Aquaculture and Fisheries Commons^™

Evaluating Methods To Reduce Humpback Whale (Megaptera Novaeamgliae) Ship Strike Mortality In Nearshore Feeding Habitats Within The San Francisco Bay, Alisa Keenan

Master's Theses

Across our world’s oceans, whales are perpetually stuck and killed by large ships. Sea-based commercial trade is increasing on a global scale; therefore, more large ships are circumnavigating through biologically important whale habitats. This is of grave concern to marine resource managers, especially in the United States where major shipping corridors overlap critical whale habitat. It is feared that in these areas with high whale density, ship strikes are reducing populations of whales to levels below what is sustainable for threatened and endangered species, thereby hindering the recovery of depleted whale populations. Humpback whales, a species that is federally-listed as …