https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/21/science/whale-safe-san-francisco.html
"THE PACIFIC OCEAN NEAR SAN FRANCISCO — Fran washed ashore in August, some 25
miles south of the Golden Gate Bridge. The beloved and much-photographed female
humpback whale had a broken neck, most likely the result of being hit by a
ship.
This latest instance of oceanic roadkill increased the tally of whales killed
by ships near San Francisco this year to four. The true death toll is likely to
be much higher as whale carcasses often sink to the sea floor.
Scientists and conservationists are trying to drive that number to zero. On
Wednesday, Whale Safe, an A.I.-powered detection system, began operating around
San Francisco Bay. Its goal is to warn large ships in the area’s waters when
whales are nearby.
About 25 miles out to sea from the Golden Gate on Monday afternoon, a yellow
buoy bobbed not far from the great white shark hunting grounds of the Farallon
Islands. On a boat close by called the Nova, Douglas McCauley, director of the
Benioff Ocean Initiative at the University of California, Santa Barbara, donned
a wet suit and snorkel and jumped into the brine to give the buoy some T.L.C.
before its big day. The buoy, tethered to an underwater microphone, is an
integral part of Whale Safe.
Researchers estimate more than 80 endangered blue, humpback and fin whales are
killed by ships each year along the West Coast. With increasing global marine
traffic, the problems created by thousands of massive ships crisscrossing
waters that teem with ocean giants are expected to only worsen. Near San
Francisco in particular, climate change has been shifting the whales’ food
closer to shore, placing the whales in harm’s way more often, according to
Kathi George, field operations manager for the Marine Mammal Center in
Sausalito, Calif.
That’s why Dr. McCauley and a network of collaborators developed Whale Safe
with funding from Marc Benioff, founder of Salesforce, and his wife, Lynne.
Whale Safe, which has been operating in the Santa Barbara Channel since 2020,
provides near-real-time data on the presence of whales and sends out alerts to
mariners, shipping companies and anyone else who signs up. The hope is that if
ship captains get an alert saying there are lots of whales in the area, they
might be more likely to shift course or slow their approach to port — a tactic
that research suggests makes deadly collisions less likely."
Via
The Fixer September 28, 2022:
<
https://reasonstobecheerful.world/san-francisco-bay-whale-detection-system/>
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
