SEATTLE — The U.S. Coast Guard is launching a cetacean desk pilot program designed to reduce ship strikes and cetacean disturbances in the Salish Sea at 11 a.m. Wednesday at Coast Guard Sector Puget Sound, 1519 Alaskan Way S. in Seattle.
The newly established cetacean desk pilot program, aimed at preventing whale disturbances in the Salish Sea, is located in the Coast Guard’s Puget Sound Vessel Traffic System office in Seattle, according to a Coast Guard press release.
The cetacean desk was authorized, developed and implemented through the Don Young Authorization Act of 2022.
The pilot program seeks to provide near real-time data about the location of cetaceans within the Salish Sea to marine pilots and mariners operating in the area using the Puget Sound Vessel Traffic Service system.
