Shipping giant changes course to save Sri Lanka whales
Agence France-Presse
September 09, 2022
Animal rights activists on Friday cheered a move by a shipping giant to alter course in Sri Lankan waters to avoid collisions with blue whales, the world's largest mammals.
The island's southern coast has an unusually high density of blue whales, classed as endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, and is one of the world's busiest international shipping lanes.
Campaigners believe more than a dozen of the gigantic animals -- the largest ever to have lived on Earth at up to 30 meters long and 150 tonnes -- have been killed in collisions with commercial ships in the last decade.
snip
The Geneva-based Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), one of the world's biggest container carriers, announced Thursday that it had voluntarily adjusted its routes around Sri Lanka by that distance to reduce the risk of accidents involving whales, dolphins and porpoises.
The move could reduce the strike risk as much as 95 percent, the company said.
snip
Full article
-------------------
