NAV 44/3/1
ANNEX1
.4
Information on the status of right whales, the
impact of ship traffic, and precautions to avoid
collisions between right whales and ships have been
provided to the IMO through information papers and
exhibits at recent meetings of NAV, the Marine
Environment Protection Committee, the Maritime Safety
Committee, and through the IMO News.
.2
The National Marine Fisheries Service has designated
areas with consistent and frequent right whale sightings
in both the northeast and southeast as critical habitat
under United States domestic law. In the northeast, a
portion of the reporting area has also been designated as
a national marine sanctuary under United States domestic
law. The boundaries of designated right whale critical
habitats and national marine sanctuary have been marked
on regional nautical charts to alert mariners of the
potential occurrence of right whales in these areas.
.3
In both areas, the National Marine Fisheries Service
has established regional teams composed of
representatives of government agencies, the maritime
industry, the scientific community, and private groups to
coordinate and oversee regional right whale conservation
initiatives, including efforts to prevent collisions
between right whales and ships.
11 Alternative communications
Short-term failure of the reporting systems due to
communications problems will not result in a loss of
life, and will have minimal impact on the safety of
vessels. NAVTEX Broadcast Notice to Mariners can be used
to notify mariners of the temporary failure of the system
and can provide mariners with basic information necessary
to avoid right whales. Downtime is likely to be minimal
and is not expected to result in increased ship strikes
and whale mortality. For those ships reporting through
INMARSAT C or direct printing radiotelegraphy, the
standard protocol now used for such systems will be used
to re-route incoming and outgoing communications through
an alternate address and it is expected that this will
minimize the system's downtime, though some delay may
occur.
The Coast Guard operated MF, HF, VHF voice
communications systems, by design, have built in
redundancies and overlapping coverage areas and an
individual equipment or site failure are unlikely to
affect the ability of a mariner to contact a Coast Guard
facility to make a required report.
12 Effective date of the systems
The systems will be implemented six months after
adoption of the proposal by the Maritime Safety
Committee.
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