Ships asked to avoid whale route

The endangered North Atlantic Right Whale is to get extra protection after a safe haven from shipping was set aside off Nova Scotia in Canada.

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) ratified a Canadian proposal to designate the 1,800-sq-km zone an "Area to Be Avoided" at a meeting in Denmark.

The voluntary restriction asks ship captains to steer around the area.

Collisions with container ships are seen as a key threat to right whales, thought to number just 400.

The new zone is in the Roseway Basin, south of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia.

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