The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) and Friends of the Earth plan to sue NOAA Fisheries and the U.S. Coast Guard over vessel strikes on whales and sea turtles off the coast of California.
According to CBD, neither NOAA Fisheries nor the Coast Guard have properly analyzed how California shipping lane designations could contribute to vessel strikes on whales or sea turtles.
“Routing vessel traffic through these important habitat areas causes deadly ship strikes. Indeed, ship strikes of large whales in the approaches to California’s ports have been documented for decades. These ship strikes not only harm individual animals, but they are also impeding the recovery of these imperiled species,” the groups said in notice letter to the Coast Guard.
CBD claims that eight gray whales have been killed due to “probably ship strikes” in the San Francisco Bay area so far this year, with roughly 80 whales killed annually by vessel strikes on the West Coast.
“It’s been a terrible year for whales off the West Coast, and we can’t afford to let federal officials waste any more time delaying action on ship strikes,” CBD Staff Attorney David Derrick said in a statement. “A decent plan for routing and slowing ships down is long overdue, and this federal foot-dragging has been deadly for whales. The law is clear that the agencies must go back to the drawing board and come back with something that will actually protect whales and sea turtles.”
The lawsuit would build off of the two conservation groups' prior legal action regarding vessel strikes; both CBD and Friends of the Earth successfully sued NOAA Fisheries and the Coast Guard in 2022, contending that the government did not act to prevent endangered whales from being struck by ships using ports on the California coast.
In that ruling, a court vacated a NOAA Fisheries 2017 biological opinion claiming that California’s designated shipping lanes would not cause any take of whales or sea turtles, despite the state directing ships through several hot spots for whale congregation, according to CBD.
Despite that ruling, the agency has yet to issue an updated biological opinion regarding those shipping lanes. Friends of the Earth and CBD claim that by continuing to issue shipping traffic guidance without an active biological opinion, the Coast Guard is violating the Endangered Species Act, and the two groups have informed the federal government of their intent to sue.
“This is not the first time we have gone toe to toe with the federal government for failing to assess the grave risks that shipping poses for marine life,” Friends of the Earth Legal Director Hallie Templeton said in a statement. “Now, even with a federal court opinion on our side, agencies have not changed their tune and neither have we. We will keep fighting inside and outside the courtroom to protect whales and sea turtles from the serious and fatal risks from ship strikes.”
