A look at the high-tech methods being used to prevent whale deaths

After the growing number of whale fatalities from ships, scientists developed a program to prevent further deaths. 

Whale Safe is a project that uses high-tech sensors, computer modeling and satellites along with low-tech observations to warn ship captains of the presence of endangered whales. 

Whale Safe’s website shows what ships are heeding the warnings as the company publishes a letter grade for each large ship. The Whale Safe online tool shows a very high chance of whale presence and the place where whales were spotted. 

Ship collisions are a primary cause of death for healthy whales

“Just off the US West Coast, every year there are about 80 endangered bluefin and humpback whales that are killed from these strikes,” Callie Leiphardt of Benioff Ocean Science Laboratory and lead on the project told FOX Weather. 

Leiphardt says that one of the hardest parts of working on this type of problem is that a majority goes undetected. 

“So for almost every single one that we see washed up on a beach or floating out in the ocean, we can almost estimate that about ten is happening for everyone that we’re seeing,” she continued.

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Even a couple of deaths could put an endangered species in jeopardy. In 2019, at least two blue whales were killed by ships off California. That number put the species at risk of not being sustainable. 

NOAA Fisheries estimated that only 1.2 whales could be removed from the Eastern North Pacific stock die a non-natural death and still allow the remaining stock, around 1,600 individuals, to be able to reach or maintain its optimum sustainable population. 

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How Whale Safe works

Leiphardt launched the pilot program in Southern California in 2020. The Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are the two busiest in the U.S. More than 50% of all container ship traffic coming to or leaving from the U.S. passes through West Coast ports, according to research. Endangered whales migrate and feed in the busy shipping lanes. 

Artificial intelligence monitors for humpback, fin and blue whale calls with acoustic sensors hanging from buoys 24/7. Satellites instantly transmit the calls to human analysts for confirmation.

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“We also have, I guess, the best way I like to explain it is almost weather forecasting for blue whales,” Leiphardt said. “It’s a dynamic blue whale habitat model that actually draws insights from the satellite data to help predict where blue whales are likely to be based on what the ocean is telling us.”

More whale reports come from whale-watch boats, ship captains and amateur naturalists. The program takes the sightings off different mobile apps and crowdsourcing sites like Citizen Science. 

The program marries the data with the Automatic Identification System, a ship tracking system that also monitors ship speed. The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, E.P.A. and the U.S Coast Guard suggest 10-knot (11.5 mph) speed limits through whale feeding areas. 

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Research shows that the 10-knot speed limit for large vessels through sensitive whale habitats on the East Coast reduced the risk of North Atlantic Right Whale ship strike deaths by 80% to 90%.

The site shows whale sightings, whale presence ratings from low to very high for areas, ships paths and a ship’s cooperation rate for voluntary slow down and associated letter grade.

Whale Safe expands

The Benioff lab and the Marine Mammal Center partnered to launch Whale Safe in the San Francisco Bay Area in September. That was just a month after Fran, the most photographed whale in California, washed up on a beach after a necropsy showed she was struck and killed by a ship.

“The death of Fran is incredibly tragic, given that ship strikes on whales can be avoided,” says Kathi George, Director of Field Operations & Response at The Marine Mammal Center. “Everyone, including shipping companies, wants to protect these magnificent giants, and we need ships to slow down in vessel speed reduction areas as well as when whales are around.”

Another AI program that utilizes citizen scientist photos of fluke patterns identified Fran’s body. She has recorded 277 sightings since her birth in 2005. Just this year was pictured bringing a calf to feeding grounds successfully for the first time.

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Whale Safe hopes to expand to other areas like the East Coast. That is where NOAA Fisheries made an official declaration and launched an investigation into the right whale unusual mortality event that started in 2017.

The 91 severely injured and dead right whales off the East Coast since 2017 is an uptick from previous years. The number puts the survival of the species at risk. NOAA estimates there are 368 remaining whales, including only 57 new calves.

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Ship strikes expected to rise

“Looking into the next few decades, maritime shipping is just going to grow exponentially,” Leiphardt said. “Any time you have this overlap of large cargo ships and whales, the risk is higher and higher.”

Data will also help groups establish temporary or permanent routing measures around whale feeding and breeding zones.