This Technology Could Save Endangered Whales from Colliding with Cargo Ships Hannah Hoag - TakePart
go to original August 31, 2014

Scientists are developing a near real-time computer model that predicts where endangered blue whales will congregate as they ply the Pacific Ocean off California. Ships can then be notified to minimize chances that the largest animal on the planet will die in a collision with an even larger boat.

Think of it as a blue whale traffic-congestion map.

Called WhaleWatch, the program merges the past movements of satellite-tagged blue whales with current environmental conditions off the California coast that influence where the whales travel.

“We’ll be able to say, given the current conditions, this is a whale hot spot,” said Helen Bailey, a marine mammal specialist at the University of Maryland’s Center for Environmental Science.

“The hot spot might only coincide with the shipping lane a few months of the year,” added Bailey, who leads WhaleWatch. “If the shipping lanes could be modified, it would reduce the risk of a whale strike.”

Read the rest at TakePart

Photo: Flip Nicklin/Minden Pictures

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