
In Santa Barbara Channel, underwater sound system keeps whales and ships apart - pseudolus
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-08-14/in-the-santa-barbara-channel-an-underwater-sound-system-tries-to-keep-whales-and-ships-apart
======
BrentOzar
I thought it was going to be about speakers that send out some kind of noise
to keep the whales away. It's not: it's about microphones on buoys that listen
for whales, send alerts to scientists, who then alert ship captains in the
area to voluntarily slow down.

However, the article also notes that ship captains are already ignoring
warnings to slow down, and there are no penalties for going fast and hitting
whales, so...

~~~
whenchamenia
Most captians want to keep their vessel in good shape and will avoid whales
when possible purely out of selfish reasons. Simply providing the safer option
seems quite effective when the power of law is absent.

~~~
PavlovsCat
It's not about what captains want, but what the companies they work for want.

> _Louttit said that as long as slowing down is voluntary, some companies will
> take the bad press that comes from arriving to port with a whale stuck to a
> ship’s bow._

------
someguydave
I was on an Alaska cruise last year. While I was on the bridge tour, a whale
breached nearly perpendicular to the bow a few hundred feet away while the
ship was underway at 20 knots. I don’t think it was hit, but there’s literally
nothing a ship like that can do if the whale is going to surface in its way
like that. The officer in training told us whales were generally dumb and paid
little attention to the movements of large vessels, unlike dolphins.

~~~
liability
I had a similar experience on the ferry to Alaska last week (excellent
experience, I'm eager to travel on it again.)

Incidentally, I think those ascribing malice or depraved indifference to the
captains of these ships are misguided and being very cynical. People generally
love whales, and from what I've seen, people who work on the water love them
more than most. Given the opportunity to avoid hurting a whale, I'm quite sure
most would eagerly take it. It is however a matter of risk tolerance. E.g. a
warning that a certain route gives you a 1% chance of hitting a whale will
likely be treated differently from a warning that a route has a 50% chance of
hitting a whale. The world is never black and white and to a certain extent,
we all tolerate some amount of risk.

~~~
someguydave
> those ascribing malice or depraved indifference

Yeah I agree. The bridge I was on had two lookouts and a watch crew, I'm sure
that they would attempt to avoid a whale if it were possible. But the truth is
that a gigantic ship moving at 20 knots can only has so much maneuverability,
so accidents will happen.

------
jonah
Our local amateur radio club has a couple AIS receivers in view of the
channel[1] and a PTZ webcam on Santa Cruz island that sometimes shows views of
the channel[2].

[1] [https://www.sbarc.org/ais-marinetraffic-
system/](https://www.sbarc.org/ais-marinetraffic-system/)

[2] [https://youtu.be/16e6wem3nMQ](https://youtu.be/16e6wem3nMQ)

------
arwineap
I was sailing during one of the periods that they shifted the shipping lanes.
It was terrifying being on a small craft without AIS and not knowing when I
entered/exited the shipping lanes.

The existing shipping lanes are well charted, and have been on those charts
for several decades. I hope that if they do choose to move the lanes, the do
it permanently so that charts can be updated.

~~~
serf
bobbing around with big boats is terrifying, even with AIS.

As a child we frequently had sailboats near Wilmington/Long Beach CA and had
to deal with all the industrial traffic near those ports. Even as a kid I
learned pretty quickly that you never rely on big boats seeing you -- just get
out of the way in any way you can.

