Cruise ships urged to slow down after dead pregnant whale was found on bow of Royal Caribbean vessel

Cruise ships urged to slow down after dead pregnant whale was found on bow of Royal Caribbean vessel Royal Caribbean said it is fully cooperating with NOAA following the deadly whale incident earlier this month - Bookmark - CommentsGo to comments Wildlife conservationists are calling on Royal Caribbean to slow its cruise ships after a pregnant endangered whale was found dead on the bow of one of its vessels upon arriving in Alaska. The Center for Biological Diversity sent a letter to Royal Caribbean on Wednesday, urging the cruise line to voluntarily limit its ships to 10 knots, or about 11 mph, when traveling through areas known to be home to whales. The conservation group says reducing ship speeds would lower the risk of deadly collisions while giving both whales and crews more time to avoid one another. The request follows a June 19 incident involving Royal Caribbean's Ovation of the Seas, which arrived in Seward, Alaska, with the body of a 61-foot female fin whale draped over its bulbous bow. Federal officials with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration later performed a necropsy, an animal autopsy, and determined the whale died from blunt force trauma to its spine, ribs and jaw, injuries consistent with a ship strike, People reports. The examination also found the whale was pregnant, had died only recently and was otherwise healthy. “I’m infuriated that this supersized cruise ship hit an endangered whale in such a horrific way,” Cooper Freeman, Alaska director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in the letter. “The death of this mother and baby fin whale sets back the entire population. Royal Caribbean must be held accountable for this gruesome death and take immediate action to avoid this happening again.” Officials said the whale's official cause of death will not be confirmed until additional testing is complete, which could take months. The carcass will then be towed out to sea, where it is expected to sink and become a food source for deep-sea marine life, they said. Fin whales, the world's second-largest animals, are found throughout the world's oceans and are listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act and depleted under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. They are "probably the most vulnerable species" to vessel strikes after North Atlantic right whales, according to NOAA. Except for Alaska Native subsistence harvest, killing a whale, even accidentally, is illegal under the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act for protected species like fin whales, according to the Center for Biological Diversity. “People deserve to know how this happened, including whether the crew knew there were whales in the ship’s way and how fast the ship was traveling,” Freeman said. “For years we’ve been calling on the federal government to implement mandatory vessel speed reductions in whale hot spots, but Royal Caribbean can take immediate action to avoid hitting more whales with its ships. It’s so frustrating that government and industry fail to enact common-sense solutions to this problem while our endangered whales suffer deadly consequences.” The group added that the incident is “under investigation by federal authorities.” Royal Caribbean acknowledged that its ship struck the whale, telling People on June 22, "We are saddened to hear that one of our ships struck a whale while on its way to Seward. We take any impact to marine ecosystems very seriously.” "The ship immediately reported the incident to the proper authorities. We are cooperating fully with NOAA and are awaiting the necropsy results,” the cruise line’s statement read. The Independent has contacted Royal Caribbean for an updated comment regarding the Center for Biological Diversity's request about ship speeds. Join our commenting forum Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies Comments