Taking it slow can help reduce impacts of Arctic shipping on whales

CANADIAN ARCTIC—Vessel transits through Canada’s Northwest Passage have increased from four per year in the 1980s to as many as 30 per year.

With ship traffic steadily growing in Arctic waters, our WCS Canada research team, in close collaboration with JASCO Applied Sciences and the University of Victoria, decided to investigate whether reducing vessel speeds could lower the impact of ship noise.