Thousands of vessels entering and leaving the Panama Canal each year will soon follow special lanes as part of a widespread effort to prevent collisions with whales.

Hundreds of whales have been killed or injured in recent decades in their breeding and feeding grounds because of collisions with high-speed freighters, ferries and tankers on their way to the world’s great ports. Panama reported 13 humpback-whale deaths from 2009 to 2011, though scientists believe many more go uncounted. Collisions with ships are thought to be a leading cause.

As a result of a unanimous decision May 23 by the United Nations International Maritime Organization (IMO), which is in charge of shipping safety on the world’s seas, Panama now will be permitted to create whale-protection lanes and speed limits by Dec. 1 for ships entering and leaving the canal.

“This should help bring order to vessel traffic coming in and out of the Gulf of Panama, where large numbers of humpback whales breed and give birth, and through which other species of whales, like sperm whales, blue whales and Bryde’s whales travel,” says Héctor Guzmán, of the Panama-based Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, who led the research on which the new measures are based. “It will reduce the chance of collisions between ships and whales by over 90%.”

Heavier traffic coming

The IMO’s decision comes at a critical time for Panama, which plans by early 2016 to complete a US$5.3 billion expansion of the 100-year-old canal. The expansion will add a third set of locks, permit passage of the world’s largest cargo ships—known as Post-Panamax vessels—and double the canal’s cargo capacity. The project also is expected to increase the number of vessels transiting the facility from the current 14,500 each year.

But as the risks of whale strikes grow, Panamanian authorities say they are eager to prevent accidental killings of the animals, which might harm the country’s image as a burgeoning site for whale watching and marine ecotourism. Directors of international shipping agencies also have given their support, as crashes with whales can damage ships and lead to spills of precious cargo.

The Gulf of Panama hosts an estimated 300 humpback whales each year. Some travel from the northern hemisphere by way of Mexico and Central America. Hundreds more voyage more than 7,000 kilometers from the Antarctic Peninsula or Chile to spend June through December breeding and giving birth in the calm, shallow waters of Las Perlas Archipelago, some 60 kilometers (40 miles) from the entrance to the Canal in the gulf.

Unfortunately, the whales, considered endangered, are unprepared for the large vessels with which they cross paths in the gulf. Experts believe the loud noises of large ships interfere with whale communication and confuse them, making it difficult for them to locate approaching vessels. The powerful drafts and suction of fast-moving freighters can pull whales in. And the high speeds of the vessels, cruising at 15-27 knots, make it difficult for humpbacks with maximum swimming speeds of 11 knots to get out of the way, causing the whales to suffer deep propeller wounds, severed tails or blunt trauma injuries.

Comparing pathways

In 2009, Guzmán and Smithsonian colleagues used air guns to tag 15 humpbacks with satellite transmitters and then tracked the animals, finding that in a single 11-day period, whales came within 100-200 meters of large, fast-moving vessels more than 90 times. Superimposing whale routes on shipping lanes, they drew special ship routes near the Azuero Peninsula on the western edge of the Gulf of Panama and for the gulf itself to ensure greater separation. They also established lanes for the Caribbean side of the canal. And for the Gulf of Panama, they proposed a 10-knot speed limit during August through November, when most whale visits occur. The proposals were forwarded to the IMO by the Panama Maritime Authority and accepted in May.

Designated lanes and speed limits to protect whales already have been established for numerous ports, including Boston, Los Angeles and Long Beach in the United States, the Bay of Fundy in Canada and Cabo de Gata near the Strait of Gibraltar in Spain. Tragedies such as the killing in April of a 57-foot fin whale, whose carcass entered the Port of New Jersey wrapped around the bow of an immense container ship, only add urgency to calls for more such measures, experts say.

In Latin America, efforts to develop regimens such as the one in Panama have been stymied by the high costs of the necessary studies and correctives. Still, scientists say ways must be found for such work to go forward. “What Guzmán and his team along with the IMO have done in Panama is fantastic, and should be expanded elsewhere,” says Greg Silber, a whale-recovery expert for the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service. “These lanes alert mariners, help protect individual whales and are good for whale populations.”