NASA Tool To Protect Endangered Blue Whales
It will show for each month the most likely locations of blue, humpback, fin, and grey whales along the West Coast of the US and Canada based on current environmental conditions detected by satellites.
In addition, WhaleWatch has a daily product that will predict the movements of blue whales for any given day. To develop the tool, the team started with 15 years of whale tag data and matched it in place and time with ocean depth measurements and satellite measurements of sea surface temperate, chlorophyll concentration and sea surface height.
Most of blue whales, along with other endangered whale species, migrate up and down the California coast -- along with heavy fishing and shipping traffic to and from the major ports of Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Massive vessels navigating through their dining areas near the ports increase the chances that a whale will be injured or killed by a collision. Becoming entangled in fishing gear can hamper a whale's ability to feed or swim to the surface to breathe.
"The real way to reduce the risk of a whale getting hit is to reduce the overlap (of whales and vessels)," added Monica DeAngelis, marine mammal scientist at NOAA.
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