths.

I am asking The Honorable Tanya Plibersek MP, Minister for Environment and Water to enforce slow zones for ships, with the zones changing position each month so they are aligning with whales’ migration paths.

Ships brutally kill thousands of whales every year globally. It’s unknown exactly how many, because strikes often go unreported. In Australia, there are suggestions for what ships can do to prevent incidents, and some of the things included in this are, ‘maintain a good lookout,’ and ‘reduce speed,’ but it does not enforce anything. So, there are no enforced federal laws for slowing down ships for whales. State laws though, are a lot more effective. In Queensland, a 300 meter ‘caution zone’ is created around every whale, and ships in this caution zone can only travel up to 6 knots, and in New South Wales, ships are required to stay at least 100 meters away from whales. Although as whales and ships travel between states the laws change, making the laws inconsistent and confusing. Whales are also very hard to spot and can seemingly appear out of nowhere. The only way to properly fix this would be to enforce federal slow zones where ships would only need to travel around 10% slower, even if ships can’t see any whales.

But why are whales so important? Well, apart from many species of whales being endangered, whales can significantly slow global warming and can help us undo this climate mess we have gotten ourselves into. So, how do whales do this? Well, because animals, like whales, are mostly made out of carbon, they absorb carbon as they grow, and since whales are so big, they can collect tons and tons of CO2. One large whale can store around 33 tons of it! That’s the same weight as 5-6 elephants! As well as this, whales feed in the deep, collecting a whole lot of nutrients, then, when they return to the surface, they release nutrient rich feces (poo). This whale powered nutrient pump provides nutrients for loads of marine life up at the surface, and one of these creatures benefiting from this pump is phytoplankton. Phytoplankton is absolutely incredible, and although it doesn’t necessarily rely on whales to provide nutrients, the nutrients boost phytoplankton growth massively. But why is phytoplankton so important? Well other than forming the base of most marine ecosystems and basically making life in the oceans possible, they also create 50%-75% of the world’s oxygen! That’s 2-3 times as much as the entire amazon rainforest. Take that amazon! So, you should now see why we clearly need slow zones for ships.

Please sign my petition asking the Australian Federal Government to make slow zones for ships. In these zones ships would travel 10% slower. Zones would align with whales’ migration paths. This can save whales and help stop global warming.