![](\"http:\/\/cyber.law.harvard.edu\/blogs\/static\/dowbrigade\/wailstop.jpg\")
An ocean speed limit proposed by the federal government
\n yesterday could help protect endangered right whales, but is expected
\n to face stiff opposition from the shipping industry.<\/p>\n
The migration paths of the North Atlantic right whales significantly
\n overlap with major East Coast shipping lanes, and ship strikes and fishing
\n gear entanglement are the commonest causes of death for the whales.<\/p>\n
from the Boston Globe<\/a><\/p>\n At the risk of sounding stupid With all of the pork barrel projects getting milked How much could it cost to mount one of these sonic Think of the fiendish complexity alone of the necessary How about we impose a speed limit on the WHALES, huh? We think it is time for the Whales of the World to Nobody wants to see the whales get hurt. But An ocean speed limit proposed by the federal government yesterday could help protect endangered right whales, but is expected to face stiff opposition from the shipping industry. The migration paths of the North Atlantic right whales significantly overlap with major … Continue reading
\n (a risk the Dowbrigade has been know to take on in his sleep) can
\n we ask
\n why
\n ships
\n don’t
\n use some sort of high-frequency warning horn to tell those pesky
\n whales to get out of the way? We always thought that whales had exceptional
\n underwater hearing, what with the Whale Songs of the Seas and all
\n that.<\/p>\n
\n like zits on an adolescent by lawmakers of all stripes and political
\n persuasions these days (see this
\n Boston Herald article<\/a> for juicy details
\n on line items such as $150,000 for a UMass study of the winter moth
\n worm,$50,000 to restore a stagecoach in Barre and $40,000 for Seine
\n Boat replicas in Gloucester), one would think the government could
\n spare a couple of hundred grand to figure out what kind of sub-sea
\n sounds
\n whales just hate, to clear them out of the area. Hell, if we have an
\n "ultrasonic teenage repellant<\/a>", why not one for whales? <\/p>\n
\n cow-catchers on the prow of every cargo ship and liner plying the Atlantic
\n shipping lanes. A lot less than this proposed "speed limit"! How much
\n would it cost world business and shipping concerns if all of our steel,
\n Toyotas and fashion footware took longer to get to the US because of
\n a mid-ocean speed limit! Think of the rock-hard avocados and rotting
\n mangos we would be facing on supermarket shelves! Think of the added
\n costs in labor and maintenance when 10-day trips become 15-day trips.<\/p>\n
\n efforts to enforce the limit! Maritime troopers on jet skis flagging
\n down million-ton oil tankers? Submarine speed-traps hidden beneath
\n the waves? A fleet of confiscated cigarette boats passing out infractions?<\/p>\n
\n They’re supposed to be smart – aren’t their brains even bigger than
\n ours? Why can’t they slow down by 5 or 10 knots, and watch where they
\n are going? What’s their hurry, they late for choir practicce? They aren’t on the clock. What
\n right do they have to impede the wheels (or screws, in this case) of
\n commerce and cost tax-paying businesses millions?<\/p>\n
\n step up and do their part to keep the shipping lanes free. We all have
\n to share this planet, after all. <\/p>\n
\n of you insist on playing in traffic, sooner or later you will be hit.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"