The country’s southern coast is both an area of exceptionally high blue whale densities and one of the busiest international shipping lanes in the world.
Conservationists on Friday hailed a shipping giant’s decision to alter its shipping lanes to avoid collisions with blue whales, the world’s largest mammals, in Sri Lankan waters.
The Geneva-based Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), one of the world’s largest container carriers, announced on Thursday that it had voluntarily changed its routes around Sri Lanka to reduce the risk of accidents involving whales, dolphins and porpoises. According to MSC, this measure could reduce the risk of collision by 95%. It also ordered its small supply vessels in the area to slow to 10 knots in blue whale habitats.
Read alsoAfter the ban on whaling, the fragile rebirth of this giant of the oceans
The southern coast of Sri Lanka is both an area where the density of blue whales, listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), is exceptionally high and one of the busiest international shipping lanes in the world.
Activists estimate that more than a dozen of these gigantic mammals – measuring up to 30 meters long and weighing some 150 tons, the most colossal living things the earth has ever borne – have been killed in collisions with commercial vessels over the past decade.
Waters rich in plankton and biodiversity
For years, international and local environmental activists have been lobbying authorities to move the east-west shipping lanes an additional 15 nautical miles offshore. The International Fund for Animal Welfare welcomed the announcement, calling it “good news for blue whales and for people“. Their presence has generated a lucrative cetacean-watching tourist industry.
According to Gehan Wijeratne, a Sri Lankan researcher and conservationist, the topography of the ocean floor, currents and monsoons mean that the waters off southern Sri Lanka are rich in plankton and biodiversity. “This rich food web results in an optimal area for fishing.said Wijeratne, it’s no surprise that whales also congregate in this area.
Read alsoHow Eurazeo contributes to greening maritime transport
Any measure to improve the safety of fishermen and navigation will automatically have a positive impact on whales and whale watching, he added. MSC’s unilateral action reveals Colombo’s failure to protect marine life and its fishermen, said Sri Lankan conservationist Jagath Gunawardena. “We should be embarrassed that we failed, but an international shipping company had to take the initiative“, he told AFP.