Whale Residential Speed Limit Zones?

Shipping groups fight speed limits to save whales

Jeff Nesmith - Cox Washington Bureau
Monday, July 25, 2005

The following is taken from the article linked above:

Marine biologists warned in an article last week in the journal Science that the right whale appears headed for extinction unless emergency steps are taken to reduce the likelihood of the creatures being run down by ships.

They said that under the rule-making process which NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service has chosen, establishing speed limits along southern shipping lanes in the winter and northern lanes in the summer "could take several years."

But it probably will be several years before technology appears that will make it possible to stop the collisions, said Edwin Fendig Jr., a senior bar pilot on Brunswick.

Fendig, writing for the Brunswick Bar Pilots' Association, said the measures proposed by the fisheries service probably wouldn't work.

"Without the whale being able to know the ship's intentions nor the ship knowing the whales' intentions, it is highly unlikely that any traffic separation schemes on this part of the coast will protect the whales," Fendig said.

"If there was some scientific validity to the proposed rule-making, the whales' intentions would still be unknown and again the whale would be unprotected."

I would like to comment very briefly on what Edwin Fendig Jr. had to say in the above quote.

Following his line of reasoning, it would seem that having lower speed limits on neighborhood streets is of little use because the young children who might run unexpectedly into the street don't necessarily know the automobile driver's intentions and the automobile driver definitely does not know the intentions of the young child who runs out in front of them; therefore it would be highly unlikely that any traffic separation schemes on these streets would protect the children. Does that make any sense at all? Of course it doesn't.

Turtle on the Edge - The Crossing - Part 1

A turtle stood on the brink of destruction, considering her next move. The handiwork of a creature that she could neither understand nor contemplate, it was an avenue to a destination she would never see, and didn't care to visit. To the turtle, this manufactured path presented nothing but an obstacle, a barrier to her continued existence, and a disruption to her way of life. Nonetheless, there it was, and she had no choice but to cross.

To this day, some of the old turtle sages speak of a time when these black tar and rock strips of desert didn't rape the earth and leave her barren; but their nursery rhymes and hatchlings' tales offer little comfort now to newer generations of mothers. They have never known a time when reproduction didn't involve the risk of crossing another's road to world domination. "The ants will eat you slowly but at least you know you're going. That road will take you before you ever know what hit you... so say goodbye before you leave as if you will never return." The moral of the stories is always the same.

So this turtle, on her Crossing, her initiation into this new rite that all mothers shared, was standing still watching, patiently waiting, anticipating the future and feeling quite scared. She kept her brave face, because to show fear was to give victory to something other than the Divine. It was not her survival that mattered now, it was the continuation of her shell-line that gave her life its meaning. She knew that she must do her part to ensure that others of her kind, with their unique understanding of reality and existence, found their way somehow into the future of this world.

Giving Thanks

I give thanks to the Universe today all of the amazing things that are happening in my life, and there are many.

I am thankful for the beautiful natural trails and running streams that remain in our great land and for the swamp here in Augusta, which has enriched my recent life here in many ways.

I am thankful for a love in my life that feels so intense, real and awe inspiring. It is a love for which I'm willing to take risks, to give all that I have to give, and one which is constantly leading me in new directions, but always closer to the real me.

I am thankful for good friends who are open and ready to talk even after we haven't spoken, written, or visited for a long time.

Thank you Universe, Earth, Nature, Spirit for being there when I come back to you.

New Posts at Skunkroot's Stompin' Grounds

I have posted several new posts on my nature blog:
Skunkroot's Stompin' Grounds

Here is the latest picture posted on that site:


This amazingly beautiful Pandora Sphinx moth was found on the wall of a gas station in North Carolina on July 1st while I was travelling up to Virginia.

By the way... here is a wonderful website that I found today
which teaches basic ideas about life on earth.
http://www.earthlife.net