WEBVTT Kind: captions Language: en 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.940 - Welcome today to the National Marine Sanctuaries webinar series 00:00:04.940 --> 00:00:08.700 and, Hannah, if you get it working, just go ahead and interject. Okay. 00:00:09.020 --> 00:00:15.080 We welcome you. This is a webinar series that we host with the NOAA office of 00:00:15.089 --> 00:00:17.300 National Marine Sanctuaries. 00:00:17.300 --> 00:00:22.800 And we offer this series primarily targeting formal and informal educators. 00:00:22.800 --> 00:00:25.380 But we also have lots of other interested parties that 00:00:25.380 --> 00:00:27.460 join our monthly webinars. 00:00:27.460 --> 00:00:32.149 We have over 265 direct registrants for today's 00:00:32.149 --> 00:00:36.900 webinar about blue whales and ship strikes and blue skies. 00:00:37.080 --> 00:00:40.640 So, Hannah, go to the next slide and I'll do a quick introduction here. 00:00:41.160 --> 00:00:45.300 We, the system, the National Marine Sanctuary system, 00:00:45.300 --> 00:00:50.900 we manage over 600,000 square miles of ocean 00:00:50.900 --> 00:00:54.750 and you're looking at a map here of the National Marine Sanctuary System 00:00:54.750 --> 00:01:01.860 Hannah, myself, and Jess and others are trustees of 13 National Marine Sanctuaries 00:01:01.940 --> 00:01:07.380 and the papahanaumokuakea and the Rose Atoll marine national monuments 00:01:07.900 --> 00:01:12.860 so those little blue dots represent the national marine sanctuaries within the system 00:01:12.860 --> 00:01:15.680 the triangles, which you can see in the South Pacific, near 00:01:15.860 --> 00:01:19.060 American Samoa and in the northwestern Hawaiian Islands 00:01:19.060 --> 00:01:21.620 are our two marine national monuments. 00:01:21.780 --> 00:01:24.100 and we have these sort of yellow boxes one in Wisconsin 00:01:24.119 --> 00:01:29.630 and one in the Potomac River called Mallos Bay and these are proposed 00:01:29.630 --> 00:01:33.320 national marine sanctuaries being considered for designation. 00:01:33.760 --> 00:01:35.380 So on the next slide, 00:01:35.380 --> 00:01:41.360 these areas in the ocean you can kind of think of them like underwater parks. 00:01:42.060 --> 00:01:45.600 But they've been set aside by Congress primarily because 00:01:45.600 --> 00:01:52.080 these are special ocean areas that we want to conserve for now and for future generations. 00:01:52.080 --> 00:01:54.990 There's recreational value such as 00:01:54.990 --> 00:01:59.520 fishing and sustainable uses like kayaking and photography 00:02:00.740 --> 00:02:04.140 and other fun things you can do, standup paddleboard and such on the ocean. 00:02:04.140 --> 00:02:10.280 We set them aside for ecological and cultural and historical reasons and just aesthetic qualities. 00:02:10.280 --> 00:02:14.660 So, just think of a National Marine Sanctuary like an underwater park. 00:02:14.660 --> 00:02:17.580 We also call them living classrooms. 00:02:17.580 --> 00:02:18.990 These are places that you can actually 00:02:18.990 --> 00:02:23.150 go to see touch and feel and learn about these underwater parks, 00:02:23.150 --> 00:02:25.600 these National Marine Sanctuaries. 00:02:25.600 --> 00:02:28.170 This photo here is actually of a father and a daughter 00:02:28.170 --> 00:02:33.400 kayaking and enjoying and recreating in the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary. 00:02:33.400 --> 00:02:36.740 So, with that I wanted to do a quick introduction. 00:02:36.740 --> 00:02:40.660 We've got two staff here supporting today's webinar. 00:02:40.660 --> 00:02:42.540 Unfortunately, we've got an audio issue 00:02:42.540 --> 00:02:45.420 with Hannah McDonald but she'll give you a quick wave. 00:02:45.700 --> 00:02:50.160 She's our telepresence and virtual reality education specialist and she's 00:02:50.160 --> 00:02:52.300 based in Silver Spring, Maryland. 00:02:52.300 --> 00:02:58.140 and then I, myself, am Claire Fackler and I am the national education liaison 00:02:58.140 --> 00:03:02.900 as my one of my hats and I am based here in Santa Barbara, California. 00:03:02.900 --> 00:03:05.680 So, Hannah and I will host today's webinar 00:03:05.680 --> 00:03:08.280 and if you have any questions 00:03:08.280 --> 00:03:12.510 or any technical issues, go ahead and put them into the question box 00:03:12.510 --> 00:03:16.820 in your control panel. And Hannah and I will work on the backend with you 00:03:17.700 --> 00:03:22.500 You have all come in as atten--- as a listen-only attendees 00:03:22.900 --> 00:03:23.900 and... 00:03:25.740 --> 00:03:27.760 when we get to Q&A 00:03:27.760 --> 00:03:31.860 we will see if any of you want to raise your hand in the control panel and 00:03:31.860 --> 00:03:33.320 then we can unmute you. 00:03:33.320 --> 00:03:37.940 I got to pull up. Let's see a second. Jess' bio. 00:03:38.860 --> 00:03:42.980 so let me tell you a little bit about our main presenter today. 00:03:43.100 --> 00:03:45.420 We have Jessica Morten 00:03:45.900 --> 00:03:51.060 and she is a contractor with NOAA's Channel Islands and our Cordell Bank 00:03:51.060 --> 00:03:53.140 National Marine Sanctuaries. 00:03:53.140 --> 00:03:56.520 She, her title is resource protection specialist. 00:03:56.960 --> 00:04:03.540 She has initially served in 2016 as a California Sea Grant fellow working for 00:04:03.540 --> 00:04:05.200 the Channel Islands sanctuary 00:04:05.200 --> 00:04:07.829 and she was able to be kept on as a contractor 00:04:07.829 --> 00:04:11.280 to serve as a project coordinator and data analyst 00:04:11.280 --> 00:04:16.760 for resource protection efforts across our West Coast National Marine Sanctuaries 00:04:16.780 --> 00:04:18.080 which there are five. 00:04:18.440 --> 00:04:21.000 Four in California and one in the Pacific Northwest 00:04:21.320 --> 00:04:26.480 so she focuses on helping to reduce the threat of ship strikes on endangered whales 00:04:26.480 --> 00:04:28.800 and enhancing sanctuary enforcement efforts 00:04:28.800 --> 00:04:31.660 through the piloting of new tools and technology. 00:04:32.020 --> 00:04:36.120 So prior to working with our West Coast national marine sanctuaries 00:04:36.120 --> 00:04:37.820 and being a sea grant fellow, 00:04:37.820 --> 00:04:41.460 she spent time working in the Marine Mammal field 00:04:41.460 --> 00:04:43.292 doing research and monitoring 00:04:43.292 --> 00:04:48.300 assisting with projects around the country that focused on evaluating the health of Humpback, 00:04:48.300 --> 00:04:51.480 North Atlantic Right, and Killer Whale populations. 00:04:51.480 --> 00:04:57.880 She later spent time as as a center for the blue economy fellow at the Environmental Defense Fund 00:04:58.140 --> 00:05:01.500 where she conducted independent research examining the effects of fishery 00:05:01.500 --> 00:05:04.860 management strategies on local food security. 00:05:04.860 --> 00:05:06.680 and also in her past, 00:05:06.680 --> 00:05:09.780 she has worked for Wildlife Trust, 00:05:09.780 --> 00:05:13.100 Ocean Champions, and the University of Washington. 00:05:13.100 --> 00:05:16.560 she has the Bachelor of Arts and environmental studies from Skidmore 00:05:16.560 --> 00:05:19.260 College in Saratoga Springs, New York, 00:05:19.260 --> 00:05:22.580 and a Master of Arts in international environmental policy 00:05:22.580 --> 00:05:25.820 from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies. 00:05:26.460 --> 00:05:29.740 So, with that robust introduction of our presenter, Jess, 00:05:29.740 --> 00:05:32.380 we'll go ahead and switch it over to her. 00:05:32.380 --> 00:05:35.940 So that she can start her presentation. 00:05:36.940 --> 00:05:37.919 and actually, Jess, go ahead 00:05:37.919 --> 00:05:41.580 and put on your camera and unmute yourself and I will launch your poll 00:05:41.580 --> 00:05:43.720 question while you're pulling up your slides. 00:05:44.120 --> 00:05:47.880 So Jess wanted to do a quick sort 00:05:47.880 --> 00:05:49.760 of audience assessment. 00:05:49.760 --> 00:05:52.890 And she wants to understand everyone that's participating 00:05:52.890 --> 00:05:56.980 today what your familiarity level with the issue of ship strikes is. 00:05:56.980 --> 00:05:59.680 So go ahead and register your vote. 00:05:59.680 --> 00:06:02.520 "I have never heard of ship strikes" as one option 00:06:02.520 --> 00:06:05.500 oops the second option got cut back a little bit 00:06:05.500 --> 00:06:09.160 but "I have heard of ship strikes before but I'm not very familiar" 00:06:09.160 --> 00:06:10.926 and then the third option is 00:06:10.926 --> 00:06:12.920 "I'm very familiar with the issue" 00:06:12.920 --> 00:06:18.380 so we're collecting responses, we've got 70, 80 percent of you that have voted. 00:06:19.080 --> 00:06:23.240 so let's give you another 5 seconds to get your vote in. 00:06:27.920 --> 00:06:28.700 All right. 00:06:28.700 --> 00:06:32.700 Oh nearly everyone's voted so I'll go ahead and 00:06:33.300 --> 00:06:35.700 close the poll, share the results. 00:06:35.700 --> 00:06:40.180 So, Jess, just so you know we've got 63 percent of our audience on 00:06:40.180 --> 00:06:43.820 today's webinar that's actually very familiar with the issue. 00:06:43.820 --> 00:06:49.120 and then 33 percent of them have never heard or have heard of a ship strike before but are 00:06:49.120 --> 00:06:50.680 not very familiar. 00:06:50.680 --> 00:06:53.800 And only five percent have never heard of it before. 00:06:54.340 --> 00:06:56.640 so with, that we'll get it 00:06:57.660 --> 00:06:59.320 to your presentation. 00:07:00.900 --> 00:07:02.300 all right, go ahead, Jess. 00:07:02.880 --> 00:07:03.980 - Okay, cool. 00:07:03.980 --> 00:07:08.740 I'm hoping everybody can hear me and maybe you can see me too. 00:07:09.280 --> 00:07:12.860 - [Claire] We can see your slides you're good to go! 00:07:12.860 --> 00:07:17.020 - Thank you so much, Claire and Thank you, Hannah 00:07:17.020 --> 00:07:21.260 for setting up all of the admin and logistics for this webinar today. 00:07:21.260 --> 00:07:24.970 I'm not really used to webinar style presentations so bear with me. 00:07:24.970 --> 00:07:28.560 And know that I'm probably gonna be awkwardly gesturing to this empty room. 00:07:28.560 --> 00:07:32.080 but like Claire said I'm Jess Morten. 00:07:32.080 --> 00:07:37.200 I am a resource protection specialist contractor for NOAA's Channel Islands 00:07:37.200 --> 00:07:39.640 and Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuaries. 00:07:39.640 --> 00:07:45.190 I've had the privilege of working for and with NOAA sanctuaries 00:07:45.190 --> 00:07:47.260 for about three years now. 00:07:47.260 --> 00:07:50.800 As Claire mentioned I was lucky enough to get 00:07:50.800 --> 00:07:55.440 placed as a California sea grant fellow at Channel Islands in 2016 00:07:55.940 --> 00:08:01.320 and then, since then, through the help of really great foundations and with some great 00:08:01.330 --> 00:08:03.540 projects that I've gotten to continue on, 00:08:03.540 --> 00:08:06.400 I've been able to stay on and help with 00:08:06.400 --> 00:08:08.080 some resource protection efforts, 00:08:08.080 --> 00:08:10.700 including what I'm going to be discussing today. 00:08:10.700 --> 00:08:16.380 And specifically today we're gonna focus on protecting blue whales and blue skies. 00:08:17.020 --> 00:08:20.740 And that's really just a nice title for an umbrella 00:08:20.740 --> 00:08:25.600 for all of NOAA's west coast efforts to reduce the risk of ship strikes on 00:08:25.600 --> 00:08:28.040 endangered large whales in California. 00:08:29.380 --> 00:08:31.960 So, there's a lot to cover here and this is 00:08:31.960 --> 00:08:35.560 definitely a labor of love for me this topic. 00:08:35.560 --> 00:08:37.539 So, lots to say, but I'll do my best 00:08:37.539 --> 00:08:41.520 to try to keep it compressed to our 30 to 35 minute time period 00:08:41.520 --> 00:08:44.520 so we have plenty of time for questions and follow-up. 00:08:45.600 --> 00:08:48.800 And then as Claire mentioned and as you guys already participated in, 00:08:48.800 --> 00:08:52.200 there should be some poll questions scattered throughout. 00:08:52.200 --> 00:08:55.420 Some of them are just helpful for me to be aware of what people are aware of. 00:08:55.420 --> 00:08:59.420 But, please jump in, and join in if you can and you'd like to. 00:09:01.760 --> 00:09:05.720 So to start, hopefully my slide will move forward for you guys. 00:09:05.720 --> 00:09:07.140 Let's see. There we go. 00:09:08.180 --> 00:09:12.260 Claire gave a nice overview of sanctuaries at large. 00:09:12.260 --> 00:09:16.779 I wanted to give some background and some context on the beautiful places 00:09:16.779 --> 00:09:18.820 that I'm going to be talking about today, 00:09:18.820 --> 00:09:21.080 and that I have the privilege of working with. 00:09:21.080 --> 00:09:24.550 And I guess if you're registered for the webinar there's probably a good 00:09:24.550 --> 00:09:29.360 chance you're familiar with the sanctuary system and maybe California sanctuaries. 00:09:29.560 --> 00:09:32.520 But just to give a brief overview, 00:09:32.520 --> 00:09:37.000 California is home to four sanctuaries, as Claire mentioned. 00:09:37.000 --> 00:09:40.800 If you look to the slide that you have on the screen, right now, 00:09:40.800 --> 00:09:43.820 you'll see those four sanctuaries up there. 00:09:43.820 --> 00:09:48.200 Starting from the North, you have greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary 00:09:48.200 --> 00:09:51.220 and that's located off of San Francisco. 00:09:51.220 --> 00:09:55.180 And includes the beautiful and very remote Farallon Islands. 00:09:55.680 --> 00:09:59.420 and then if you keep going down the map, north to south, 00:09:59.420 --> 00:10:02.000 you'll hit Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary. 00:10:02.000 --> 00:10:05.960 That is an offshore site that contains 00:10:05.960 --> 00:10:08.940 really unique, rocky marine habitat. 00:10:08.940 --> 00:10:15.020 It serves as home to abundant numbers of invertebrates, fish, algae, 00:10:15.020 --> 00:10:17.980 certainly marine mammals that we're gonna be talking about today. 00:10:17.980 --> 00:10:22.420 Then you have beautiful Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. 00:10:22.420 --> 00:10:25.000 And that is famous for 00:10:25.000 --> 00:10:28.660 the Big Sur landscape, that I think most people are familiar with, 00:10:28.660 --> 00:10:32.170 and kelp forests and urchins and sea otters. 00:10:32.680 --> 00:10:37.760 And then down south off of the coast of Santa Barbara where I'm currently located, right now, 00:10:37.760 --> 00:10:41.540 you have the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary. 00:10:41.540 --> 00:10:45.540 And that's comprised of five really beautiful islands that are managed in 00:10:45.540 --> 00:10:48.900 partnership with Channel Islands National Park 00:10:49.240 --> 00:10:55.060 and, again, is home to a really wide number of incredible and endangered species 00:10:55.220 --> 00:10:59.420 and really comprises a unique habitat not seen elsewhere in the world. 00:11:00.080 --> 00:11:06.920 And so all of these sanctuaries within California make up roughly 12,000 square miles 00:11:06.920 --> 00:11:08.700 of marine protected areas. 00:11:08.700 --> 00:11:11.140 And the primary goal of these places is to 00:11:11.140 --> 00:11:16.480 protect these special and unique cultural and natural resources that fall within them. 00:11:17.460 --> 00:11:22.120 And so to get to the main point of today's conversation. 00:11:23.760 --> 00:11:28.300 One thing that makes California particularly unique and special, certainly to me and 00:11:28.300 --> 00:11:29.860 lots of other people, 00:11:29.860 --> 00:11:35.180 is that it's home and habitat to a wide number of marine mammal species. 00:11:35.580 --> 00:11:38.620 And so today we're going to talk about the largest category of 00:11:38.620 --> 00:11:40.800 those marine species 00:11:40.800 --> 00:11:45.860 the large whales or the baleen whales that frequent the California coastline. 00:11:45.860 --> 00:11:49.860 And so I think when people think about California whales 00:11:49.860 --> 00:11:53.600 probably likely that gray whales come to mind. 00:11:54.420 --> 00:11:55.980 People know them pretty well since 00:11:55.990 --> 00:11:59.160 they have a predictable and set migration pattern 00:11:59.160 --> 00:12:02.240 that takes them from Mexico, where they calve 00:12:02.240 --> 00:12:06.180 and then go north to the Arctic, where they feed. 00:12:06.180 --> 00:12:09.540 But in terms of endangered baleen whales, 00:12:09.540 --> 00:12:12.160 since the gray whales have actually recovered, 00:12:12.160 --> 00:12:15.580 to a pretty sustainable population level at this point 00:12:15.580 --> 00:12:20.900 there are really three main species of whales that we see most often 00:12:20.900 --> 00:12:25.700 in our waters and that we focus most heavily on for our policy efforts. 00:12:25.700 --> 00:12:30.580 And so the first species that I'll mention that we're going to talk about today are blue whales 00:12:30.580 --> 00:12:35.460 And you'll see them on the left side of the screen and the image up there that's a photo 00:12:35.460 --> 00:12:39.840 taken by our colleague Sean Hastings during an aerial survey flight. 00:12:41.780 --> 00:12:45.100 And blue whales I think are pretty famous and well-known since most people know 00:12:45.100 --> 00:12:49.080 they are the largest animal on earth at 80 to 100 feet long. 00:12:50.300 --> 00:12:53.020 they are typically in California waters 00:12:53.020 --> 00:12:55.580 between May and November 00:12:55.580 --> 00:12:57.240 is when we expect to see them. 00:12:57.240 --> 00:12:59.900 They come here to feed in those months. 00:12:59.900 --> 00:13:04.160 And then the population estimate for the eastern Pacific 00:13:04.160 --> 00:13:06.839 stock of blue whales that we have here in California 00:13:06.839 --> 00:13:10.000 is estimated around 2,000 individuals. 00:13:10.000 --> 00:13:15.700 So that's actually one of the largest aggregations of blue whales in the world but 00:13:15.700 --> 00:13:19.640 that population is lower than we would like it to be, certainly. 00:13:19.640 --> 00:13:21.310 And we're not seeing signs of 00:13:21.310 --> 00:13:25.029 recovery as quickly in the blue whale population as we would like. 00:13:25.029 --> 00:13:29.060 Certainly compared to some of the other species that we have frequent the waters. 00:13:29.540 --> 00:13:31.800 So we have a very careful eye on the Blues. 00:13:31.800 --> 00:13:36.580 The second species that I think is important to focus on today are fin whales. 00:13:37.600 --> 00:13:42.020 More overlooked I think since they're the second largest animal on Earth, not the first. 00:13:42.560 --> 00:13:46.320 but they are regular visitors to California waters. 00:13:46.320 --> 00:13:50.720 We're seeing them in higher numbers more recently than we have in the past. 00:13:50.720 --> 00:13:55.140 But in general they follow a very similar pattern to blues 00:13:55.140 --> 00:13:57.940 in terms of their seasonal arrivals and departures. 00:13:57.940 --> 00:14:00.920 We see them May through November typically 00:14:00.920 --> 00:14:02.940 within California. 00:14:03.600 --> 00:14:06.720 And with fin whales, with all whales, 00:14:06.720 --> 00:14:10.800 we really have a limited understanding of where they go 00:14:11.980 --> 00:14:13.920 and how many there really are. 00:14:13.920 --> 00:14:15.840 But with fin whales in particular we have 00:14:15.840 --> 00:14:19.840 a limited understanding since they tend to be a much more offshore species. 00:14:20.680 --> 00:14:27.180 But our best guess for the population of fins that frequent California's around 9,000 00:14:27.180 --> 00:14:30.720 individuals for all of the west coast of the United States. 00:14:32.940 --> 00:14:36.000 And then the third species that we focus heavily on 00:14:36.000 --> 00:14:39.800 here thats endangered in California is the humpbacks. 00:14:39.800 --> 00:14:43.689 And humpbacks I think are pretty universally loved. 00:14:43.689 --> 00:14:47.800 They're very charismatic, they do lots of aerial activities. 00:14:47.800 --> 00:14:50.880 They're roughly 40 to 50 feet in length. 00:14:51.980 --> 00:14:55.860 They prey on anchovies and baitfish more than we see them preying on krill. 00:14:55.860 --> 00:14:59.180 So we see them in different areas than we see the blues and the fins. 00:14:59.280 --> 00:15:03.040 And one thing that's tricky with humpbacks is that 00:15:03.440 --> 00:15:06.460 they are split up into distinct population segments. 00:15:06.460 --> 00:15:08.400 And so some humpbacks have recovered 00:15:08.400 --> 00:15:12.100 fairly well and then have been taken off the endangered species list 00:15:12.100 --> 00:15:15.620 and designated as threatened. But we do still have 00:15:15.620 --> 00:15:19.280 a population segment that comes up from Central America 00:15:19.280 --> 00:15:21.500 and it's still endangered that we really 00:15:21.500 --> 00:15:25.240 are concerned about and place a lot of policy attention on. 00:15:25.240 --> 00:15:29.360 And so those are the three species that I'm gonna be focusing on today, 00:15:29.360 --> 00:15:31.180 at least on the whale side. 00:15:32.160 --> 00:15:36.420 And then on the other side of the screen is the other part of this story. 00:15:36.420 --> 00:15:38.420 And that's the world of shipping. 00:15:38.420 --> 00:15:41.680 And the species being humans, of course. 00:15:41.680 --> 00:15:45.300 And so with shipping or maritime transport 00:15:46.100 --> 00:15:49.320 it's still the most cost effective way for us 00:15:49.420 --> 00:15:51.500 to move goods around the world. 00:15:51.500 --> 00:15:53.820 It's the backbone of global commerce 00:15:53.820 --> 00:15:59.220 and estimated 80 percent of everything we rely on gets moved to and from 00:15:59.220 --> 00:16:01.180 destinations by ship. 00:16:01.180 --> 00:16:03.320 And so, 00:16:03.320 --> 00:16:07.640 there are a lot of impacts associated with relying on 00:16:07.640 --> 00:16:08.840 all of this traffic. 00:16:08.840 --> 00:16:13.780 And California is home to a number of really busy port complexes 00:16:13.780 --> 00:16:19.240 LA and Long Beach just down south here from Santa Barbara being the 00:16:19.240 --> 00:16:22.660 busiest, followed by Oakland, near San Francisco, 00:16:22.660 --> 00:16:25.220 and then San Diego has its own port 00:16:25.220 --> 00:16:27.800 and then there are smaller specialized ports 00:16:27.800 --> 00:16:30.920 like Port Hueneme or Port of Richmond 00:16:30.920 --> 00:16:33.780 also scattered along the California coastline. 00:16:34.680 --> 00:16:41.100 And so, like I said, these busy ports and shipping traffic contribute to 00:16:41.100 --> 00:16:43.360 a lot of great things. It means 00:16:43.360 --> 00:16:46.380 healthy Commerce in our national economy 00:16:46.380 --> 00:16:50.560 and we certainly rely on the goods that these ships are carrying. 00:16:50.560 --> 00:16:55.960 But, unfortunately, there are impacts associated with all of this traffic . 00:16:56.740 --> 00:17:00.140 And one thing that I am thankful for is it seems 00:17:00.140 --> 00:17:05.520 the world is starting to pay a little bit more attention to the impacts associated with this traffic. 00:17:07.780 --> 00:17:10.080 - [Claire] All right, with that, Jess, let me go ahead and launch. 00:17:10.080 --> 00:17:12.905 This is just to make sure everyone's awake, right? 00:17:12.905 --> 00:17:15.340 Because you just went through this. 00:17:15.340 --> 00:17:19.180 Go ahead and vote on what species of endangered baleen whales 00:17:19.180 --> 00:17:23.260 do we commonly see in California sanctuaries? 00:17:23.580 --> 00:17:26.980 So, pop quiz! Hopefully most of you were 00:17:26.980 --> 00:17:31.980 engaged in Jessa's presentation and can easily answer this. 00:17:32.760 --> 00:17:35.960 So over half of you have voted. I'll give you a few more seconds here. 00:17:39.780 --> 00:17:43.960 (singing) do-do-do-do-do 00:17:43.960 --> 00:17:46.480 Get the little Jeopardy song going. 00:17:46.480 --> 00:17:50.840 All right, register your vote 'cause I'm going to close the poll. 00:17:52.220 --> 00:17:54.980 All right, now. 00:17:54.980 --> 00:18:00.080 Okay and sharing the results here so for your knowledge, Jess. 00:18:00.580 --> 00:18:04.140 Many, many people particularly 81% have 00:18:04.149 --> 00:18:06.920 been paying attention and say all of the above. 00:18:06.920 --> 00:18:11.560 So, yes, all three blue, humpback, and fin whales are endangered baleen whales 00:18:11.560 --> 00:18:15.800 that we commonly see in our California National Marine Sanctuaries. 00:18:16.360 --> 00:18:20.520 Okay, so go ahead and continue on with your presentation. 00:18:20.520 --> 00:18:22.680 - Okay. Thank you, Claire. 00:18:23.120 --> 00:18:24.940 All right, so 00:18:24.940 --> 00:18:29.900 now we're gonna specifically focus on ship strikes as an issue. 00:18:29.900 --> 00:18:34.300 And talk about the impacts associated with all of this shipping traffic. 00:18:34.860 --> 00:18:41.680 But before I dive into the ship strikes aspect of the shipping story, 00:18:41.680 --> 00:18:46.260 worth mentioning that there are also other impacts that I won't be focusing 00:18:46.260 --> 00:18:48.600 quite as heavily on for this presentation. 00:18:48.600 --> 00:18:53.260 But worth noting and definitely mentioning for future research. 00:18:53.260 --> 00:18:57.490 One is air mission impacts that are associated with all of this traffic 00:18:57.490 --> 00:19:00.720 we know that from the combustion process 00:19:00.720 --> 00:19:05.340 of the fuel used to actually power these ocean-going vessels. 00:19:05.340 --> 00:19:08.880 And that they emit some harmful air emissions. 00:19:08.880 --> 00:19:13.580 And so that includes sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, particulate matter, 00:19:14.020 --> 00:19:16.400 and certainly carbon dioxide. 00:19:16.400 --> 00:19:20.860 And so one piece of this puzzle is understanding all of the harmful air 00:19:20.860 --> 00:19:22.620 emissions from the shipping traffic. 00:19:22.620 --> 00:19:25.570 But what you see on the screen right now and 00:19:25.570 --> 00:19:31.260 what we've been most focused on at NOAA in terms of impacts for marine transportation 00:19:31.260 --> 00:19:33.780 is the issue of ship strikes, 00:19:33.780 --> 00:19:36.660 or these ships colliding with whales. 00:19:37.060 --> 00:19:42.920 And so ship strikes is not something that we are unique to have. 00:19:43.040 --> 00:19:47.900 It is a global issue that is certainly gaining increasing attention. 00:19:48.400 --> 00:19:55.100 It's sited as a top source of mortality for a variety of endangered whale species 00:19:55.100 --> 00:19:57.280 not just blues, fins, and humpbacks. 00:19:57.920 --> 00:20:00.460 But at least in California, 00:20:00.460 --> 00:20:04.560 it's considered to be a major contributor to 00:20:04.560 --> 00:20:10.220 or an obstacle in preventing these populations from recovering as quickly as we'd like them to. 00:20:11.840 --> 00:20:13.720 So worth knowing that these 00:20:13.730 --> 00:20:16.080 ships definitely don't mean to be hitting whales. 00:20:16.080 --> 00:20:20.080 It's not like container ships are going out into the open ocean and 00:20:20.080 --> 00:20:23.340 putting down the throttle and hoping this happens. 00:20:24.200 --> 00:20:30.040 In fact, with container ships these are such big vessels 1,300 feet, plus long. 00:20:30.460 --> 00:20:35.060 Most of the time we find that they either didn't notice that it happened 00:20:35.060 --> 00:20:40.010 or maybe it's possible they never reported that it happened but we 00:20:40.010 --> 00:20:46.130 we find it pretty often that the ships are coming into the ports with whales on 00:20:46.130 --> 00:20:48.320 the boughs of the front of the vessel 00:20:48.320 --> 00:20:51.800 and they had no idea one or where that happened. 00:20:52.860 --> 00:20:55.660 And so the issue has definitely gotten more attention. 00:20:55.660 --> 00:20:59.120 It's become more conspicuous in the last decade, 00:20:59.120 --> 00:21:04.120 particularly in response to a lot of ship strikes occurring on the East Coast, 00:21:04.120 --> 00:21:08.100 related to the North Atlantic right whale population. 00:21:08.100 --> 00:21:11.560 And then here on the west coast in 2007, 00:21:11.560 --> 00:21:15.580 we had a particularly rough year for blue whales 00:21:15.580 --> 00:21:20.080 and we had an unusual mortality event where four blue whales were hit 00:21:20.080 --> 00:21:22.620 in the span of six months in 2007. 00:21:24.620 --> 00:21:29.440 and so one thing that makes ship strikes a particularly tough problem to solve 00:21:29.960 --> 00:21:35.260 is, as I shared, ships often don't know if and when they've hit a whale. 00:21:36.540 --> 00:21:41.500 and so many of the species of whales that are at risk for this issue 00:21:41.760 --> 00:21:43.940 also sink after they've been hit. 00:21:43.940 --> 00:21:49.760 And so it's a huge challenge for us for natural resource managers 00:21:49.760 --> 00:21:54.080 to quantify exactly how often this is happening and come up with steps 00:21:54.080 --> 00:21:55.160 to address it. 00:21:55.500 --> 00:21:59.240 But what we do have, thankfully, 00:21:59.240 --> 00:22:01.740 is we do have some record of 00:22:01.740 --> 00:22:06.400 at least observed strandings that have occurred within California associated 00:22:06.400 --> 00:22:07.740 with vessel collisions. 00:22:07.740 --> 00:22:10.760 So if you look to the screen on the left 00:22:10.760 --> 00:22:16.570 you'll see a graph that tracks whale strandings in California that are 00:22:16.570 --> 00:22:18.360 attributed to vessel collisions. 00:22:18.880 --> 00:22:22.820 And you'll see it broken down by the species type. 00:22:22.820 --> 00:22:25.380 If you look to the colors on those bars. 00:22:26.540 --> 00:22:30.020 and worth noting here that this is just endangered whales 00:22:30.020 --> 00:22:32.060 that you're seeing listed on this graph 00:22:32.060 --> 00:22:34.160 so this won't include gray whales 00:22:34.160 --> 00:22:39.260 that have also been hit by vessels which we definitely see a pretty high number this year 00:22:39.480 --> 00:22:43.560 just in northern California we've had at least five in San Francisco Bay. 00:22:43.560 --> 00:22:47.080 But, as I said, this is focused on the endangered population 00:22:47.080 --> 00:22:49.460 so not including gray's today. 00:22:51.120 --> 00:22:56.780 And then, on the right, you'll see a map that actually lays out where 00:22:56.780 --> 00:23:01.360 these endangered whale strandings have occurred since the year 2000. 00:23:02.300 --> 00:23:06.820 And you'll see, if you look at the map, some pretty obvious trends emerge 00:23:06.820 --> 00:23:11.260 and generally you're gonna find whales stranded and 00:23:11.260 --> 00:23:13.220 showing signs of vessel collisions. 00:23:13.220 --> 00:23:16.900 It's most likely you'll find them near major port complexes. 00:23:16.900 --> 00:23:22.980 And so you see a lot of fins over near la Long Beach, that big red dot. 00:23:22.980 --> 00:23:27.620 and then we have a lot of fin whales, as well, up in the San Francisco area. 00:23:28.900 --> 00:23:33.720 And so that's another example of a tough data point for us to look at and 00:23:33.730 --> 00:23:37.760 try to learn from. We are not totally sure if fin whales get hit more 00:23:37.760 --> 00:23:42.940 or if they are more prone to getting stuck on the bow of the ships coming in. 00:23:43.120 --> 00:23:45.540 So we just see signs of them being hit more. 00:23:45.540 --> 00:23:48.520 And those sorts of things are sort of unclear for us, still. 00:23:49.240 --> 00:23:53.740 But one thing. along with the strandings data that we thankfully have, 00:23:53.740 --> 00:23:57.900 and we're working actively to improve upon: our models 00:23:57.900 --> 00:24:04.330 And so we work with researchers to actually try to quantify how much we think that 00:24:04.330 --> 00:24:08.060 this is happening. And so the best estimates suggest that 00:24:08.060 --> 00:24:14.380 roughly 80 endangered whales are hit each year on the U.S. west coast, 00:24:14.380 --> 00:24:17.660 so whole U.S. west coast not just California. 00:24:17.660 --> 00:24:20.520 but they estimate around 80 whales hit. 00:24:20.520 --> 00:24:23.000 And if you look to the graph you'll see 00:24:23.000 --> 00:24:26.980 that's compared to very low numbers that we actually observe 00:24:26.980 --> 00:24:29.400 in terms of carcasses that wash on the beach. 00:24:30.400 --> 00:24:35.420 So major challenge for us in trying to address the impacts of shipping 00:24:35.420 --> 00:24:39.160 and then another thing I should mention before 00:24:39.160 --> 00:24:42.580 I heard that topic is just acoustic disturbance 00:24:42.580 --> 00:24:46.280 in general associated with all the marine transportation 00:24:47.140 --> 00:24:51.700 not just a concern to have the ships hitting the whales but 00:24:51.700 --> 00:24:58.000 also concerned that these vessels are masking some of the acoustic behaviors of the whales. 00:24:58.000 --> 00:25:01.510 And so there are a lot of really great minds working to try to 00:25:01.510 --> 00:25:05.000 reduce the adverse impacts of that, as well. 00:25:05.600 --> 00:25:07.280 I see a poll open though so I'll leave it. 00:25:07.280 --> 00:25:09.820 - [Claire] Yeah, sorry I jumped the gun on you 00:25:09.820 --> 00:25:13.440 and but people this is speeding up the process here 00:25:13.440 --> 00:25:16.600 So we've got over the half of the folks that have voted. 00:25:16.600 --> 00:25:19.220 So we're you paying attention closely? 00:25:19.220 --> 00:25:21.620 Researchers estimate that roughly 00:25:21.620 --> 00:25:26.820 how many whales are killed by ship strikes on the U.S. west coast each year? 00:25:26.820 --> 00:25:28.880 so log in your vote. 00:25:30.460 --> 00:25:32.940 - [Hannah] at 3/4 of you voted already? 00:25:33.920 --> 00:25:35.400 - [Claire] Oh, excellent. Thanks, Hannah 00:25:35.760 --> 00:25:37.280 glad that you've got your audio back. 00:25:37.280 --> 00:25:39.760 so I'm gonna let you run the race from here. 00:25:39.760 --> 00:25:43.080 I'll go ahead and close the poll and Hannah will walk you through it. 00:25:46.200 --> 00:25:46.960 - [Hannah] Awesome! 00:25:46.960 --> 00:25:53.200 So, Jess, we have 80 whales killed per year 00:25:53.200 --> 00:25:57.180 and 70% of people think that that's the right answer. 00:25:57.180 --> 00:25:58.400 What do we think? 00:25:58.400 --> 00:26:01.860 - Excellent news. People are listening that's good. 00:26:02.700 --> 00:26:04.260 - [Hannah] (laughing) Great' 00:26:07.380 --> 00:26:10.360 Okay, so 00:26:11.680 --> 00:26:17.060 Now to talk about what we are actually doing to counteract all of these adverse impacts 00:26:17.060 --> 00:26:18.320 that I've been mentioning. 00:26:18.320 --> 00:26:24.440 So NOAA sanctuaries in partnership with NOAA's Office of National Marine Fishery Service 00:26:25.420 --> 00:26:30.420 has focused on five different methods in trying to tackle this problem. 00:26:30.420 --> 00:26:36.640 The first is reducing the co-occurrence of whales and ships by adjusting the traffic separation schemes 00:26:37.060 --> 00:26:40.700 The second is establishing some voluntary 00:26:40.700 --> 00:26:44.000 seasonal whale advisory or vessel speed reduction zones 00:26:44.000 --> 00:26:49.300 the third is an incentive based program to encourage container ships and car carriers 00:26:49.300 --> 00:26:50.900 to slow down in those zones. 00:26:51.340 --> 00:26:54.200 Fourth is supporting ongoing related research. 00:26:54.200 --> 00:26:57.780 And the fifth is engaging and working with industry stakeholders. 00:26:57.780 --> 00:27:01.780 I'm going to spend most of the time for the rest of the presentation today 00:27:01.780 --> 00:27:05.060 on one through three of this list. 00:27:05.060 --> 00:27:08.090 But just worth pointing out that there are other 00:27:08.090 --> 00:27:10.640 methods going on to address ship strike risk. 00:27:10.640 --> 00:27:13.400 I'm going to talk about speed reduction mainly, today. 00:27:13.400 --> 00:27:16.960 But there's a lot of work going on and a lot of smart people 00:27:16.960 --> 00:27:19.220 focused on trying to reduce this problem. 00:27:20.260 --> 00:27:21.900 So starting with co-occurrence 00:27:22.720 --> 00:27:27.800 it's I think pretty undeniable that the best way to try to avoid 00:27:28.100 --> 00:27:33.200 having ship strikes occur is to just reduce the co-occurrence of whales and ships 00:27:33.200 --> 00:27:35.240 so separate whales and ships all together 00:27:35.240 --> 00:27:37.820 and they are very unlikely to hit each other 00:27:37.820 --> 00:27:43.080 so wherever and whenever possible NOAA has worked with the Coast Guard 00:27:43.080 --> 00:27:45.900 and the international body that regulates shipping 00:27:46.000 --> 00:27:49.060 which is known as International Maritime Organization 00:27:49.060 --> 00:27:54.360 And we've worked to relocate or readjust shipping lanes 00:27:54.360 --> 00:27:58.400 to be farther away from where we know whales tend to aggregate. 00:27:58.400 --> 00:28:04.260 So on the screen you'll see examples of some of those changes that have occurred in California. 00:28:04.800 --> 00:28:10.300 On the left, you'll see some amendments done in the San Francisco Bay Area 00:28:10.300 --> 00:28:15.140 and the former lanes, you'll see in black ,they were narrowed and extended. 00:28:15.140 --> 00:28:19.480 And then on the right in the Santa Barbara Channel the same concept applies 00:28:19.480 --> 00:28:26.300 You'll see some blue whale data, some probability of occurence data, 00:28:26.300 --> 00:28:29.640 on that map. But I'm just showing you that, once again, 00:28:30.120 --> 00:28:35.260 the shipping lanes were narrowed and moved away fromwhere we know whales tend to aggregate. 00:28:36.020 --> 00:28:39.460 And so this is a great solution, whenever possible. 00:28:39.980 --> 00:28:44.660 Unfortunately, in California in and in a lot of other places, 00:28:45.280 --> 00:28:47.500 it doesn't offer a perfect solution, 00:28:47.500 --> 00:28:52.740 since different whale species occupy different geographic areas within 00:28:52.740 --> 00:28:54.820 these regions. And so 00:28:54.820 --> 00:28:58.360 unfortunately we found that moving the shipping lanes 00:28:58.360 --> 00:29:03.520 one area might reduce the risk to one species but increase the impacts to another 00:29:03.520 --> 00:29:10.800 And so, it has led us to explore some other options to address ship strike risk 00:29:10.800 --> 00:29:15.800 And so the second method that NOAA has really focused on 00:29:15.800 --> 00:29:18.180 is voluntary slow speed zones. 00:29:18.180 --> 00:29:25.680 And this is done largely because studies have been done that demonstrate that 00:29:25.680 --> 00:29:30.540 whales have a much higher percent chance of surviving 00:29:30.540 --> 00:29:34.120 of avoiding and surviving a ship strike 00:29:34.120 --> 00:29:38.060 if they, if the vessel is traveling at ten knots or less. 00:29:38.060 --> 00:29:41.320 And so as I was mentioning before 00:29:41.320 --> 00:29:46.200 on the East Coast with right whales this is aproblem that is really prevalent 00:29:46.200 --> 00:29:48.580 for a very critically endangered population. 00:29:48.580 --> 00:29:51.580 And so for years now they've had 00:29:51.580 --> 00:29:57.480 slow speed zones put into place and they actually have regulations today that enforce them. 00:29:57.480 --> 00:30:01.220 And so here in California, same concept applies. 00:30:01.220 --> 00:30:07.100 We do not have regulations. This is a completely voluntary slow speed request. 00:30:07.840 --> 00:30:11.460 But for several years now in both regions in California 00:30:11.460 --> 00:30:16.300 we have an established and announced voluntary whale advisory zones. 00:30:16.300 --> 00:30:21.280 And that goes out to all vessels, 300 gross tons or more, so really big ships. 00:30:21.280 --> 00:30:26.840 And we broadcast it weekly to the shipping industry through the Coast Guard 00:30:26.840 --> 00:30:30.400 and through some of our shipping industry channels and listservs. 00:30:32.400 --> 00:30:35.380 And so on the screen right now, on the left, 00:30:35.380 --> 00:30:40.930 you'll see an example of the San Francisco Bay Area slow speed zones. 00:30:40.930 --> 00:30:45.900 And then on the right, and that's the Southern California zone for 2019. 00:30:45.900 --> 00:30:50.060 And these zones do change a little bit year to year depending on 00:30:50.060 --> 00:30:54.980 where we know impact might be higher where we know whales tend to be aggregating 00:30:56.220 --> 00:31:01.500 but, in general, this these are the zones that we've been using for VSR purposes in 00:31:01.500 --> 00:31:03.560 California for the past few years. 00:31:04.540 --> 00:31:10.340 and despite all of this great work going out to try to reduce these impacts 00:31:10.860 --> 00:31:13.660 we don't unfortunately yet, and I will say yet, 00:31:13.660 --> 00:31:17.200 see a high level of voluntary cooperation with these requests. 00:31:17.700 --> 00:31:21.220 On the East Coast, as I was mentioning, they have regulations 00:31:21.220 --> 00:31:24.580 they're seeing about 75% or more 00:31:24.580 --> 00:31:28.320 compliance rates with those regulations that they've put out. 00:31:28.320 --> 00:31:33.500 Here in California, we see roughly 45% cooperation levels 00:31:33.500 --> 00:31:36.300 with our Northern California slow speed zones. 00:31:36.300 --> 00:31:42.320 And then we get roughly 23% cooperation with Southern California zones. So 00:31:42.920 --> 00:31:45.740 a lot of room for improvement. 00:31:45.740 --> 00:31:48.660 Honestly, kind of disappointing that industry isn't 00:31:48.660 --> 00:31:52.720 responding more positively to our request to have them slow down, 00:31:52.720 --> 00:31:56.980 which prompted us to then seek yet another method 00:31:57.180 --> 00:31:59.260 to try to get them to be more involved. 00:32:00.780 --> 00:32:05.720 So similar concept but recognizing that we weren't seeing 00:32:05.920 --> 00:32:09.580 a lot of cooperation with this voluntary NOAA request. 00:32:10.060 --> 00:32:15.200 In 2014, NOAA Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary 00:32:15.200 --> 00:32:19.700 and partners from local County air district offices 00:32:20.240 --> 00:32:24.780 worked together to create an incentive based vessel speed reduction program 00:32:24.780 --> 00:32:28.760 that essentially provides incentives for 00:32:28.760 --> 00:32:34.260 certain categories within the big ship traffic that's taking place. 00:32:35.020 --> 00:32:39.100 So that they will cooperate with these voluntary slow speed requests. So 00:32:39.100 --> 00:32:45.480 incentive in this case means small financial payments. So we pay shipping companies 00:32:45.480 --> 00:32:49.480 small checks, certainly compared to what they're making on an annual basis, 00:32:51.020 --> 00:32:55.540 originally, to slow down vessels on a transit by transit basis. 00:32:56.700 --> 00:33:02.460 Since 2017, we have scaled up to more of a fleet approach where we actually 00:33:02.460 --> 00:33:05.120 slowed down the entire fleets of any company that 00:33:05.120 --> 00:33:10.160 is involved in the program. And if they hit a certain percentage of cooperation, 00:33:10.160 --> 00:33:16.030 we give them credit not just in financial payments but also through really positive press 00:33:16.030 --> 00:33:20.160 that we try to generate through the sanctuaries and through our partners in the effort. 00:33:21.060 --> 00:33:23.180 And so the maps on the screen should look 00:33:23.180 --> 00:33:26.960 pretty similar to what you were seeing before for the voluntary effort. 00:33:27.800 --> 00:33:31.580 But this is just for container ships and for car carriers 00:33:31.580 --> 00:33:36.300 for this incentive program, since those are the ship types that on average 00:33:36.300 --> 00:33:39.520 are going fastest in these areas and they comprise 00:33:39.520 --> 00:33:43.920 the majority of traffic taking place in both regions in California. 00:33:46.600 --> 00:33:48.020 So quickly just 00:33:48.020 --> 00:33:52.660 to show you how the incentive program has scaled since its 00:33:52.660 --> 00:33:55.220 our origins in 2014. 00:33:55.660 --> 00:33:59.040 I guess it's just an optimistic slide I like to share 00:33:59.440 --> 00:34:02.400 and the first year you'll see we worked with seven companies 00:34:02.400 --> 00:34:05.120 and we only slowed 2,700 nautical miles. 00:34:05.120 --> 00:34:08.680 In 2018, that number went way up 00:34:08.680 --> 00:34:10.840 and I'm really excited that this year 00:34:10.840 --> 00:34:16.940 we have 15 big companies big container line companies and car carrier companies 00:34:16.940 --> 00:34:20.680 who've come to the table and agreed to cooperate with this program. 00:34:21.700 --> 00:34:26.000 And so, hopefully we can see numbers increase in 2019 and 00:34:26.000 --> 00:34:30.260 it will have an effect on that voluntary request that we put out, as well. 00:34:33.240 --> 00:34:39.520 So I mostly have been focused on vessel speed reduction for this presentation, but 00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:46.240 I definitely wanted to also focus on some of the other methods of addressing the issue of ship strikes. 00:34:46.840 --> 00:34:51.260 And so obviously ongoing research is a really big piece 00:34:51.260 --> 00:34:53.520 important piece of this puzzle. 00:34:53.520 --> 00:34:58.360 Having a better understanding of where whales are actually going to be 00:34:58.360 --> 00:35:01.620 is a really important part of us trying to determine 00:35:01.620 --> 00:35:03.740 how best to manage the issue. 00:35:03.740 --> 00:35:10.220 And so for us at the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary site 00:35:10.220 --> 00:35:16.420 that means flying monthly aerial surveys of the shipping lanes here in Southern California. 00:35:16.420 --> 00:35:20.400 So we get in small planes on a monthly basis 00:35:20.400 --> 00:35:24.820 and fly the tracts that hopefully you can see on the left side of the screen. 00:35:24.820 --> 00:35:28.680 There's some white lines that actually show where the planes fly. 00:35:28.680 --> 00:35:33.760 But, in general, just trying to keep track of trends we're seeing 00:35:33.760 --> 00:35:37.440 in certain species distribution and density 00:35:37.440 --> 00:35:41.040 in the region to inform the VSR efforts that are ongoing. 00:35:41.040 --> 00:35:45.740 And same concept for on the right side of the screen. There's boat based surveys, 00:35:45.740 --> 00:35:52.420 they're access surveys that are done with a great group called point blue conservation research. 00:35:52.420 --> 00:35:59.060 And they periodically do these boat based surveys for the same purposes 00:35:59.060 --> 00:36:02.100 trying to understand where whales have been historically 00:36:02.100 --> 00:36:05.520 so we can better inform where we think they're going to be in the future. 00:36:05.520 --> 00:36:08.260 And then continuing with that thought, 00:36:08.260 --> 00:36:12.160 on the bottom right of the screen is 00:36:12.160 --> 00:36:15.480 an example of some of the models that have been put out there. 00:36:15.480 --> 00:36:20.480 We're constantly working with really really smart modelers within NOAA within 00:36:20.480 --> 00:36:27.040 research organizations to try to create these prediction tools and forecasting tools 00:36:27.040 --> 00:36:30.900 and hopefully at a fine enough scale level that we can 00:36:30.900 --> 00:36:35.660 really use the information to inform other policy efforts like 00:36:35.660 --> 00:36:38.260 moving the traffic separation scheme 00:36:38.260 --> 00:36:42.200 and determining where we're going to put those vessels speed reduction zones. 00:36:45.020 --> 00:36:47.160 And 00:36:47.160 --> 00:36:51.600 Oh! more thing I want to mention is that we also do keep in pretty close contact 00:36:51.600 --> 00:36:53.494 with local whale watch companies 00:36:53.494 --> 00:36:58.200 since those are the guys who are out on the water every day really looking for whales. 00:36:58.200 --> 00:37:04.130 And they provide great information in terms of what species we're seeing at certain times of year 00:37:04.680 --> 00:37:09.240 and what the seasons are that we should expect for the species in the area. 00:37:12.300 --> 00:37:18.770 So in addition to the slow-speed policy efforts and the research that's going on, 00:37:19.440 --> 00:37:23.480 another really important piece to trying to tackle the issue of ship strikes is 00:37:23.490 --> 00:37:25.160 industry outreach 00:37:25.160 --> 00:37:29.240 and engaging stakeholders from the shipping industry. 00:37:29.240 --> 00:37:35.520 And so for that, at least within the west coast NOAA sanctuaries effort 00:37:35.520 --> 00:37:40.200 that has meant organizing some stakeholder working groups. 00:37:40.200 --> 00:37:45.500 We've had marine shipping working group processes in both regions in California 00:37:45.500 --> 00:37:52.380 that invite various stakeholders to discuss these issues and try to come up with solutions 00:37:52.380 --> 00:37:53.540 for the future. 00:37:54.480 --> 00:37:57.740 We have held awards ceremonies for 00:37:57.740 --> 00:38:02.340 the companies that seem to cooperate at a high level with our VSR policy efforts. 00:38:02.340 --> 00:38:04.940 So you'll see right now on the screen, 00:38:04.940 --> 00:38:08.980 those are images from some of those awards ceremonies that we've held 00:38:08.980 --> 00:38:12.300 where we invite the companies to come and receive their plaque 00:38:12.300 --> 00:38:15.300 and not just make them feel good, but also 00:38:15.300 --> 00:38:17.960 generate some positive press from these events. 00:38:17.960 --> 00:38:20.720 So these photos went out in press releases and 00:38:20.720 --> 00:38:23.560 we know that's really valuable to the big shipping companies. 00:38:24.820 --> 00:38:26.420 Another thing we do, 00:38:26.420 --> 00:38:30.240 the northern region has done this for several years in Southern California. 00:38:30.240 --> 00:38:32.560 We just did this for the first time this year. 00:38:32.560 --> 00:38:38.130 But we do report card monitoring and outreach with the shipping companies. 00:38:38.740 --> 00:38:41.700 And so at the end of the season after we've 00:38:41.700 --> 00:38:44.600 put out these slow-speed requests 00:38:44.600 --> 00:38:47.850 we take a look at all of this AIS data this ship data that comes in. 00:38:47.850 --> 00:38:51.800 That actually tells us how fast the ships are going when they're transiting. 00:38:51.800 --> 00:38:57.180 And we take a look and see how each company is doing and we write them a letter now 00:38:57.580 --> 00:39:01.480 that outlines the cooperation level and 00:39:01.580 --> 00:39:04.280 just lets them know that we are paying attention. 00:39:04.280 --> 00:39:07.160 and we'd love for greater cooperation in the future. 00:39:08.320 --> 00:39:14.400 And then, in addition to that, we also organize focus groups with the shipping industry 00:39:14.400 --> 00:39:19.410 just to get their feedback on ideas that we're thinking of piloting for these types of things. 00:39:19.410 --> 00:39:24.220 New geographic zones we might be drawing on the maps that kind of thing. 00:39:25.300 --> 00:39:27.880 And then we try to partner wherever possible with 00:39:27.880 --> 00:39:29.800 industry representatives 00:39:29.800 --> 00:39:34.840 to raise awareness in general. Whether that means working to get 00:39:34.840 --> 00:39:37.180 icons on some of their nav charts 00:39:37.180 --> 00:39:39.000 put into place that they can more easily 00:39:39.040 --> 00:39:41.920 understand when they are in a VSR zone 00:39:41.920 --> 00:39:45.300 or just taking their recommendations on how to get 00:39:45.300 --> 00:39:49.820 crew members on boats more involved with collecting whale sightings data. 00:39:50.740 --> 00:39:53.040 So big piece of the puzzle is 00:39:53.520 --> 00:39:56.100 just working directly with these companies and 00:39:56.100 --> 00:39:59.680 it's something I have been doing at least 00:39:59.680 --> 00:40:02.380 for the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary for a couple years now 00:40:02.380 --> 00:40:05.320 interfacing with the companies directly. 00:40:05.320 --> 00:40:11.420 and I have to say that it seems as that as soon as they do understand and engage on the issue, 00:40:11.420 --> 00:40:15.140 we usually see a much higher level of compliance with the company 00:40:15.140 --> 00:40:17.140 following those conversations. 00:40:17.140 --> 00:40:18.700 So I'm hopeful that with 00:40:18.700 --> 00:40:22.590 greater engagement with them we will see higher cooperation in the end. 00:40:24.620 --> 00:40:27.400 And so just in this example of the industry outreach 00:40:27.400 --> 00:40:29.200 just 'cause I think this is really cool. 00:40:29.200 --> 00:40:31.280 And this is a pretty old example. 00:40:31.280 --> 00:40:33.220 We still get lots of photos and 00:40:33.220 --> 00:40:34.540 good stuff from companies. 00:40:34.540 --> 00:40:38.020 But this is an example from I think 2017 00:40:38.020 --> 00:40:40.620 from one of the container ships 00:40:40.620 --> 00:40:46.440 we ask these guys to voluntarily provide sightings data 00:40:46.440 --> 00:40:48.640 of any of the whales that they see on their transits. 00:40:48.640 --> 00:40:53.460 And occasionally we get a ship and crew and captain that's really enthusiastic. 00:40:53.980 --> 00:40:57.440 And so these guys actually set its sightings data forms 00:40:57.440 --> 00:40:59.480 which we give them and then they also sent 00:40:59.480 --> 00:41:04.440 a whole bunch of pictures and apparently they drew all over the map, which is really cool. 00:41:04.440 --> 00:41:07.300 Those that they were really excited and they cared. 00:41:07.300 --> 00:41:11.080 So that's really great. I love to see that kind of stuff. 00:41:13.040 --> 00:41:18.180 Definitely hopeful that we can get more of the container ships that are transiting out there 00:41:18.500 --> 00:41:23.160 collecting whale data. Since they're out there in places that are really costly 00:41:23.160 --> 00:41:25.640 for researchers to try to survey. 00:41:25.640 --> 00:41:29.740 So it's very helpful if they can help us become scientists and 00:41:29.740 --> 00:41:32.160 supply some whale data to the effort. 00:41:34.300 --> 00:41:38.580 So to try to wrap up, since I think I'm close to running out of time. 00:41:39.360 --> 00:41:42.660 Next steps when thinking about VSR work 00:41:42.660 --> 00:41:45.440 and ship strike worked for West Coast sanctuaries, 00:41:46.440 --> 00:41:52.200 the research piece that I was mentioning is honestly such a big piece of the puzzle for us 00:41:52.200 --> 00:41:54.280 going forward. 00:41:54.940 --> 00:41:59.620 It's so important for us to try to quantify the issue. 00:41:59.620 --> 00:42:01.440 As I was mentioning earlier, 00:42:01.440 --> 00:42:07.520 it's so difficult for us to get a really good understanding of the frequency of ship strikes 00:42:07.520 --> 00:42:11.740 in California. We think we have a general understanding of 00:42:11.740 --> 00:42:14.680 how much the actual occurrence is 00:42:14.680 --> 00:42:19.640 versus the observed instances that you saw on that strandings graph. 00:42:19.640 --> 00:42:24.840 But we really do need more research done to better understand the frequency of the issue 00:42:24.840 --> 00:42:26.960 so we can respond to the problem better. 00:42:26.960 --> 00:42:31.000 So whatever that means to get that done I mean 00:42:31.000 --> 00:42:35.760 I'm a huge supporter as I said of some of the forecasting models that are being put together 00:42:36.920 --> 00:42:40.100 to help us better predict where whales are going to be. 00:42:40.100 --> 00:42:44.960 I'm also hearing murmurs in the background of people trying to create sensors to 00:42:44.960 --> 00:42:49.480 put on vessels. They can understand how often whales are getting hit that way. 00:42:50.220 --> 00:42:54.900 But more research to better understand these things is very crucial for us. 00:42:56.040 --> 00:43:01.680 The second thing is just continuing to raise awareness on the issue at large. 00:43:02.640 --> 00:43:07.860 I've talked a bunch about increasing awareness within the shipping industry community 00:43:07.860 --> 00:43:10.680 and that's obviously incredibly important from 00:43:11.600 --> 00:43:14.640 the standpoint of getting their cooperation going forward. 00:43:14.640 --> 00:43:19.940 But another important piece that I would love to see and I know others would love to see 00:43:19.940 --> 00:43:23.100 is public awareness on the issue. Since 00:43:23.100 --> 00:43:27.900 I don't know if that many people beyond those who spend time worrying about whales 00:43:27.900 --> 00:43:31.820 actually know that marine roadkill is a thing. 00:43:32.500 --> 00:43:34.040 And it is a problem. 00:43:34.040 --> 00:43:41.340 And it's not impossible for a public concern to actually drive behavior going forward. 00:43:41.340 --> 00:43:46.540 And so I think it'd be really great to see some more public campaigns out there to raise awareness 00:43:46.540 --> 00:43:52.130 with consumers. Just have people start paying attention to the ways that they're receiving the 00:43:52.130 --> 00:43:54.260 goods that actually come to their doorstep. 00:43:55.080 --> 00:43:58.380 Try to raise awareness also within the big retailer world. 00:43:58.380 --> 00:44:02.760 We know from conversations with some of the shipping companies that 00:44:02.760 --> 00:44:07.980 the decisions made by the Walmarts and Targets of the world is 00:44:07.980 --> 00:44:11.640 a huge driving force behind all of their decision-making. 00:44:11.640 --> 00:44:16.000 And so trying to get awareness within those really big corporations to get them 00:44:16.000 --> 00:44:20.880 to be more selective about who they actually target as their shipping companies 00:44:20.880 --> 00:44:23.400 would be a really important part of this. 00:44:25.060 --> 00:44:30.180 And then another thing we want to do is continue to look into 00:44:30.180 --> 00:44:32.800 other spatial approaches wherever possible. 00:44:32.800 --> 00:44:37.560 So, as I was saying, reducing co-occurrence and actually separating ships and whales 00:44:37.560 --> 00:44:41.920 is really our best method to ensure that it's not going to continue to happen. 00:44:41.920 --> 00:44:45.260 And, like I said, that's really hard to do but there are 00:44:45.260 --> 00:44:47.960 still some other improvements that we can make 00:44:47.960 --> 00:44:51.260 including expanding areas to be avoided which are 00:44:51.260 --> 00:44:56.820 spatial areas on these NOAA charts that ships know to avoid 00:44:56.820 --> 00:45:00.000 and really have a high level of compliance with. 00:45:00.540 --> 00:45:04.300 So just looking into future options for expanding those areas 00:45:04.300 --> 00:45:10.240 and finding ways to separate which ships and whales whenever possible. 00:45:11.100 --> 00:45:15.540 And then, the last option for us is just to continue to explore 00:45:15.540 --> 00:45:19.260 other options for the VSR policy that we're already doing. 00:45:19.260 --> 00:45:24.120 Whether that means expanded zones from what you saw on the map, before, 00:45:24.120 --> 00:45:27.760 to capture larger areas where we think whales tend to be 00:45:27.760 --> 00:45:33.620 or potentially it could mean discussing regulations down the line. 00:45:35.260 --> 00:45:39.740 Like I was saying, the East Coast does have regulations in place for right whales, 00:45:39.740 --> 00:45:42.721 since they are so critically endangered. And we've had 00:45:42.721 --> 00:45:46.400 plenty of evidence of ship strikes in the past to that population. 00:45:47.040 --> 00:45:51.620 At the moment, we're trying to avoid going to any regulatory approach 00:45:51.620 --> 00:45:56.700 and the voluntary approach is certainly the most ideal method for us. 00:45:57.340 --> 00:46:00.720 But given the fact that we are seeing an increase 00:46:00.720 --> 00:46:04.280 in the number of strandings associated with vessel collisions 00:46:04.840 --> 00:46:09.460 it is an off the table and it's certainly something that internally we're discussing. 00:46:10.640 --> 00:46:16.140 So those are the four main next steps for all of the ship strike work. 00:46:16.140 --> 00:46:21.840 In the meantime, like I said, it's a lot of interfacing with these shipping companies 00:46:21.840 --> 00:46:25.680 trying to make sure that they are disseminating information to 00:46:25.680 --> 00:46:29.020 their crews and their captains and their vessel masters. 00:46:29.840 --> 00:46:34.080 And it's a really big and confusing world that honestly doesn't 00:46:34.080 --> 00:46:37.260 typically get a ton of scrutiny. 00:46:37.260 --> 00:46:43.900 It's only recently that the global community has started to pay attention 00:46:43.900 --> 00:46:47.020 to the carbon emissions associated with these vessels. 00:46:47.020 --> 00:46:54.040 So we're hoping that with all of this added attention to marine transportation 00:46:54.040 --> 00:46:58.300 across a whole bunch of environmental issues that we can try to raise awareness 00:46:58.300 --> 00:47:01.580 on the impacts to the whale species, as well. 00:47:03.000 --> 00:47:07.480 And so with that, I will close with this wonderful image from our colleague Bob Schwimmer 00:47:07.480 --> 00:47:08.420 thank you Bob. 00:47:09.240 --> 00:47:11.780 And I will take any questions. 00:47:11.780 --> 00:47:17.100 -[Hannah] Yeah! We'll also have one final poll question to kind of test your knowledge. 00:47:17.100 --> 00:47:22.220 So ship strikes are challenging issue to address as 00:47:22.220 --> 00:47:26.420 are challenging to address as an issue and impact because 00:47:26.420 --> 00:47:28.240 select one of the following, 00:47:29.100 --> 00:47:32.080 the whales and their prey are dynamic and always on the move, 00:47:32.080 --> 00:47:35.420 shipping lanes and wells occupy similar geographic areas, 00:47:35.420 --> 00:47:39.000 most ships strike instance go unrecorded or unreported 00:47:39.000 --> 00:47:40.460 or all of the above. 00:47:41.300 --> 00:47:45.060 And it looks like we have 70% of you have voted. 00:47:45.800 --> 00:47:47.440 Give it a few more seconds. 00:47:47.940 --> 00:47:51.280 Oh, and it looks like everyone's out of consensus, too. 00:47:51.280 --> 00:47:53.060 (laughing) 00:47:53.060 --> 00:47:56.040 All right, I'm going to close the poll. 00:47:57.940 --> 00:47:59.440 Jess, how did they do? 00:48:01.100 --> 00:48:02.640 - Oh, I can't see it, can I? 00:48:04.600 --> 00:48:08.180 -[Claire] It's but it's behind her presentation 00:48:08.180 --> 00:48:10.680 so she's got we didn't get a good look at her. 00:48:10.680 --> 00:48:15.280 -[Hannah] All right, I'll I will read the answer to you. 00:48:15.280 --> 00:48:18.560 96% of people said all of the above. 00:48:19.440 --> 00:48:20.760 So how did they do? 00:48:20.760 --> 00:48:22.883 - They did great. 00:48:22.883 --> 00:48:24.940 96% of you did great. 00:48:24.940 --> 00:48:26.640 I don't know about the other four. 00:48:27.740 --> 00:48:29.020 (laughing) 00:48:29.140 --> 00:48:32.240 - And we do have a 00:48:33.400 --> 00:48:37.060 large number of questions in about five minutes to get through them. 00:48:37.070 --> 00:48:38.820 So I wanted to say. 00:48:38.820 --> 00:48:43.740 Please feel free to submit any questions in the question box on the control panel. 00:48:43.740 --> 00:48:46.600 And anything that we don't get to you in the next five minutes, 00:48:46.600 --> 00:48:51.200 we'll try to have just answer over an email and we'll send that back out to you. 00:48:51.200 --> 00:48:54.740 But we have a question coming from North Carolina 00:48:54.740 --> 00:48:59.600 and this person is wondering if there's some sort of electro sonic pulse 00:48:59.600 --> 00:49:02.680 that ships could use to repel the whales. 00:49:02.680 --> 00:49:07.160 He's thinking something like a deer warning attachment that people use 00:49:07.160 --> 00:49:10.007 to put on their car bumpers. 00:49:10.007 --> 00:49:16.640 - It's a really question and a really good idea and such a good idea that it has been tried 00:49:16.860 --> 00:49:22.460 and unfortunately whales do not seem to respond the way that we want them to like deer do 00:49:22.460 --> 00:49:25.360 in that instance. They actually seem to surface more. 00:49:25.360 --> 00:49:30.180 At least with we, we call them "Pingers" as they've been used for this purpose and 00:49:30.940 --> 00:49:32.340 Yeah as I was saying that 00:49:32.700 --> 00:49:36.800 typical response that people are recording is that whales are surfacing 00:49:36.800 --> 00:49:39.100 rather than actually leaving the area. 00:49:39.100 --> 00:49:42.380 Which unfortunately increases their risk of getting hit. 00:49:43.040 --> 00:49:48.520 So at least, for now, that approach is not one that we're finding to be very optimistic. 00:49:48.520 --> 00:49:54.760 And I will also add that I didn't focus much on the acoustic disturbance side of shipping, 00:49:54.760 --> 00:49:59.720 but there is a lot of noise being emitted in the ocean and it definitely has impacts. And so 00:50:00.440 --> 00:50:05.200 from that perspective to introducing more sound to try to counteract these other issues is 00:50:05.200 --> 00:50:07.840 probably not method for us going forward. 00:50:08.880 --> 00:50:12.480 - And we have a recorded webinar in our archived series 00:50:12.480 --> 00:50:14.680 on ocean noise and the impact on whales. 00:50:14.680 --> 00:50:18.240 That you're interested in that topic you can check that out there 00:50:19.640 --> 00:50:23.860 Wwe have another question coming from Brian 00:50:23.860 --> 00:50:30.460 who's asking if there's any knowledge on if whales are trying to move out of the way 00:50:30.580 --> 00:50:32.560 and if we know that they're trying to move out of the way. 00:50:32.560 --> 00:50:36.020 I see that this is a question of other people, as well. 00:50:36.640 --> 00:50:39.920 Yeah. So good question. 00:50:39.920 --> 00:50:42.740 I don't have a definitive answer 00:50:42.740 --> 00:50:46.960 and I certainly don't have one that crosses all the different species that we talked about today 00:50:47.820 --> 00:50:51.820 But I do know that there are really great researchers who are 00:50:51.820 --> 00:50:54.420 working right now to answer that question. 00:50:56.320 --> 00:51:00.000 I think that there are different behavioral responses 00:51:00.000 --> 00:51:02.740 to vessels across the different species type. 00:51:02.740 --> 00:51:04.560 At least that's what people are seeming to find. 00:51:05.400 --> 00:51:12.020 But as far as I know, there really isn't one example or behavior that seems to be associated 00:51:12.020 --> 00:51:15.280 with whales when a ship comes into the area. 00:51:16.060 --> 00:51:20.160 These guys are really hungry when they come to California. 00:51:20.160 --> 00:51:23.400 For a lot of them they might they've migrated a really long distance. 00:51:24.260 --> 00:51:28.440 And so their first priority is trying to find their prey and even though we think 00:51:28.440 --> 00:51:31.980 a huge container ship barreling down towards them is obvious, 00:51:32.880 --> 00:51:37.120 it most evidence suggests that they're just going to be focused on tackling 00:51:37.120 --> 00:51:40.760 the task at hand and that's getting their bellies full 00:51:40.760 --> 00:51:42.500 of whatever prey they're after, 00:51:42.500 --> 00:51:45.980 regardless of whatever big container ship is coming their way. 00:51:47.700 --> 00:51:50.320 - That makes sense. When you're hungry, you're hungry! 00:51:53.600 --> 00:51:58.780 Okay so this is a combination of a few questions about the voluntary slow zone. 00:51:58.780 --> 00:52:03.220 So could you review how they have been impactful? 00:52:03.220 --> 00:52:07.800 And then is there any effort to make them mandatory from voluntary. 00:52:10.460 --> 00:52:13.980 Do we have any way to prove if they've been impactful, okay 00:52:13.980 --> 00:52:16.360 s,o from the whale side, 00:52:16.360 --> 00:52:18.240 it's a really tough answer. 00:52:18.240 --> 00:52:21.568 Since I don't have great evidence as I've been talking about 00:52:21.568 --> 00:52:25.200 that proves you know we've reduced the number of ship strikes that have occurred. 00:52:25.200 --> 00:52:28.720 our best way of trying to measure that currently 00:52:28.720 --> 00:52:33.140 as I was sharing, is just looking at the strandings that happen each year 00:52:33.140 --> 00:52:35.400 that we can attribute to vessel collisions. 00:52:36.420 --> 00:52:39.140 And we can see trends 00:52:39.140 --> 00:52:42.740 on that graph that I was showing you guys earlier it does show 00:52:42.740 --> 00:52:47.040 trends in the number of observed collisions that we're seeing 00:52:47.040 --> 00:52:52.460 But it really, as we've talked about, is not necessarily the best indication of how 00:52:52.460 --> 00:52:53.800 often this is really happening 00:52:53.800 --> 00:52:58.880 since it's probably a major under estimate of total occurrence 00:52:58.880 --> 00:53:04.440 So trying to prove that the vessel speed reduction policies have had an impact is really tough. 00:53:04.440 --> 00:53:10.740 our best way to do it is with the modeling experts that we've been working with. 00:53:10.740 --> 00:53:15.460 nNt just to do some of that fine scale distribution and density modeling 00:53:15.460 --> 00:53:18.520 to prove or to try to forecast where whales are going to go. 00:53:18.520 --> 00:53:23.400 uBt these guys are also other researchers and some of the same researchers 00:53:23.400 --> 00:53:26.220 are working to estimate mortality. 00:53:27.160 --> 00:53:31.460 Risk reduction associated with some of these vessels speed reduction policies. 00:53:31.460 --> 00:53:36.020 So we don't have actual data that says we slowed down vessels 00:53:36.020 --> 00:53:38.020 and six whales were saved. 00:53:38.020 --> 00:53:40.620 but we the best available thing that we have 00:53:40.620 --> 00:53:46.480 our models that show us when you slow down a certain percentage of traffic in these zones 00:53:46.480 --> 00:53:49.640 we get this estimated reduction in mortality 00:53:49.640 --> 00:53:51.500 to these populations. And so 00:53:51.580 --> 00:53:54.400 that's the numbers that we're really trying to work with right now. 00:53:56.200 --> 00:53:59.700 But it is a little frustrating. On the air emissions side, 00:53:59.700 --> 00:54:04.960 much easier for our friends at the Air Pollution Control District offices who 00:54:04.960 --> 00:54:08.260 it's a little simpler to model the reduction 00:54:08.260 --> 00:54:11.860 and air emissions from a vessel if you know all the specs of the ship. 00:54:11.860 --> 00:54:16.440 And so we can certainly prove that there are air emission benefits to all of this work. 00:54:16.440 --> 00:54:23.220 But still trying to get that magic number in terms of measuring success on the whale side. 00:54:25.560 --> 00:54:29.700 - Great, that seems to be all the time that we have for questions 00:54:29.980 --> 00:54:31.960 in person on the webinar. 00:54:31.960 --> 00:54:36.760 But there's quite a few that have gone unanswered. So we'll be sure to send them to Jessica 00:54:36.760 --> 00:54:38.680 to have answered, if she can. 00:54:39.100 --> 00:54:43.960 And so I'm going to take over and share my screen 00:54:44.820 --> 00:54:47.320 and do a little bit of a wrap-up 00:54:55.000 --> 00:54:57.020 Are you guys seeing my screen? 00:54:59.940 --> 00:55:03.040 -[Claire] Not quite yet. Yeah, I'm seeing you but not your screen. 00:55:06.580 --> 00:55:07.620 - Are we good now? 00:55:08.140 --> 00:55:10.660 - We are. Awesome! - Awesome. 00:55:11.300 --> 00:55:17.300 Great so I'd like to first of all thank you for attending the webinar series today. 00:55:17.300 --> 00:55:22.040 As I mentioned earlier or Claire mentioned earlier, we welcome any feedback 00:55:22.040 --> 00:55:26.360 further questions and suggestions for topics that you're interested in. 00:55:26.360 --> 00:55:31.740 If you would like to submit those you can send them to the email below 00:55:32.560 --> 00:55:36.680 or respond to the emails that are listed on Claire or my contacts 00:55:36.780 --> 00:55:42.560 as well as the respond to the email that you'll receive with the evaluation link after this. 00:55:42.860 --> 00:55:48.980 So we'll also share a recording of this webinar and any associated the education materials 00:55:48.980 --> 00:55:55.160 on the archive page. So you can go to the web link that's located on this slide to see those. 00:55:55.160 --> 00:56:00.500 The ocean noise webinar that I mentioned as well is located on that link. 00:56:01.860 --> 00:56:08.060 Following this webinar all attendees will also receive a copy of attendance. 00:56:08.060 --> 00:56:13.220 So this was requested from a suggestion made from the webinar that 00:56:13.220 --> 00:56:20.360 they would like proof of professional development. So we send this out as well. 00:56:20.360 --> 00:56:22.160 And so we do take your feedback into account and love to hear it. 00:56:23.780 --> 00:56:28.420 We also have an evaluation that we'll send out immediately after the webinar. 00:56:28.420 --> 00:56:30.600 It takes about three minutes to complete. 00:56:30.600 --> 00:56:33.940 So if you're able to complete it, it would be really great. 00:56:33.940 --> 00:56:38.300 It helps us align with what we want to see with the webinar series moving forward 00:56:38.300 --> 00:56:40.860 and your feedback is greatly appreciated. 00:56:41.860 --> 00:56:46.900 There will be one more-- not one more-- many more webinars to come. But 00:56:46.900 --> 00:56:49.640 another great one on large whales. 00:56:49.640 --> 00:56:51.820 This one is called "Catch and Release" 00:56:51.820 --> 00:56:57.200 It's about large whale entanglements and response efforts to mitigate the threat. 00:56:57.200 --> 00:57:00.320 It focuses on the global issue of entanglement 00:57:00.320 --> 00:57:02.600 and bycatch of large whales. 00:57:02.600 --> 00:57:06.400 Participants will be able to learn more about the threats to marine mammals 00:57:06.400 --> 00:57:08.760 and the current response effort. 00:57:09.540 --> 00:57:15.920 This webinar will take place on July 10th at 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 p.m. Pacific. 00:57:16.360 --> 00:57:19.700 So in about one month you can learn more about large whales. 00:57:20.980 --> 00:57:25.040 And thanks again, Jessica, for the great presentation on 00:57:25.040 --> 00:57:27.300 the vessel speed reduction 00:57:27.300 --> 00:57:31.060 and learning more about the West Coast National Marine Sanctuaries. 00:57:31.500 --> 00:57:34.360 And I want to thank you all again for joining us 00:57:34.360 --> 00:57:37.040 and please don't forget to take the brief survey 00:57:37.260 --> 00:57:41.540 about three or four minutes south pop up at the conclusion of today's webinar. 00:57:42.340 --> 00:57:44.380 It's very important to our team. 00:57:45.120 --> 00:57:48.420 Thank you forwatching this concludes today's webinar. 00:57:48.420 --> 00:57:53.660 -[Claire] All right, thanks everyone, thanks Jess, Hannah.