Compliance with vessel speed restrictions to protect North Atlantic right whales
Environmental regulations can only be effective if they are adhered to, but the motivations for regulatory compliance are not always clear. We assessed vessel operator compliance with a December 2008 regulation aimed at reducing collisions with the endangered North Atlantic right whale that requires...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:52d213919fda40839bf06699946d0863 2024-01-07T09:45:06+01:00 Compliance with vessel speed restrictions to protect North Atlantic right whales Gregory K. Silber Jeffrey D. Adams Christopher J. Fonnesbeck 2014-06-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.399 https://doaj.org/article/52d213919fda40839bf06699946d0863 EN eng PeerJ Inc. https://peerj.com/articles/399.pdf https://peerj.com/articles/399/ https://doaj.org/toc/2167-8359 doi:10.7717/peerj.399 2167-8359 https://doaj.org/article/52d213919fda40839bf06699946d0863 PeerJ, Vol 2, p e399 (2014) Regulatory compliance Vessel collisions Ship strikes Endangered whales Remote monitoring Large whale conservation Medicine R Biology (General) QH301-705.5 article 2014 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.399 2023-12-10T01:51:18Z Environmental regulations can only be effective if they are adhered to, but the motivations for regulatory compliance are not always clear. We assessed vessel operator compliance with a December 2008 regulation aimed at reducing collisions with the endangered North Atlantic right whale that requires vessels 65 feet or greater in length to travel at speeds of 10 knots or less at prescribed times and locations along the U.S. eastern seaboard. Extensive outreach efforts were undertaken to notify affected entities both before and after the regulation went into effect. Vessel speeds of 201,862 trips made between November 2008 and August 2013 by 8,009 individual vessels were quantified remotely, constituting a nearly complete census of transits made by the regulated population. Of these, 437 vessels (or their parent companies), some of whom had been observed exceeding the speed limit, were contacted through one of four non-punitive information programs. A fraction (n = 26 vessels/companies) received citations and fines. Despite the efforts to inform mariners, initial compliance was low (<5% of the trips were completely <10 knots) but improved in the latter part of the study. Each notification/enforcement program improved compliance to some degree and some may have influenced compliance across the entire regulated community. Citations/fines appeared to have the greatest influence on improving compliance in notified vessels/companies, followed in order of effectiveness by enforcement-office information letters, monthly summaries of vessel operations, and direct at-sea radio contact. Trips by cargo vessels exhibited the greatest change in behavior followed by tanker and passenger vessels. These results have application to other regulatory systems, especially where remote monitoring is feasible, and any setting where regulatory compliance is sought. Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic North Atlantic right whale Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles PeerJ 2 e399 |
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Open Polar |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Regulatory compliance Vessel collisions Ship strikes Endangered whales Remote monitoring Large whale conservation Medicine R Biology (General) QH301-705.5 |
spellingShingle |
Regulatory compliance Vessel collisions Ship strikes Endangered whales Remote monitoring Large whale conservation Medicine R Biology (General) QH301-705.5 Gregory K. Silber Jeffrey D. Adams Christopher J. Fonnesbeck Compliance with vessel speed restrictions to protect North Atlantic right whales |
topic_facet |
Regulatory compliance Vessel collisions Ship strikes Endangered whales Remote monitoring Large whale conservation Medicine R Biology (General) QH301-705.5 |
description |
Environmental regulations can only be effective if they are adhered to, but the motivations for regulatory compliance are not always clear. We assessed vessel operator compliance with a December 2008 regulation aimed at reducing collisions with the endangered North Atlantic right whale that requires vessels 65 feet or greater in length to travel at speeds of 10 knots or less at prescribed times and locations along the U.S. eastern seaboard. Extensive outreach efforts were undertaken to notify affected entities both before and after the regulation went into effect. Vessel speeds of 201,862 trips made between November 2008 and August 2013 by 8,009 individual vessels were quantified remotely, constituting a nearly complete census of transits made by the regulated population. Of these, 437 vessels (or their parent companies), some of whom had been observed exceeding the speed limit, were contacted through one of four non-punitive information programs. A fraction (n = 26 vessels/companies) received citations and fines. Despite the efforts to inform mariners, initial compliance was low (<5% of the trips were completely <10 knots) but improved in the latter part of the study. Each notification/enforcement program improved compliance to some degree and some may have influenced compliance across the entire regulated community. Citations/fines appeared to have the greatest influence on improving compliance in notified vessels/companies, followed in order of effectiveness by enforcement-office information letters, monthly summaries of vessel operations, and direct at-sea radio contact. Trips by cargo vessels exhibited the greatest change in behavior followed by tanker and passenger vessels. These results have application to other regulatory systems, especially where remote monitoring is feasible, and any setting where regulatory compliance is sought. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Gregory K. Silber Jeffrey D. Adams Christopher J. Fonnesbeck |
author_facet |
Gregory K. Silber Jeffrey D. Adams Christopher J. Fonnesbeck |
author_sort |
Gregory K. Silber |
title |
Compliance with vessel speed restrictions to protect North Atlantic right whales |
title_short |
Compliance with vessel speed restrictions to protect North Atlantic right whales |
title_full |
Compliance with vessel speed restrictions to protect North Atlantic right whales |
title_fullStr |
Compliance with vessel speed restrictions to protect North Atlantic right whales |
title_full_unstemmed |
Compliance with vessel speed restrictions to protect North Atlantic right whales |
title_sort |
compliance with vessel speed restrictions to protect north atlantic right whales |
publisher |
PeerJ Inc. |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.399 https://doaj.org/article/52d213919fda40839bf06699946d0863 |
genre |
North Atlantic North Atlantic right whale |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic North Atlantic right whale |
op_source |
PeerJ, Vol 2, p e399 (2014) |
op_relation |
https://peerj.com/articles/399.pdf https://peerj.com/articles/399/ https://doaj.org/toc/2167-8359 doi:10.7717/peerj.399 2167-8359 https://doaj.org/article/52d213919fda40839bf06699946d0863 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.399 |
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