Ship collision risk threatens whales across the world’s oceans
Tracking 435,000 whale locations, researchers found global shipping overlaps most whale ranges, while protections cover under 10% of key movement hotspots. The study shows ship traffic remains a major threat and argues that expanding management measures is essential to safeguard recovering whale populations.
Subject Tags
- Wildlife
- Ecosystem management
- Large scale protection
Abstract
After the near-complete cessation of commercial whaling, ship collisions have emerged as a primary threat to large whales, but knowledge of collision risk is lacking across most of the world’s oceans. We compiled a dataset of 435,000 whale locations to generate global distribution models for four globally ranging species. We then combined >35 billion positions from 176,000 ships to produce a global estimate of whale-ship collision risk. Shipping occurs across 92% of whale ranges, and <7% of risk hotspots contain management strategies to reduce collisions. Full coverage of hotspots could be achieved by expanding management over only 2.6% of the ocean’s surface. These inferences support the continued recovery of large whales against the backdrop of a rapidly growing shipping industry.
Citation
Nisi, A.C., Welch, H., Brodie, S., Leiphardt, C., Rhodes, R., Hazen, E.L., Redfern, J.V., Branch, T.A., Barreto, A.S., Calambokidis, J. and Clavelle, T., 2024. Ship collision risk threatens whales across the world’s oceans. Science, 386(6724), pp.870-875. DOI: 10.1126/science.adp1950
TNC Authors
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Jono Wilson
Director of Science, Oceans Program, California
The Nature Conservancy
Phone: Phone
Email: jono_wilson@tnc.org