It’s likely hundreds of endangered whales have been hit and killed by ships off the California coast just within the past few years – the highest spike in “ship strikes” in recent history.
About 80 endangered whales are killed off the West Coast each year by a phenomenon known as ‘ship strikes,’ which is when vessels unintentionally, and sometimes unknowingly, hit and kill whales.
While ship strikes are especially devastating to endangered and threatened species, the exact magnitude of the problem remains difficult to determine. In hopes of reducing ship strikes, the federal government instituted a voluntary speed limit of 10 knots, during peak whale months, for large ships entering and leaving the Bay. While the annual program is nearly a decade old, the NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit has learned ships are still speeding – sometimes at more than twice the limit.
“It just seems that if you spend years asking companies to voluntarily do something and they choose not to do it, it might be time to force them,” said Senior Investigative Reporter Bigad Shaban during an interview with Brown.Maria Brown, NOAA Superintendent of both Cordell Bank and Greater Farallones national marine sanctuaries, says NOAA will decide in 2023 whether to enact a mandatory speed limit for large ships entering and leaving the Bay.
“We instruct all of our vessels to abide by these voluntary programs to the greatest extent possible, given our operational requirements, and we do slow significantly through these areas,” a company spokesperson wrote in a statement. "Fran's death tells me that more needs to be done,” George said. “The voluntary slowdown that we have off of our coast is not enough to save all the whales.”
The online tool incorporates real-time whale sightings, satellite data that tracks likely food sources, and an underwater detection system that is attached to a buoy about 25 miles off the San Francisco coast. The technology, placed about 300 feet below the ocean’s surface, is constantly listening for the sultry sound of whales.
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