New technology in the San Francisco Bay helps ship captains avoid striking endangered whales.
RELATED: How does a species become endangered?
Twenty-eight miles off San Francisco Bay, the sea is alive with whales. Spout after spout shoot from the water as more than two dozen humpbacks feast on glittering schools of anchovies.
Unfortunately, the abundant fish that draw humpbacks here mean these whales are effectively having a picnic on a freeway – and they don't know they're in danger. These rich feeding grounds are smack in the middle of the path to the fourth-busiest ports on the West Coast. Ships the size of the Empire State Building power through daily to reach docks in Oakland and San Francisco.
More than 80 whales are struck and killed each year in West Coast shipping lanes, the roadkill of robust international trade. So far, 2018, 2019 and 2021 have been the worst years on record for whale-ship collisions. Scientists have recently launched tool called Whale Safe that's working to give the mammals a fighting chance by getting ships to slow down when whales are present, just as cars slow down in school zones.
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