Ship collision risk threatens whales across the world’s oceans
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.
Authors
- Douglas J. McCauley (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8100-653X)
- Heather Welch (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5464-1140)
- Richard Rhodes
- Lauren E. Dares (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3527-3917)
- Elliott L. Hazen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0412-7178)
- Stephanie Brodie (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0869-9939)
- Shane Gero (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6854-044X)
- John Calambokidis (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5028-7172)
- Ekaterina Ovsyanikova (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6893-0955)
- Trevor A. Branch (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4308-8930)
- Sue E. Moore (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3104-1740)
- Anna C. Nisi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0286-3187)
- André S. Barreto (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6606-0028)
- Timothy D. White (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8711-7698)
- Russell Leaper (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8712-8925)
- Briana Abrahms (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1987-5045)
- Simone Panigada (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0856-1227)
- Chloe V. Robinson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3776-9166)
- Jono R. Wilson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4101-8306)
- Callie Leiphardt (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-0227-5955)
- Jennifer A. Jackson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4158-1924)
- Asha de Vos (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3332-8232)
- Jessica V. Redfern (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4042-3668)
- Tyler Clavelle (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2155-2459)
- David A. Kroodsma (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1752-9141)
- Robert D. Kenney
Institutions
- The Nature Conservancy (US)
- Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (AU)
- British Antarctic Survey (GB)
- Fisheries and Oceans Canada (CA)
- Australian Institute of Marine Science (AU)
- University of California, Santa Barbara (US)
- The University of Queensland (AU)
- Universities Federation for Animal Welfare (GB)
- University of Rhode Island (US)
- University of California, Santa Cruz (US)
- Tethys Research Institute (IT)
- University of Washington (US)
- American Sentinel University (US)
- New England Aquarium (US)
- World Water Watch (US)
- NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service Southwest Fisheries Science Center (US)
- Universidade do Vale do Itajaí (BR)
- Cascadia Research Collective (US)
- Cabot (United States) (US)
- Carleton University (CA)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Science
- Published
- 2024-11-21
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adp1950
- Citations
- 40
- Primary Topic
- Marine animal studies overview
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 18.36
Funders
- Sight Research UK
- Natural Environment Research Council