Whales ahoy!

First ever conference on Environment Health of the Ocean this week:

Environmental Health of the Ocean, the first ever international expert and stakeholder three-day conference on marine mammals, with special focus on the issue of ship strikes and the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) traffic separation scheme at Dondra Head will be held at the BMICH Colombo from January 26 to 28 , 2016.

The conference is an initiative of the Centre for Research on Indian Ocean Marine Mammals (CRIOMM) established in 1982 and the Our Nation and the Sea Initiative (ONS) affiliated with Indian Ocean Marine Affairs Co-operation (IOMAC) Secretariat.

The plight of marine mammals has become an issue of international concern in recent years due to the presence of large stocks of marine mammals in Sri Lankan waters and the very real possibility of ship strikes with a few confirmed incidents.

This is primarily due to whale-watching, which is an industry of economic importance in Sri Lanka.

The area adjacent to the IMO International Traffic Separation Scheme at Dondra Head has become popular as a whale watching area, increasing the risk of ship strikes. The scheme was established through IMO in 1980 by the Government of Sri Lanka to mitigate the risk of a tanker collision and threat to the waters and coastal areas, especially popular tourist resorts and beaches of the Southern coast. In more recent times, the area was found to be frequented by whales, especially the rare blue whales

It is estimated that annually over five thousand tanker voyages are made through this region in addition to the huge volume of container and other vessels plying the east west mainline route. There has been some international action to persuade international shippers to move seawards with an adjustment of the Traffic Separation Scheme at Dondra head fifteen miles to sea, causing concern that Sri Lanka's dependence on the busy international sea-lanes would be adversely affected, especially with adjacent new port facilities at Hambantota and the country's main Colombo port, which is a mainline hub-port.