NOAA: Where she blows please don?t go

NOAA: Where she blows please donÆt go    The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is urging ship captains to use new recommended routes when entering or leaving the Florida ports of Jacksonville and Fernandina as well as Brunswick, Ga. And Cape Cod Bay off Massachusetts in order to reduce the chances of ships striking endangered right whales.
   NOAA said the new routes were also designed to take into account safety and economic impact to the mariner.
   Although the routes are voluntary, they will appear on both electronic and paper NOAA nautical charts by the end of this month.
   'This is an important part of our ship strike reduction strategy for critically endangered right whales,' said Bill Hogarth, assistant administrator for NOAA Fisheries Service. 'Mariners need to be aware of these voluntary routes before the winter calving season when pregnant females and females with calves migrate to waters off of Florida and Georgia. With a population so low, even one whale death can set back recovery efforts dramatically.'
   NOAA said the right whale population is small — around 300 — and many scientists believe recovery has stalled, making the few reproductively active females even more important to population recovery.
   The ports were chosen because right whales typically travel south from waters off Canada and New England to calving and nursery areas off Florida and Georgia in winter, traversing areas frequented by large ships. Females and their calves then return to more northerly feeding grounds, aggregating in Cape Cod Bay during the spring, also an area with substantial ship traffic.
   Separately, NOAA is weighing public comments to a proposed rulemaking that would impose speed restrictions on ships in areas when whales are likely to be present. Those rules are expected to be announced sometime next year.