Protecting Blue Whales and Blue Skies 2024 Season Cooperation Results

2024 Season Cooperation & Ten Years of BWBS

The results from the 2024 season of Protecting Blue Whales and Blue Skies (BWBS) are in! Celebrating its 10th season, Protecting Blue Whales and Blue Skies achieved the highest participation and cooperation levels since its inception in 2014. During the 2024 Vessel Speed Reduction (VSR) season, the number of participating shipping companies meeting minimum cooperation rates or above grew by 48%. 49 shipping lines met the minimum participation criteria (up from 33 in 2023) and had an overall cooperation rate of 85% (up from 81% in 2023).

Twenty-three shipping companies achieved Sapphire tier cooperation by reducing speeds to 10 knots or less for 85% or more total miles traveled in the VSR zones during the season. These companies include CMA CGM; Connaught Shipmanagement HK; COSCO Shipping Lines; CSL Americas; Hong Kong Top Honor Shipping; ISM Ship Management Ltd; Maersk; Marathon Petroleum; MSC; NYK-RoRo; ONE; OOCL; OSG Ship Management, Inc.; Pilion Navigation; Polar Tankers; Starbulk SA; STX Marine Service Co; Swire Shipping; Teo Shipping Corporation; Tomini Transports LLC; Toyofuji; Wallenius Wilhelmsen; and Yang Ming.

Four participating companies have been with us since the very beginning. We’d like to thank COSCO Shipping Lines, Hapag Lloyd, K-line, and Maersk for showing their commitment to conservation year after year. We'd also like to give special recognition and thanks to MSC for its notable leadership in this effort - achieving sapphire-level cooperation seven seasons in a row between 2018 and 2024.

To reflect on the past decade and this unique partnership between industry, research, non-profit, and government agencies, we asked key members to provide insights on the evolution of the program:

Container ship near Anacapa Island in the Santa Barbara Channel. Photo by Ralph A. Clevenger

2024 Marketing & Press

Over the last year, our partners were hard at work monitoring whales from the sky, listening to whales underwater, and pinpointing hotspots where shipping vessels and whales cross paths. Team members and researchers presented their findings and program results at conferences and workshops around the globe. The program’s demonstrated success along with research from our partners prompted coverage by major news outlets including New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Forbes; scientific journals including Science and The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, and leading industry publications including GCaptain and Maritime Executive.

See Marketing Report

Reducing Emissions & Improving Air Quality

Support from BWBS Air District partners is not only critical to the program’s success and day-to-day operations, but they’ve been uniquely able to secure the primary source of funding that made the program possible — funds that go to BWBS’s research and analysis, staff time, and ship operator and ambassador recognition and media campaigns. Ventura County Air Pollution Control District (VCAPCD) has led the way in securing funding through the California Air Resources Control Board (CARB) Supplemental Environmental Project (SEP) Policy, which allows community-based projects to be funded by penalties paid by companies who are found in violation of air quality regulations. In this case, the BWBS Program received more than $2 million, yielding net reductions in air pollutants that help the air districts work toward their air quality improvement goals.

Read Full Press Release

Ambassador Program

In 2024 we welcomed Limoneira, Business & Pleasure, and Eggboards to the Ambassador program. This month, Brighten Solar also joined as an Ambassador to the program. Ambassadors are consumer goods, brands, ports, and logistics companies that work with at least one of the program’s enrolled shipping carriers, and help drive increased awareness and engagement around shipping industry’s efforts with the program to reduce the risk of fatal ship strikes, air pollution, and marine noise. For a full list of our Ambassadors see here.

Protecting Blue Whales and Blue Skies also recently joined as a member of the Outdoor Industry Association which is a member-led collective for positive change in the outdoor recreation industry.

Become an Ambassador

Events

Aerial photo of a blue whale in the Santa Barbara Channel. Photo Credit: Adam Ernster

We’ve also been connecting with our dedicated community - from outreach events to film festivals. In November, the program took center stage in a powerful film, Battle of the Blues by filmmaker Adam Ernster, showcased at the Whale Celebration Event at the Ritz Carlton Bacara. And last month, at the Underwater Parks Day event in Santa Barbara, community members of all ages sent heartfelt postcards to thank shipping participants.

Battle of the Blues was accepted to the Santa Barbara International Film Festival and was shown the week of February 3rd and will also be featured at the 22nd Annual International Ocean Film Festival in San Francisco this April. View a short compilation of moments from the film here.

Jess Morten, Marine Resource Protection Program Director (CMSF/NOAA) and Sean Hastings, Policy, Management and Information Officer

(Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary - NOAA).

Becca Tucker, Director of Corporate Engagement (CMSF) and attendees writing postcards to shipping participants at Underwater Parks Day in Santa Barbara.

Holly Lohuis, Becca Tucker, Amber McEldowney and Adam Ernster at the Whale Celebration Event at the Ritz Carlton Bacara.

Protecting Blue Whales and Blue Skies is a collaborative effort by the California Marine Sanctuary Foundation; Ventura County Air Pollution Control District; Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District; San Luis Obispo County Air Pollution Control District; Monterey Bay Air Resources District; Bay Area Air Quality Management District; Channel Islands, Greater Farallones, Cordell Bank, and Monterey Bay national marine sanctuaries; Point Blue Conservation Science; Benioff Ocean Science Laboratory; Starcrest Consulting; and Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

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A partnership for safer whales, cleaner air, and a quieter ocean.