Improving the health of our ocean requires investment. But that investment doesn’t have to be a choice between our planet and our pocketbooks.
Improving the health of our ocean requires investment. But that investment doesn’t have to be a choice between our planet and our pocketbooks. Sometimes solutions to ocean problems can save money. Read on to learn more about three solutions to ocean problems that NOAA researchers found save or even make money.
Just as vehicles often hit animals on busy roadways, vessels on our busy waterways often strike marine mammals. Depending on the speed or size of the vessel, animals can be injured or killed. These collisions may go unreported or, often, unnoticed by ship crews. In some cases, particularly in cases of collisions with whales, vessels may also sustain significant damage.
Many of the busiest ports in the country aren’t far from protected areas home to endangered and threatened species. Collisions with these creatures are particularly devastating because they cut numbers of already dwindling species.
For example, more than 25 species of whales live in or visit the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary (CINMS), including endangered blue whales. The sanctuary also falls along routes for vessels traveling to the port of Los Angeles and Long Beach. More than 3,000 vessels travel through the area every year.
Continue reading at NOAA.
Image via NOAA.
