For over a decade, the Blue Whales Blue Skies program (BWBS) has been working to reduce ship strikes on whale populations along the California coast. Now, for the first time, cruise lines can be part of the solution.

Founded in 2014 by the California Marine Sanctuary Foundation, BWBS asks ships transiting California’s busy shipping lanes to voluntarily reduce their speed to 10 knots or less in key whale habitats during peak migration periods.

The science is straightforward.

Slower ships give whales more time to move out of the way, and strike impacts at lower speeds are survivable where they might otherwise be fatal.

What’s less straightforward is convincing a global industry to cooperate voluntarily and that’s where BWBS has seemed to crack a code that has eluded a lot of other regulators for years.

Why It’s Working When Others Failed

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) made its first voluntary speed reduction request to shipping companies back in 2007.

Ships, however, largely ignored it.

BWBS launched seven years later with a fundamentally different approach, which was transparency, recognition, and what amounts to public peer pressure backed by data.

Companies that participate receive performance reports.

Top performers win awards that include, famously, hand-carved wooden whale tail trophies that shipping executives can display in their offices.

Becca Tucker, director of corporate engagement at BWBS, said the motivation has evolved significantly over the program’s decade of operations.

“In the early years, a handful of shipping lines saw this program as a meaningful way to add value to their brands by distinguishing themselves from competitors as leaders in whale protection,” Tucker said.

The Cruise Ship Question

For most of BWBS’s history, cruise lines were not part of the program.

The reason was mostly technical.

With massive power demands, the emissions calculations that applied to cargo vessels simply didn’t transfer.

The program focuses on both whale protection and coastal air quality, particularly for communities out of compliance with national air quality standards.

Before opening the program to cruise lines, BWBS worked with research partners to understand how cruise ship emissions would be affected by slowing to 10 knots.

Some cruise vessels have such high electrical power demands that spending more time near coastal communities at lower speeds could actually increase local emissions.

BWBS worked with Starcrest Consulting to analyze the typical cruise vessels transiting its zones and confirmed that, on average across the fleet, a net air quality benefit was achievable.

“We knew that cruise ships slowing down to 10 knots would make whales safer, but some cruise vessels have such a huge electrical power demand that they might be burning more fuel and creating more emissions when they spend more time near the coastal communities,” Tucker said.

The calculus worked, and cruise lines became eligible to join.

However, voluntary uptake, Tucker acknowledges, has been slow.

“Cruise lines have been subject to NOAA’s voluntary VSR request since 2007, but voluntary action is not currently strong for this sector,” she said.

“Adjusting schedules and itineraries for passenger vessels is not an easy task, and some cruise lines may be more reluctant to join than others, or take more time to raise cooperation rates.”

The program’s approach is deliberately patient.

BWBS only publishes the names of companies meeting minimum participation criteria, and only publicly celebrates those reaching award levels.

For cruise lines still working toward compliance, the message is straightforward: “Sign on with us, get our free monthly reporting and see how it goes,” Tucker said.

AB 14 and the California Blueprint

The political landscape shifted significantly last year when California Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 14 into law, giving BWBS a legislative mandate to expand its vessel speed reduction zones statewide.

The current program zones, while substantial, do not yet cover all critical whale habitat along the California coast.

Tucker is careful to frame what AB 14 does and does not mean.

The legislation provides no new funding for the program, and crucially for an initiative built on voluntary participation, it explicitly does not create enforcement mechanisms or threaten mandatory compliance.

What it does provide is something harder to quantify, which is institutional credibility from one of the world’s largest economies.

The question of whether the California model can be replicated globally is one Tucker takes seriously.

“With one of the largest economies in the world recognizing the ‘highly cost-effective’ environmental benefits the program has achieved with a solely voluntary model, one of the biggest implications is for the profile of the program and for how it sets us up for even greater impact in the long-term,” Tucker said.

Consumer Pressure Up the Supply Chain

BWBS has developed an ambassador program that extends its reach beyond shipping companies, recruiting consumer brands to publicly align with participating shipping lines.

Current ambassadors include Sonos, Peak Design, and Who Gives A Crap, companies with millions of followers and customers who can amplify the program’s message in ways a small environmental organization cannot.

Companies must work with at least one participating shipping line to join, and high performers receive additional recognition. But the real value flows in both directions.

“When they talk about it and share this opportunity, it’s a huge value to us to help get the word out,” Tucker said. “And we’d argue it’s a great opportunity for them to connect with customers who want to buy from companies working to protect endangered species and public health.”

In practice, ambassador companies often go further than the minimum requirements.

Now that cruise lines are eligible for the program, Tucker sees passenger demand as a potential driver of cruise line participation, mirroring the consumer pressure that helped move cargo shipping companies.

“We think there will be a lot of interest by potential passengers who want to understand how they specifically can play a role,” she said.

“It’s a proven and effective way to protect whales right now.”

The Global Picture

The scale of the problem BWBS is working against is significant.

The obstacle, Tucker explained, s straightforward. “The main thing stopping us (candidly) is the need for more funding.”

In California, at least, the model is working.

Ships are slowing down. Whales are surviving encounters they might not have otherwise. And cruise lines, slowly, are signing on.