Initial Research and Planning

A Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS) is an area in the sea where ship traffic is heavily regulated. One such TSS was placed in the Bay of Fundy. To the credit of scientists, they quickly determined that the TSS ran through a portion of the right whale conservation area in the Bay. In light of this discovery, the Vessel – Whale working group was formed to develop a plan that would protect the right whale population. Industry, research institute and various government agencies (both Canadian and US) supported the group with funding and research.

Map of Stellwagen Bank, Bay of Fundy. Solid lines represent existing TSS and dotted lines represent proposed TSS. Red means high whale density and blue means low. Image source: New England Ocean Odyssey

Changes to Shipping Lanes

The Vessel – Whale working group eventually developed a proposal to amend the TSS by rerouting the ships away from the densely populated whale conservation area. The proposal would shift the shipping lanes 3.9 nautical miles (7.2228 km) to the east, avoiding important whale habitat. The amendment was successfully adopted by the International Maritime Organization in 2002 and subsequently implemented in the Bay of Fundy in 2003.