Whales and Ship Strikes in the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary, Year 2

In this second year of Switzer funding, Leslie Abramson will continue to lead an interdisciplinary working group addressing the issue of whales and ship strikes in the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary.  This area off the coast of San Francisco provides breeding and feeding grounds for blue, gray and humpback whales and other marine mammals.  In recent years, there have been several incidents of whale deaths due to ship strikes.  As Project Manager, Leslie has been leading the working group to develop a set of recommendations on ways to minimize these incidents. This year, Leslie will focus on implementation of the recommendations developed over the course of the previous year.  She will lead the development of a cooperative research proposal between west coast sanctuaries and the National Marine Fisheries Service to model critical whale habitat to assess where whales are at the greatest risk of ship strikes.  She will oversee the integration of the working group's recommendations into the Sanctuary Management Plan and will continue to build and maintain relationships with stakeholders such as mariners and the shipping industry, as well as with neighboring sanctuaries to the north and south to ensure the entire region benefits from this work.