Whale Alert West Coast

The West Coast collaboration was conceived by the five national marine sanctuaries of the West Coast, Conserve.IO, and Point Blue Conservation Science, in coordination with the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), to reduce the number of ship collisions with whales. West Coast national marine sanctuaries encompass 12,843 square miles of marine protected areas around the Channel Islands, Cordell Bank, Greater Farallones, Monterey Bay and Olympic Coast. Sanctuaries use a multi-pronged approach to reducing the risk of whale ship strikes and have committed to activities in research and monitoring, policy and management collaborations, and education and outreach. To learn about new and continuing initiatives led by West Coast sanctuaries and partners, visit the sanctuary website dedicated to reducing ship strike risk to whales. Sanctuaries are host to numerous threatened and endangered whale species such as blue, humpback, fin, sperm, and western North Pacific gray whales among others. These migratory whales rely on the highly productive waters located in the West Coast sanctuaries supplied by the California Current System.