To Save California's Whales, Put Overlooked Threats into Policy
Published:08 Apr.2022 Source:University of California – Davis
Whales are threatened by a variety of human activities off the West Coast of the United States, including fishing, ship traffic, and pollution. Overlap between these stressors can compound effects on whale populations, but are rarely addressed by current whale-protection policies in California, according to a study from the University of California, Davis.
The study, published for open access this week in the journal Marine Policy, examines the main causes of death for nine whale species in the California Current Ecosystem, which stretches from British Columbia, Canada to Baja California, Mexico. The whales considered in the study include humpback, gray, blue, fin, minke, sei, sperm, North Pacific right, and killer whales.