My SCRAMS: New "WhaleSpotter" App Helps Save lives in San Fransisco Bay
,My Article was about the recent app that allows shipping vessels of all kinds to always be aware of the exact location of whales that are spotted and tagged in San Fransisco Bay. The number of whale deaths due to boat propeller strikes in San Fransisco alone has doubled in the past few years.
Over the past 10 years, ship strikes have become a major cause of death for blue whales and other large baleen whales, so this simple app for smartphones (see image above) can help boats steer clear of known whale locations. In the busy ports of the San Francisco Bay Area, more than 7,300 large ships head through the Golden Gate each year. Just outside the bay, where the water is deeper and saltier, whales often swim along the continental shelf, where their food supply is located.
I chose this article because it is very recent news about marine science and it is also very recent and influential to the California coastal ecosystem. There were many different articles about this app, but this one had more information and was from a more credible source. This is also interesting to me because when I visited San Fransisco, there were a large amount of people protesting the recent whale deaths. I believe that this app, along with more whale-spotters, can help drastically reduce the amount of boat propeller related deaths.
So... What now???
I that with this app that whale deaths will decrease. But a problem with the app is that it needs many spotters to digitally tag the whales that come into or near San Fransisco Bay. But, with enough spotters spread evenly throughout the coastal areas, this new profound app could share the locations of whales in real time!
Over the past 10 years, ship strikes have become a major cause of death for blue whales and other large baleen whales, so this simple app for smartphones (see image above) can help boats steer clear of known whale locations. In the busy ports of the San Francisco Bay Area, more than 7,300 large ships head through the Golden Gate each year. Just outside the bay, where the water is deeper and saltier, whales often swim along the continental shelf, where their food supply is located.
I chose this article because it is very recent news about marine science and it is also very recent and influential to the California coastal ecosystem. There were many different articles about this app, but this one had more information and was from a more credible source. This is also interesting to me because when I visited San Fransisco, there were a large amount of people protesting the recent whale deaths. I believe that this app, along with more whale-spotters, can help drastically reduce the amount of boat propeller related deaths.
So... What now???
I that with this app that whale deaths will decrease. But a problem with the app is that it needs many spotters to digitally tag the whales that come into or near San Fransisco Bay. But, with enough spotters spread evenly throughout the coastal areas, this new profound app could share the locations of whales in real time!