A coast guard monitors each boat

Anne Caroline Desplanques

Friday, 18 August, 2017 06:30

UPDATE
Friday, 18 August, 2017 06:30

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The coast guard stationed 24 hours on 24 to monitor the ships in the gulf of St. Lawrence will soon be alerted by a computer system when a boat exceeds the speed limit imposed to protect whales.

“A first version should be delivered in the course of next week,” says Mathieu Roy, the manager of the Service centre marine communications and traffic (MCTS) in Québec.

A week ago, Fisheries and Oceans Canada has imposed a speed limit of 10 knots (18.5 km/h) for vessels of 20 metres or more which circulate in the gulf of St. Lawrence to reduce the risk of fatal collisions with cetaceans.

The tool of management of the marine traffic that use the canadian coast-guards, however, is not intended to automatically check the speed. The officers must, therefore, monitor each boat, which circulates in the gulf of St. Lawrence.

New task

“Watch the speed, it is an addition to our task, this is not something that we did,” says Mr. Roy.

To support the coast guard, a team of technicians is working to integrate the information system on marine navigation (INNAV) an application for automated monitoring of the speed that will send alerts if a vessel exceeds the speed limit.

In the meantime, ” it is 100% human “, points out Mr. Roy.

They are, therefore, twenty officers, all based in les Escoumins, on the North Shore, to cover 24 hours on 24 and seven days a week. Eyes riveted on the maritime maps that are interactive like the one above, they ensure that no vessel is in contravention of the new regulations.

The ships appear in real time on the cards. The system INNAV allows officers to know the names of the vessels, their dimensions, their speed, their origin and their destination.

Until now, Mr. Roy indicates that no penalty has been imposed. “The ships are very cooperative,” he said. Offenders are liable to a fine ranging from 6000 $ to 25 000 $.

Thirteenth dead whale

Any collision between a whale and a ship have not been reported since the imposition of the new speed limit. Nevertheless, a thirteenth right whale was found dead this week, this time off the coast of Cape Cod.

It was a reproductive female known scientists from the Aquarium of New England in Boston, tells CBC. Born in 1991, she was the mother of five calves. The researchers have called Verse.

The scientists are waiting the fallen of hurricane Gert in order to proceed to the necropsy of the carcass that will help determine the cause of death. The results of the previous necropsies are not yet known.

The traffic of vessels in real time*

Western Tugger

Photo courtesy MarineTraffic.com

• Tug of 35,05 m

• Speed of 4.9 knots

• Canada Pavilion

• On the ground in Port-Menier, Anticosti island

Ariadne

Photo courtesy MarineTraffic.com

• Oil 186,44 m

• Speed: 8,7 knots

• Flag Bahamas

• From Montreal, destination unknown

Seahorse

Photo courtesy MarineTraffic.com

• Cargo 177,38 m

• Speed: 9,8 knots

• Flag Marshall Islands

• From New Brunswick, to Norfolk in Virginia

Em Kea

Photo courtesy MarineTraffic.com

• Container 220 m

• Speed: 8 knots

• Flag Liberia

• From Montreal to Halifax

*Speed verified 17 a.m. yesterday (10 knots maximum). Screenshots made 14 a.m. yesterday.