Exploring ship traffic variability off California

Moore, Thomas J.; Redfern, Jessica V.; Carver, Michael; Hastings, Sean; Adams, Jeffrey; Silber, Gregory K.

doi:10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2018.03.010

Cited by 42 publications

(51 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…Finer spatial scales are often critical to evaluating ship strike risk. One of the areas of highest risk of ship strikes are in the designated shipping lanes coming and going from major ports like Los Angeles/Long Beach and those in San Francisco Bay as well as transit routes for ships between ports along the US West Coast (Redfern et al, 2013;Jensen et al, 2015;Rockwood et al, 2017;Moore et al, 2018). Shipping lanes are often only 1 nmi wide and so whether whale presence overlaps with these areas requires position data on a very fine spatial scale.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Shipping lanes are often only 1 nmi wide and so whether whale presence overlaps with these areas requires position data on a very fine spatial scale. One change in shipping lanes in the southern California Bight that was made to reduce risk of ship strikes shifted one of the lanes only 1 nmi to get it farther from area of frequent blue whale feeding in the southern Santa Barbara Channel (Moore et al, 2018). Finer scale data on whale positions taking into account the differences in whale movements and distributions between day and night are required for more detailed assessments.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Differential Vulnerability to Ship Strikes Between Day and Night for Blue, Fin, and Humpback Whales Based on Dive and Movement Data From Medium Duration Archival Tags

et al. 2019

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We examine the dive and movement behavior of blue, fin, and humpback whales along the US West Coast in regions with high ship traffic where ship strikes have been identified as a major concern. All three species are known to feed in coastal waters near areas of high ship traffic. We analyzed data from 33 archival tag deployments representing over 3,000 h of data that were attached with suction-cups or short darts for periods >20 h and recorded depth (≥ 1 Hz), fast-lock GPS positions and other sensors. There were clear differences among the three species but all showed a distinct diurnal difference in diving behavior. While dive depth varied among animals based on where prey was located, whales spent a high proportion of their time closer to the surface where they would be more vulnerable to ship strikes at night than in the day. This was most pronounced for blue whales where vulnerability was twice as high at night compared to the day. We also found differences in movement patterns of whales between day and night. Movements were more localized to specific areas in the day near prey resources while at night these movements often involved directional movements (though sometimes returning to the same area). We show how in several specific areas like the Santa Barbara Channel, these differences in movements and locations translate to a very different overlap with shipping lanes at night compared to the daytime locations, which is the basis for most sighting data.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Differential Vulnerability to Ship Strikes Between Day and Night for Blue, Fin, and Humpback Whales Based on Dive and Movement Data From Medium Duration Archival Tags

et al. 2019

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“…Reducing ship‐strike risk in the Bight is complicated by changes in ship traffic that occurred from 2008 to 2015 as a result of air pollution regulations and economic factors (Moore et al, ). In 2008, a majority of ship traffic travelled in the Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS) in the Santa Barbara Channel (hereafter, Channel), which is one of the primary entry and exit points for the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach (two of the busiest ports in the United States).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating stakeholder‐derived strategies to reduce the risk of ships striking whales

Redfern

Moore

Becker

et al. 2019

Diversity and Distributions

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Aim: Ship strikes are one of the largest sources of human-caused mortality for baleen whales on the West Coast of the United States. Reducing ship-strike risk in this region is complicated by changes in ship traffic that resulted from air pollution regulations and economic factors. A diverse group of stakeholders was convened to develop strategies to reduce ship-strike risk in the Southern California Bight. Strategies proposed by some stakeholders included: (a) adding a shipping route; (b) expanding the existing area to be avoided (ATBA); and (c) reducing ship speeds. Location: Southern California Bight, off the coast of California, United States. Methods:We developed methods to estimate ship traffic in the stakeholder-derived strategies using 8 years of ship traffic data. To assess ship-strike risk for fin, humpback, and blue whales, we used habitat models developed from 7 years of survey data and home ranges derived from 53 blue whale tags. We defined collision risk as the co-occurrence between whales and ships. The risk of a lethal collision was calculated by multiplying collision risk by the probability that a collision is lethal, which is estimated using ship speed.Results: Speed reductions resulted in a large decrease in the risk of a lethal ship strike.Creating a shipping route or expanding the ATBA reduced the risk of a strike by removing traffic from a whale feeding area. Creating a shipping route was opposed by the United States Navy and the shipping industry, but expanding the ATBA was broadly supported. Main conclusions:Our analyses suggest that speed reductions and expanding the ATBA may provide an optimal solution for addressing stakeholder needs and reducing ship strikes in the Southern California Bight. The methods we developed can be used to address the global issue of balancing human use of the marine environment with the protection of whale populations.

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“…In fact, the human populations of the USA's Southwest and northern Mexico might find themselves in a truly revolutionary early-21st Century situation whereby independence from all freshwater extraction macro-problems related to the Colorado River is achievable under neart-term future meteorological circumstances [23]. Surely, governmental budgeteers will be pleased, as will taxpayers, and commercial circles will certainly take notice of persuasively influential new economic facts [24][25][26][27].…”

Section: Optimizing Northern Mexico-southern California's Freshwater mentioning

confidence: 99%

Meteorological Macro-Imagineering: A Re-plumbed Freshwater Supply System for the USA’s Southwest? (Macro-Imagenharia Meteorológica: Um Sistema de Abastecimento de Água Doce para o Sudoeste dos EUA?)

Cathcart¹

2019

CALIBRE

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Exploring ship traffic variability off California

Cited by 42 publications

References 41 publications

Differential Vulnerability to Ship Strikes Between Day and Night for Blue, Fin, and Humpback Whales Based on Dive and Movement Data From Medium Duration Archival Tags

Differential Vulnerability to Ship Strikes Between Day and Night for Blue, Fin, and Humpback Whales Based on Dive and Movement Data From Medium Duration Archival Tags

Evaluating stakeholder‐derived strategies to reduce the risk of ships striking whales

Meteorological Macro-Imagineering: A Re-plumbed Freshwater Supply System for the USA’s Southwest? (Macro-Imagenharia Meteorológica: Um Sistema de Abastecimento de Água Doce para o Sudoeste dos EUA?)

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