Pathetically inadequate though they might be, Gov Lingle imposed some conditions on the Superferry designed to lessen the chance of whale kills (not by much but better than nothing). I received this letter from a Sierra Club hike leader:
I led a Sierra Club hike today (1-13-08) on the North Shore. Specifically, we were hiking on the State trail known as the Ohai Loop Trail at approximately 11:30 am. I didn't check my watch for exact time.
To our amazement, the Superferry was on its return trip to Honolulu and went south of Molokai. It appeared to be going at full speed too! Didn't they promise to always go north of Molokai to avoid whales during the the whale season and to only go 25 mph when in whale waters? Isn't it one of Governor Linge's conditions that they go north of Molokai and only go 25 miles an hour during whale season?
Did they make any promises to Judge Cardoza when he lifted the injunction? I am attaching a picture which I took from the Ohai Loop Trail. You can see Molokai behind the Superferry. The land in the foreground on Maui is the Nakalele Blowhole. During the hike we did observe whales in the area.
Interestingly, earlier in the day, we were at the Heiau known as the "Refuge" near the beginning of the Waihee Ridge Trail when we observed the Superferry heading for Kahului Harbor. What is interesting is that when we first saw it way out to sea, it was going what appeared to be full speed. But, about 6 or 7 miles before it got to Kahului Harbor, it slowed down to what appeared to be around 25 mph. Why did they slow down so far out to sea? Was it to give the appearance that they were only doing 25 mph all the way from Honolulu to people at Kahului Harbor who might be watching?
One of the plaintiffs wrote in reply:
In response to the questions on the Superferry routes.
They are generally supposed to go North of Molokai. However,
when sea conditions are rough they can go south of Molokai
through the whale sanctuary, but they must slow from 35 knots to 25 knots.
We urged the Governor to require a slower speed, but she
bowed to the wishes of the Hawaii Superferry Company
with this fast 25 knot condition and many others.
They also are required to slow down as they approach/leave Kahului Harbor.
1 comments:
Hannah Bernard, Marine Mammal Expert adds:
Also want to add a few thoughts and reflections...
As was argued in court, and as the plaintiffs tried to make clear in negotiations with the governor, the SF WAP is pretty much meaningless.
Superferry can go south of Moloka'i whenever the captain feels conditions warrant it. This loophole means there is no predictable course the SF has to take.
And going 25 kts is not going to stop the SF from colliding with or killing whales. There are quite a few good scientific studies that have shown that a ship must go 10kts or less in order not to kill whales when they hit them and that few if any collisions even occur at such slow speeds.
And as for observers 'preventing' whale strikes, more than 90% of known whale strikes in a study of 100 years of data has shown that the whales pop up right in front of the boat, too late to do
anything about it. ESPECIALLY when that boat is traveling as fast as SF
does.
What we need here is a speed limit of between 10 - 13 knts in Whale
Sanctuary waters. For all vessels. Especially those over 200' in length.
We're watching what happens in the east coast right whale case. Right now, the Bush administration (at the VP level) is preventing an enforceable speed limit to prevent collisions with this most endangered whale species in U.S. waters.
However, there is another avenue for speed limits in the ocean. In CA, when 4 blue whales were killed by ship
strikes in the last several months, the Coast Guard issued a warning or whatever the term is that they use to all mariners to go 10kts when it became clear that blue whales were utilizing the SB shipping channel for a feeding area.
In the meantime, keep taking photos, videos and notes on the SF's movements. They will likely come in handy in the near future. It is still illegal to kill an endangered species even incidentally, without a permit, and they do not yet have one.
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