Endangered whales annually migrate through the Santa Barbara Channel, where busy shipping zones pose a serious threat of collision.
Data from a UCSB mapping tool revealed that many large ships violated speed limits last year. Whale Safe was designed to help agencies prevent whale-ship collisions.
The software tracks 8,500 vessels near major ports on both the US West and East Coasts.
The data showed that in 2023, large vessels only slowed down 59% of the time in designated slow speed zones.
Rachel Rhodes, a project scientist at UCSB’s Benioff Ocean Science Lab, explained that the whale safe tool monitors the location and speed of large ships.
“It’s combining that with operator information to create report cards, so we're grading ship operators on how well their vessels are complying with speed recommendations that are put in place to protect endangered whales,” Rhodes said.
In 2024 so far, three endangered whales have died from being hit by ships.
According to Rhodes, the goal of Whale Safe is to hold shipping companies accountable.
“It's very transparent; it's free,” Rhodes said. “It's out there so that folks can leverage that information to help improve cooperation in these zones throughout the year.”
Ship speeds in real time are here. Users can sort the data by country, region, and regulatory status.
