Urge the Coast Guard protect beluga whales from unregulated shipping industry traffic!

As the climate changes and the world warms, ice in the Arctic is thawing. Shipping traffic through the Bering Strait has more than doubled since 2009. Vulnerable species like the beluga whale are in danger of collisions, noise pollution, and oil spills.

But regulations could be enacted to safeguard Alaska’s coastal communities and ecosystems. Will you help urge the Coast Guard to help protect marine life in the Bering Strait from pollution?

Comments

To the U.S. Coast Guard:

I’m writing to ask that the Coast Guard forward its already-recommended Area to Be Avoided on Little Diomede to the International Maritime Organization (IMO) as soon as possible, along with other shipping measures recognized by scientific, biological, and local Indigenous efforts to reduce shipping disturbance in the Arctic and Bering Strait.

Increased vessel traffic could wreak havoc on the Bering Strait and Arctic’s Indigenous communities and unique marine ecosystems, especially as climate change melts sea ice and exposes more Arctic waters to shipping. These communities have historically depended on marine wildlife to sustain themselves, and it is your duty to ensure increased shipping traffic does not harm Arctic communities and their livelihoods. A comprehensive Alaskan Arctic Port Access Route Study and resulting ship routing measures needs to take into account local concerns and protect wildlife. It also needs to be adaptable and take into account changing weather, wildlife migration patterns, geopolitical situations and changing shipping activity. Further protections must be considered in the future, such as a potential IMO designated Particularly Sensitive Sea Area in the Bering Strait that can add even more protections for Arctic Indigenous communities, wildlife and mariners alike.

Millions of seabirds, fish, and marine mammals including belugas, will be threatened by an increase in shipping traffic. Increased traffic also brings an increased risk of catastrophic oil spills, at a time when Alaska still hasn’t fully recovered from the Exxon-Valdez spill that happened 33 years ago this month.

I look forward to seeing the Coast Guard act to protect the rich waters of Bering Strait by properly regulating shipping industry traffic and pollution.

Sincerely,
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