🔍 Key Concepts

• Collision avoidance and safe speed requirements when any object (including marine mammals) is sighted directly ahead • Protection measures for endangered marine mammals such as northern right whales (e.g., keeping clear and avoiding disturbance) • Who is normally notified when you sight hazards or significant items at sea (e.g., Coast Guard / local maritime authority)

💭 Think About

• If you see a large object directly ahead, what is the safest immediate seamanship action regarding your course? • In areas where northern right whales are present, what is generally expected of mariners to help protect them? • Think about whether these actions (avoiding the whale and reporting the sighting) conflict with each other or if they can be done together.

✅ Before You Answer

• Confirm that collision avoidance with the whale comes first for safety of vessel and animal • Consider whether reporting a whale sighting to the appropriate Coast Guard or authority is a common requirement in those waters • Check if any of the individual actions would be clearly unsafe or contrary to good seamanship if done alone.