Inside Climate News: Can Tech Keep Whales Safe From Deadly Vessel Strikes?

In San Francisco Bay, new AI-powered technology aims to help ships dodge whales whose long-haul migration is being disrupted by climate change. San Francisco Bay is one of the busiest marine superhighways in the United States. Massive container ships cruise alongside crude oil tankers under the Golden Gate Bridge as high-speed ferries zip near the infamous Alcatraz Island and sailboats catch gusts close by. The world’s longest-haul ocean travelers are now in the fray too. Eastern North Pacific gray whales take a more than 10,000-mile marine road trip annually, gorging themselves on tiny, shrimp-like crustaceans off northern Alaska before traveling to the balmy waters off Baja California in Mexico to breed. But a climate-change-induced decline in high-quality food supplies during the first leg of the journey is forcing whales to seek sustenance in new places along the way, research suggests. Bustling San Francisco Bay is one of those newer pitstops. Dozens of gray whales have died there in recent years after vessels struck them. But a new system developed by a coalition of scientists, government officials, mariners and tech experts aims to help prevent collisions — and give the often-starving whales a fighting shot at reaching their final destination. In May, the team deployed thermal cameras coupled with AI-powered tech, aptly named WhaleSpotter, that pinpoints the heat signature of a whale’s tell-tale blow when it surfaces. Learn MORE.