Ship strikes deplete blue whale population

Science : Blue whales—the largest animals known to have existed on Earth ever—were hunted almost to extinction in the 20th century. Although a 1966 ban on whaling helped many whale species rebound, the number of blue whales has not increased as much as expected. According to a study published this week in the journal PLOS One, a contributing factor may be collisions with ships. The researchers tagged and tracked blue whales off the coast of California. They found that a significant number of them were being struck and killed by ships traveling between the busy ports of San Francisco and Los Angeles. As a result, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will be reviewing the situation to find a solution, which could include speed restrictions on vessels or alterations to the commercial shipping lanes, especially during the summer at the height of the whales’ feeding season.