September 5, 2024 — The arrival of endangered Southern Resident killer whales in Admiralty Inlet and Puget Sound in September will trigger a voluntary slowdown for large commercial vessels. Last year, the slowdown reduced by half the underwater noise reaching the whales.
The Voluntary Large Commercial Vessel Slowdown is an initiative of Quiet Sound, a program of Washington Maritime Blue. It’s driven by a leadership committee composed of ports, agencies, tribes, and other groups collaborating to reduce threats from large commercial vessels to killer whales and other marine mammals. You can help by reporting whale sightings. The Whale Report Alert System will relay the sightings to mariners so they know when and where to watch for the marine mammals.
NOAA Fisheries named Quiet Sound a Partner in the Spotlight in 2023 after they successfully launched the first trial slowdown period in the fall of 2022. “The collaboration with our partners and industry is what makes this work,” said Gretchen Hanshew, acting branch chief for the Protected Resources Division in NOAA Fisheries’ Seattle office. “Quiet Sound saw measurable improvements last year, so I am optimistic that we may see even larger noise reductions this year. We know that makes a meaningful difference for the whales by reducing how much energy they have to spend each day to survive.”