California Is Slowing Down Ships – Is It Enough to Protect Marine Life?
Last month, the Protecting Blue Whales and Blue Skies Program launched its 2026 Vessel Speed Reduction Season, expanding the program for the first time along the entire California coast. This expansion marks a milestone for a program that began over a decade ago to slow down shipping traffic in the Santa Barbara Channel – but it does not deliver what endangered whales, sea otters, and other marine life need to survive.
Ships and Sea Otters on a Collision Course
Each year, thousands of cargo ships transit California’s coast through critical feeding, breeding, and migration grounds for whales and sea otters – increasing the likelihood of fatal ship strikes and contributing to ocean noise pollution that masks the signals marine species depend on for essential behaviors. Ship strikes are a leading cause of death for sea otters, particularly vulnerable juveniles encountering vessels for the first time.
The dangers extend beyond collisions. Sea otters are also uniquely vulnerable to oil spills. Unlike other marine mammals, they lack a blubber layer and rely entirely on dense fur for insulation. When oil mats that fur, hypothermia sets in quickly, and grooming leads to ingestion of toxins. One large oil spill could wipe out the entire population of southern sea otters, a population The Otter Project fights to protect. Disasters like the Exxon Valdez in 1989 and Deepwater Horizon in 2010 have had devastating impacts on marine life, including sea otters. It is estimated that several thousand sea otters died in the Exxon Valdez oil spill, a number at least equaling the present-day size of the California sea otter population. In 2022, a ship carrying 39,000 gallons of fuel lost power off Point Reyes, a conservation area vital to sea otters. The ship drifted to within seven miles of shore before the crew managed to anchor, narrowly averting a spill that would have been disastrous for expanding the sea otters’ population northward.
The Otter Project has long advocated for the management of vessel traffic in ways that reduce the likelihood of strikes and spills. Reducing vessel speeds is a proven and necessary measure.
How the Program Works
The Vessel Speed Reduction program asks oceangoing vessels of 300 gross tons or larger to slow to 10 knots or less within designated zones. At those reduced speeds, the risk of fatal strikes drops, and underwater noise can be reduced by nearly 40 percent. To incentivize participation, the program verifies compliance and publicly recognizes top-performing shipping lines.
The 2026 season brings important and meaningful changes. The Vessel Speed Reduction zone now extends statewide and further west, creating a more continuous and expansive protective corridor, and the season start date moved from May 1 to April 22.
Steps in the Right Direction – But Steps Too Small
The Otter Project has been a long-time supporter of the Vessel Speed Reduction program, including legislation in 2019 that would have established it as a statewide program then. While we support the program’s season and geographic scope expansions in 2026, the current expansions do not go far enough.
On the season: the historical May 1 start date is not early enough. The program itself concluded that data supports an April 1 start date – yet for 2026, the season begins April 22 to allow more time for industry preparedness. The Vessel Speed Reduction season should reflect what is best for marine life, not what is best for industry.
On the zone: historically, the Vessel Speed Reduction zone was comprised of multiple, disjointed areas along the central and southern coast, failing to include areas where marine life reproduce, feed, and migrate. Because of those gaps, shipping companies routed around the zones at higher speeds, displacing impacts rather than reducing them. While the 2026 zone is more continuous, it is not fully comprehensive. The originally proposed expansion would have extended further west, but after industry pushback, it was scaled back, leaving whales and sea otters at risk. Like the Vessel Speed Reduction season, the geographic zone should reflect what is protective of marine life, not what suits industry.
Looking Ahead
The expanded Vessel Speed Reduction program represents real progress. But with whale and sea otter populations under mounting pressure from changing ocean conditions, diminishing prey, and intensifying shipping traffic, science demands stronger protections.