{ "id": "AIBD-0323", "title": "Whale Safe's acoustic, sighting and habitat-model whale presence ratings support voluntary ship slow-downs in the Santa Barbara Channel, with 59–85% cooperation", "summary": "Launched 17 Sep 2020 by UCSB's Benioff lab; grades ships' cooperation with NOAA's 10-knot zones. KCBX: vessels slowed 59% of the time in 2023; BWBS 2024 report: 85% cooperation. No vessel outcome.", "date_observed": "2020-09-17", "date_basis": "unassessed", "date_precision": "unassessed", "benefit_status": null, "source_collection": null, "source_entry": null, "account": "The Benioff Ocean Initiative (now Benioff Ocean Science Laboratory) at UC Santa Barbara built Whale Safe. Partners were Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, NTNU, UC Santa Cruz, the University of Washington, NOAA's Southwest Fisheries Science Center and Conserve.io. It was launched on 17 September 2020 (Mongabay, 23 September 2020). Its methodology page describes a moored acoustic buoy whose “tiny computer” detects and classifies blue, humpback and fin whale calls. Next, “An analyst then reviews these data and indicates for each 15-minute period whether each of the monitored species was detected”. It also describes naturalist sightings via the Whale Alert and Spotter Pro apps, NOAA aerial surveys and the WhaleWatch 2.0 blue whale habitat model. These feed a daily Whale Presence Rating. AIS tracks are used to grade each vessel's “cooperation rate” with NOAA's voluntary 10-knot speed reduction zone. UC Santa Barbara's news office (21 September 2022) called the buoy system “AI-powered”. It quoted director Douglas McCauley: “Every year since the original launch of Whale Safe we have seen an increase in ship cooperation rates”. KCBX (11 April 2024) reported from Whale Safe data: “in 2023, large vessels only slowed down 59% of the time in designated slow speed zones”. The Santa Barbara Independent (16 July 2026) reported on a 2024 Protecting Blue Whales and Blue Skies (BWBS) report. It gave “an 85 percent cooperation rate overall by fleets” and a 50 percent reduction in fatal strikes. The BWBS site states 2025 participating vessels “posed 40% less risk to whales when compared to the baseline of transits in the area in 2016”. Nazario et al. (Cambridge Prisms: Coastal Futures, 2026) write that the initiative “has successfully helped improve voluntary vessel speed reduction cooperation”, citing whalesafe.com. The cooperation and risk figures belong to NOAA's and BWBS's voluntary program, which predates Whale Safe (2007 onward per UCSB). No cited source isolates Whale Safe's effect on any vessel. Cascadia's John Calambokidis told Mongabay in 2020 that voluntary slow-downs “haven't been very effective”. A separate record concerns a different system (LFDCS gliders and a NOAA Right Whale Slow Zone).", "category": "general benefit", "unexpected": false, "purpose": "Built to tell ship operators, in near real time, when whales are likely present in the shipping lanes. It also grades their cooperation with voluntary 10-knot zones so they slow down. The published ratings and report cards are that intended use.", "system": "Whale Safe (near real-time acoustic buoy with automated call detection and classification reviewed by analysts, naturalist sightings, WhaleWatch 2.0 blue whale habitat model, and AIS-based vessel speed report cards)", "model_version": "WhaleWatch 2.0", "developer": "Benioff Ocean Science Laboratory, Marine Science Institute, UC Santa Barbara, with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, UC Santa Cruz, University of Washington, NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center and Conserve.io", "deployer": "Shipping companies transiting NOAA's voluntary vessel speed reduction zone in the Santa Barbara Channel; the Protecting Blue Whales and Blue Skies program", "location": "Santa Barbara Channel, California, United States", "domain": "Marine conservation / shipping", "segment": "Endangered-species vessel-strike mitigation", "benefit_type": "Improved Environmental Sustainability", "taxonomy_note": null, "registry_ids": {}, "ratings": [ { "group": "organizational", "depth": null, "reason": "Shipping lines' cooperation rates (59% of distance in 2023 per KCBX; 85% fleet cooperation in a 2024 BWBS report) are program-wide figures. No source attributes a change in any operator's behavior to Whale Safe's ratings or report cards." }, { "group": "societal", "depth": null, "reason": "Strike-risk reductions (about 50% in 2024, 40% against a 2016 baseline in 2025) are BWBS's modeled estimates for participating vessels, not counts of whales saved. None is attributed to Whale Safe." } ], "ai_role": { "status": "assessed", "statement": "The automated detector on the buoy flags and classifies candidate whale calls, which an analyst confirms before they enter the daily rating. The habitat model is a statistical ensemble and the report cards are AIS arithmetic. The cooperation and risk figures belong to NOAA's and BWBS's voluntary slow-down program, which Whale Safe monitors and publicizes. No cited source separates Whale Safe's contribution from incentives, outreach and retailer pressure. The developer's own news office is the source of the claim that cooperation rose every year since launch." }, "evidence": [ { "kind": "news report", "citation": "Mongabay (2020). New tool alerts ships when whales are near. But will they slow down? 23 September 2020.", "title": "New tool alerts ships when whales are near. But will they slow down?", "url": "https://news.mongabay.com/2020/09/new-tool-alerts-ships-when-whales-are-near-but-will-they-slow-down/", "date": "2020-09-23", "written_by": "independent", "quote": "Launched Sept. 17, the Whale Safe system alerts ship operators to whales' presence, with the aim of encouraging vessels to slow down when whales are near." }, { "kind": "press release", "citation": "UC Santa Barbara, The Current (2022). Safe Harbor. 21 September 2022 (developer institution's news office).", "title": "Safe Harbor", "url": "https://news.ucsb.edu/2022/020717/safe-harbor", "date": "2022-09-21", "written_by": "makers", "quote": "Every year since the original launch of Whale Safe we have seen an increase in ship cooperation rates - which is good news," }, { "kind": "news report", "citation": "Wernik A (2024). UCSB's whale collision prevention tool reveals speed limit violations by large ships. KCBX, 11 April 2024.", "title": "UCSB's whale collision prevention tool reveals speed limit violations by large ships", "url": "https://www.kcbx.org/environment-and-energy/2024-04-11/ucsbs-whale-collision-prevention-tool-reveals-speed-limit-violations-by-large-ships", "date": "2024-04-11", "written_by": "independent", "quote": "The data showed that in 2023, large vessels only slowed down 59% of the time in designated slow speed zones." }, { "kind": "news report", "citation": "Santa Barbara Independent (2026). Record 60 Shipping Lines Take Part in Slowdown Program. 16 July 2026.", "title": "Record 60 Shipping Lines Take Part in Slowdown Program", "url": "https://www.independent.com/2026/07/16/record-60-shipping-lines-take-part-in-slowdown-program/", "date": "2026-07-16", "written_by": "independent", "quote": "According to a report in 2024 by BWBS, lowered vessel speeds reduced fatal whale strikes by 50 percent, and there was an 85 percent cooperation rate overall by fleets" }, { "kind": "press release", "citation": "Protecting Blue Whales and Blue Skies (2026). Reducing the Risk of Ship Strikes to Endangered Whales. bluewhalesblueskies.org (programme site).", "title": "Reducing the Risk of Ship Strikes to Endangered Whales", "url": "https://bluewhalesblueskies.org/impact/reducing-ship-strikes/", "date": null, "written_by": "deployer", "quote": "Participating vessels during the 2025 VSR season posed 40% less risk to whales when compared to the baseline of transits in the area in 2016." }, { "kind": "peer-reviewed study", "citation": "Nazario EC, Bailey H, et al. (2026). The role of species distribution models and multiple data sources in implementing dynamic ocean management. Cambridge Prisms: Coastal Futures, doi:10.1017/cft.2026.10041 (PMC13419462).", "title": "The role of species distribution models and multiple data sources in implementing dynamic ocean management", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC13419462/", "date": null, "written_by": "independent", "quote": "It has successfully helped improve voluntary vessel speed reduction cooperation" }, { "kind": "press release", "citation": "Whale Safe (undated). Methodology. whalesafe.com (developer's page).", "title": "Methodology | Whale Safe", "url": "https://whalesafe.com/methodology/", "date": null, "written_by": "makers", "quote": "An analyst then reviews these data and indicates for each 15-minute period whether each of the monitored species was detected" } ], "replication": { "produced_by": [ "A moored passive acoustic buoy with automated detection and classification (Baumgartner et al. 2019 system) plus analyst review", "Sightings from naturalists and NOAA aerial surveys, a daily blue whale habitat model, and AIS tracks processed by Global Fishing Watch", "An existing NOAA voluntary speed-reduction zone with BWBS incentives for shipping lines" ], "must_hold": [ "The acoustic buoy is online (the site reported the Santa Barbara system offline on 20 October 2026) and whales vocalize within range", "Operators choose to slow in a voluntary zone. Cooperation remains incentive-driven and uneven" ], "echoes": [ { "date": "2022-09-21", "setting": "Whale Safe expanded to the San Francisco Bay region with The Marine Mammal Center", "model_version": null, "outcome": "unknown", "source": "https://news.ucsb.edu/2022/020717/safe-harbor" } ] }, "paired_incident": null, "headline": "Whale Safe ratings support ship slow-downs; cooperation 59–85%", "metric": "an 85 percent cooperation rate overall by fleets", "comparator": { "against": "the 2016 baseline of vessel transits in the area, under the BWBS voluntary speed program that Whale Safe supports (not Whale Safe alone)", "before": "the baseline of transits in the area in 2016", "after": "40% less risk to whales during the 2025 VSR season", "basis": "measured", "quote": "Participating vessels during the 2025 VSR season posed 40% less risk to whales when compared to the baseline of transits in the area in 2016.", "url": "https://bluewhalesblueskies.org/impact/reducing-ship-strikes/" }, "later": { "status": "scaled", "date": "2022-09-21", "note": "Two years after the Santa Barbara Channel launch, UC Santa Barbara announced a second Whale Safe system for the San Francisco Bay area with The Marine Mammal Center, and by July 2026 the Santa Barbara Independent reported a record 60 shipping lines in the slow-down program.", "quote": "“We are excited to partner with The Marine Mammal Center to bring the next Whale Safe system to the Bay Area — another hotspot for whale-ship collisions,” McCauley said.", "url": "https://news.ucsb.edu/2022/020717/safe-harbor" }, "value": null, "developer_country": "United States", "deployer_country": null, "unrated_because": null, "brief_notes": null, "brief": null, "revisions": [ { "date": "2026-10-20", "change": "Record drafted from the cited sources.", "source": null, "editor": "AIBD" }, { "date": "2026-10-21", "change": "Title reworded to state the event without naming who claims it.", "source": null, "editor": "AIBD" }, { "date": "2026-10-21", "change": "Added what the benefit is measured against, what happened since, the model version from the cited sources.", "source": "https://bluewhalesblueskies.org/impact/reducing-ship-strikes/; https://news.ucsb.edu/2022/020717/safe-harbor; https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC13419462/", "editor": "AIBD" }, { "date": "2026-10-21", "change": "Country of the developer added from the organization's own site or a registry.", "source": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_California,_Santa_Barbara", "editor": "AIBD" }, { "date": "2026-10-21", "change": "Prose pass: a rating reason, account, purpose, the replication conditions, the system's part rewritten in shorter sentences with abbreviations expanded; facts, figures and quotations unchanged.", "source": null, "editor": "AIBD" } ], "confidence": "studied", "shade": "high", "claim_status": "Independently studied", "claim_basis": "Sources: one independent peer-reviewed study, three independent news reports, two press releases from the makers and the deployer's press release. The cited evidence includes no finding by a regulator or court.", "profile": { "case_id": "AIBD-0323", "catalog_version": "1.0.0", "source_fingerprint": "bc4659cae89266ee7d36dff972be946ba0cff4976c1b48080696fcaf664acd93", "collection_refs": [ { "collection_id": "aibd", "version": "snapshot-8bf7cfec9cb185aa" }, { "collection_id": "aibd", "version": "2026-10-25" } ], "source_ids": [ "AIBD-0323-source-0001", "AIBD-0323-source-0002", "AIBD-0323-source-0003", "AIBD-0323-source-0004", "AIBD-0323-source-0005", "AIBD-0323-source-0006", "AIBD-0323-source-0007" ], "families": { "strategic assessments": { "state": "not_assessed", "review_state": "not_assessed", "coverage": "partial", "record_ids": [] }, "evaluations": { "state": "not_assessed", "review_state": "not_assessed", "coverage": "partial", "record_ids": [] }, "monetary observations": { "state": "not_assessed", "review_state": "not_assessed", "coverage": "partial", "record_ids": [] }, "institutional decisions": { "state": "not_assessed", "review_state": "not_assessed", "coverage": "partial", "record_ids": [] } }, "fields": { "actors[]": { "state": "value_present", "value": { "kind": "record_fields", "fields": { "developer": "Benioff Ocean Science Laboratory, Marine Science Institute, UC Santa Barbara, with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, UC Santa Cruz, University of Washington, NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center and Conserve.io", "deployer": "Shipping companies transiting NOAA's voluntary vessel speed reduction zone in the Santa Barbara Channel; the Protecting Blue Whales and Blue Skies program" } }, "provenance": { "kind": "legacy_record", "basis": "Preserved from the existing AIBD record; external sources were not rechecked.", "record_fields": [ "developer", "deployer" ], "source_refs": [] }, "review_state": "record_mapped", "coverage": "partial" }, "actors[].ownership_control": { "state": "not_assessed", "review_state": "not_assessed", "coverage": "partial" }, "ai_contribution": { "state": "value_present", "value": { "kind": "record_fields", "fields": { "ai_role": { "status": "assessed", "statement": "The automated detector on the buoy flags and classifies candidate whale calls, which an analyst confirms before they enter the daily rating. 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Whale Safe system to the Bay Area — another hotspot for whale-ship collisions,” McCauley said.", "url": "https://news.ucsb.edu/2022/020717/safe-harbor" } } }, "provenance": { "kind": "legacy_record", "basis": "Preserved from the existing AIBD record; external sources were not rechecked.", "record_fields": [ "later" ], "source_refs": [] }, "review_state": "record_mapped", "coverage": "partial" }, "human_oversight": { "state": "not_assessed", "review_state": "not_assessed", "coverage": "partial" }, "id": { "state": "value_present", "value": { "kind": "record_fields", "fields": { "id": "AIBD-0323" } }, "provenance": { "kind": "legacy_record", "basis": "Preserved from the existing AIBD record; external sources were not rechecked.", "record_fields": [ "id" ], "source_refs": [] }, "review_state": "record_mapped", "coverage": "partial" }, "infrastructure_dependencies[]": { "state": "not_assessed", "review_state": "not_assessed", "coverage": "partial" }, "outcomes[].beneficiaries": { "state": 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Partners were Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, NTNU, UC Santa Cruz, the University of Washington, NOAA's Southwest Fisheries Science Center and Conserve.io. It was launched on 17 September 2020 (Mongabay, 23 September 2020). Its methodology page describes a moored acoustic buoy whose “tiny computer” detects and classifies blue, humpback and fin whale calls. Next, “An analyst then reviews these data and indicates for each 15-minute period whether each of the monitored species was detected”. It also describes naturalist sightings via the Whale Alert and Spotter Pro apps, NOAA aerial surveys and the WhaleWatch 2.0 blue whale habitat model. These feed a daily Whale Presence Rating. AIS tracks are used to grade each vessel's “cooperation rate” with NOAA's voluntary 10-knot speed reduction zone. UC Santa Barbara's news office (21 September 2022) called the buoy system “AI-powered”. It quoted director Douglas McCauley: “Every year since the original launch of Whale Safe we have seen an increase in ship cooperation rates”. KCBX (11 April 2024) reported from Whale Safe data: “in 2023, large vessels only slowed down 59% of the time in designated slow speed zones”. The Santa Barbara Independent (16 July 2026) reported on a 2024 Protecting Blue Whales and Blue Skies (BWBS) report. It gave “an 85 percent cooperation rate overall by fleets” and a 50 percent reduction in fatal strikes. The BWBS site states 2025 participating vessels “posed 40% less risk to whales when compared to the baseline of transits in the area in 2016”. Nazario et al. (Cambridge Prisms: Coastal Futures, 2026) write that the initiative “has successfully helped improve voluntary vessel speed reduction cooperation”, citing whalesafe.com. The cooperation and risk figures belong to NOAA's and BWBS's voluntary program, which predates Whale Safe (2007 onward per UCSB). No cited source isolates Whale Safe's effect on any vessel. Cascadia's John Calambokidis told Mongabay in 2020 that voluntary slow-downs “haven't been very effective”. A separate record concerns a different system (LFDCS gliders and a NOAA Right Whale Slow Zone).", "benefit_type": "Improved Environmental Sustainability" } }, "provenance": { "kind": "legacy_record", "basis": "Preserved from the existing AIBD record; external sources were not rechecked.", "record_fields": [ "account", "benefit_type" ], "source_refs": [] }, "review_state": "record_mapped", "coverage": "partial" }, "outcomes[].distribution": { "state": "not_assessed", "review_state": "not_assessed", "coverage": "partial" }, "outcomes[].duration": { "state": "not_assessed", "review_state": "not_assessed", "coverage": "partial" }, "outcomes[].id": { "state": "not_assessed", "review_state": "not_assessed", "coverage": "partial" }, "outcomes[].stakeholder_group": { "state": "value_present", "value": { "kind": "record_fields", "fields": { "ratings": [ { "group": "organizational", "reason": "Shipping lines' cooperation rates (59% of distance in 2023 per KCBX; 85% fleet cooperation in a 2024 BWBS report) are program-wide figures. No source attributes a change in any operator's behavior to Whale Safe's ratings or report cards." }, { "group": "societal", "reason": "Strike-risk reductions (about 50% in 2024, 40% against a 2016 baseline in 2025) are BWBS's modeled estimates for participating vessels, not counts of whales saved. None is attributed to Whale Safe." } ] } }, "provenance": { "kind": "legacy_record", "basis": "Preserved from the existing AIBD record; external sources were not rechecked.", "record_fields": [ "ratings" ], "source_refs": [] }, "review_state": "record_mapped", "coverage": "partial" }, "outcomes[].status": { "state": "not_assessed", "review_state": "not_assessed", "coverage": "partial" }, "outcomes[].tradeoffs": { "state": "not_assessed", "review_state": "not_assessed", "coverage": "partial" }, "outcomes[].unexpected": { "state": "value_present", "value": { "kind": "record_fields", "fields": { "unexpected": false, "purpose": "Built to tell ship operators, in near real time, when whales are likely present in the shipping lanes. It also grades their cooperation with voluntary 10-knot zones so they slow down. The published ratings and report cards are that intended use." } }, "provenance": { "kind": "legacy_record", "basis": "Preserved from the existing AIBD record; external sources were not rechecked.", "record_fields": [ "unexpected", "purpose" ], "source_refs": [] }, "review_state": "record_mapped", "coverage": "partial" }, "places[]": { "state": "value_present", "value": { "kind": "record_fields", "fields": { "location": "Santa Barbara Channel, California, United States", "developer_country": "United States" } }, "provenance": { "kind": "legacy_record", "basis": "Preserved from the existing AIBD record; external sources were not rechecked.", "record_fields": [ "location", "developer_country" ], "source_refs": [] }, "review_state": "record_mapped", "coverage": "partial" }, "purpose": { "state": "value_present", "value": { "kind": "record_fields", "fields": { "purpose": "Built to tell ship operators, in near real time, when whales are likely present in the shipping lanes. It also grades their cooperation with voluntary 10-knot zones so they slow down. The published ratings and report cards are that intended use." } }, "provenance": { "kind": "legacy_record", "basis": "Preserved from the existing AIBD record; external sources were not rechecked.", "record_fields": [ "purpose" ], "source_refs": [] }, "review_state": "record_mapped", "coverage": "partial" }, "record_dates": { "state": "value_present", "value": { "kind": "record_fields", "fields": { "date_observed": "2020-09-17", "revisions": [ { "date": "2026-10-20", "change": "Record drafted from the cited sources.", "editor": "AIBD" }, { "date": "2026-10-21", "change": "Title reworded to state the event without naming who claims it.", "editor": "AIBD" }, { "date": "2026-10-21", "change": "Added what the benefit is measured against, what happened since, the model version from the cited sources.", "source": "https://bluewhalesblueskies.org/impact/reducing-ship-strikes/; https://news.ucsb.edu/2022/020717/safe-harbor; https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC13419462/", "editor": "AIBD" }, { "date": "2026-10-21", "change": "Country of the developer added from the organization's own site or a registry.", "source": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_California,_Santa_Barbara", "editor": "AIBD" }, { "date": "2026-10-21", "change": "Prose pass: a rating reason, account, purpose, the replication conditions, the system's part rewritten in shorter sentences with abbreviations expanded; facts, figures and quotations unchanged.", "editor": "AIBD" } ] } }, "provenance": { "kind": "legacy_record", "basis": "Preserved from the existing AIBD record; external sources were not rechecked.", "record_fields": [ "date_observed", "revisions" ], "source_refs": [] }, "review_state": "record_mapped", "coverage": "partial" }, "replication.attempts[]": { "state": "value_present", "value": { "kind": "record_fields", "fields": { "replication": { "produced_by": [ "A moored passive acoustic buoy with automated detection and classification (Baumgartner et al. 2019 system) plus analyst review", "Sightings from naturalists and NOAA aerial surveys, a daily blue whale habitat model, and AIS tracks processed by Global Fishing Watch", "An existing NOAA voluntary speed-reduction zone with BWBS incentives for shipping lines" ], "must_hold": [ "The acoustic buoy is online (the site reported the Santa Barbara system offline on 20 October 2026) and whales vocalize within range", "Operators choose to slow in a voluntary zone. Cooperation remains incentive-driven and uneven" ], "echoes": [ { "date": "2022-09-21", "setting": "Whale Safe expanded to the San Francisco Bay region with The Marine Mammal Center", "outcome": "unknown", "source": "https://news.ucsb.edu/2022/020717/safe-harbor" } ] } } }, "provenance": { "kind": "legacy_record", "basis": "Preserved from the existing AIBD record; external sources were not rechecked.", "record_fields": [ "replication" ], "source_refs": [] }, "review_state": "record_mapped", "coverage": "partial" }, "replication.conditions": { "state": "value_present", "value": { "kind": "record_fields", "fields": { "replication": { "produced_by": [ "A moored passive acoustic buoy with automated detection and classification (Baumgartner et al. 2019 system) plus analyst review", "Sightings from naturalists and NOAA aerial surveys, a daily blue whale habitat model, and AIS tracks processed by Global Fishing Watch", "An existing NOAA voluntary speed-reduction zone with BWBS incentives for shipping lines" ], "must_hold": [ "The acoustic buoy is online (the site reported the Santa Barbara system offline on 20 October 2026) and whales vocalize within range", "Operators choose to slow in a voluntary zone. Cooperation remains incentive-driven and uneven" ], "echoes": [ { "date": "2022-09-21", "setting": "Whale Safe expanded to the San Francisco Bay region with The Marine Mammal Center", "outcome": "unknown", "source": "https://news.ucsb.edu/2022/020717/safe-harbor" } ] } } }, "provenance": { "kind": "legacy_record", "basis": "Preserved from the existing AIBD record; external sources were not rechecked.", "record_fields": [ "replication" ], "source_refs": [] }, "review_state": "record_mapped", "coverage": "partial" }, "revision_history[]": { "state": "value_present", "value": { "kind": "record_fields", "fields": { "revisions": [ { "date": "2026-10-20", "change": "Record drafted from the cited sources.", "editor": "AIBD" }, { "date": "2026-10-21", "change": "Title reworded to state the event without naming who claims it.", "editor": "AIBD" }, { "date": "2026-10-21", "change": "Added what the benefit is measured against, what happened since, the model version from the cited sources.", "source": "https://bluewhalesblueskies.org/impact/reducing-ship-strikes/; https://news.ucsb.edu/2022/020717/safe-harbor; https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC13419462/", "editor": "AIBD" }, { "date": "2026-10-21", "change": "Country of the developer added from the organization's own site or a registry.", "source": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_California,_Santa_Barbara", "editor": "AIBD" }, { "date": "2026-10-21", "change": "Prose pass: a rating reason, account, purpose, the replication conditions, the system's part rewritten in shorter sentences with abbreviations expanded; facts, figures and quotations unchanged.", "editor": "AIBD" } ] } }, "provenance": { "kind": "legacy_record", "basis": "Preserved from the existing AIBD record; external sources were not rechecked.", "record_fields": [ "revisions" ], "source_refs": [] }, "review_state": "record_mapped", "coverage": "partial" }, "sector": { "state": "value_present", "value": { "kind": "record_fields", "fields": { "domain": "Marine conservation / shipping", "segment": "Endangered-species vessel-strike mitigation" } }, "provenance": { "kind": "legacy_record", "basis": "Preserved from the existing AIBD record; external sources were not rechecked.", "record_fields": [ "domain", "segment" ], "source_refs": [] }, "review_state": "record_mapped", "coverage": "partial" }, "sources[].access_version": { "state": "not_assessed", "review_state": "not_assessed", "coverage": "partial" }, "sources[].citation_locator": { "state": "value_present", "value": { "kind": "record_fields", "fields": { "evidence": [ { "kind": "news report", "citation": "Mongabay (2020). New tool alerts ships when whales are near. But will they slow down? 23 September 2020.", "title": "New tool alerts ships when whales are near. But will they slow down?", "url": "https://news.mongabay.com/2020/09/new-tool-alerts-ships-when-whales-are-near-but-will-they-slow-down/", "date": "2020-09-23", "written_by": "independent", "quote": "Launched Sept. 17, the Whale Safe system alerts ship operators to whales' presence, with the aim of encouraging vessels to slow down when whales are near." }, { "kind": "press release", "citation": "UC Santa Barbara, The Current (2022). Safe Harbor. 21 September 2022 (developer institution's news office).", "title": "Safe Harbor", "url": "https://news.ucsb.edu/2022/020717/safe-harbor", "date": "2022-09-21", "written_by": "makers", "quote": "Every year since the original launch of Whale Safe we have seen an increase in ship cooperation rates - which is good news," }, { "kind": "news report", "citation": "Wernik A (2024). UCSB's whale collision prevention tool reveals speed limit violations by large ships. KCBX, 11 April 2024.", "title": "UCSB's whale collision prevention tool reveals speed limit violations by large ships", "url": "https://www.kcbx.org/environment-and-energy/2024-04-11/ucsbs-whale-collision-prevention-tool-reveals-speed-limit-violations-by-large-ships", "date": "2024-04-11", "written_by": "independent", "quote": "The data showed that in 2023, large vessels only slowed down 59% of the time in designated slow speed zones." }, { "kind": "news report", "citation": "Santa Barbara Independent (2026). Record 60 Shipping Lines Take Part in Slowdown Program. 16 July 2026.", "title": "Record 60 Shipping Lines Take Part in Slowdown Program", "url": "https://www.independent.com/2026/07/16/record-60-shipping-lines-take-part-in-slowdown-program/", "date": "2026-07-16", "written_by": "independent", "quote": "According to a report in 2024 by BWBS, lowered vessel speeds reduced fatal whale strikes by 50 percent, and there was an 85 percent cooperation rate overall by fleets" }, { "kind": "press release", "citation": "Protecting Blue Whales and Blue Skies (2026). Reducing the Risk of Ship Strikes to Endangered Whales. bluewhalesblueskies.org (programme site).", "title": "Reducing the Risk of Ship Strikes to Endangered Whales", "url": "https://bluewhalesblueskies.org/impact/reducing-ship-strikes/", "written_by": "deployer", "quote": "Participating vessels during the 2025 VSR season posed 40% less risk to whales when compared to the baseline of transits in the area in 2016." }, { "kind": "peer-reviewed study", "citation": "Nazario EC, Bailey H, et al. (2026). The role of species distribution models and multiple data sources in implementing dynamic ocean management. Cambridge Prisms: Coastal Futures, doi:10.1017/cft.2026.10041 (PMC13419462).", "title": "The role of species distribution models and multiple data sources in implementing dynamic ocean management", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC13419462/", "written_by": "independent", "quote": "It has successfully helped improve voluntary vessel speed reduction cooperation" }, { "kind": "press release", "citation": "Whale Safe (undated). Methodology. whalesafe.com (developer's page).", "title": "Methodology | Whale Safe", "url": "https://whalesafe.com/methodology/", "written_by": "makers", "quote": "An analyst then reviews these data and indicates for each 15-minute period whether each of the monitored species was detected" } ] } }, "provenance": { "kind": "legacy_record", "basis": "Preserved from the existing AIBD record; external sources were not rechecked.", "record_fields": [ "evidence" ], "source_refs": [] }, "review_state": "record_mapped", "coverage": "partial" }, "sources[].id": { "state": "value_present", "value": { "kind": "identifiers", "identifiers": [ "AIBD-0323-source-0001", "AIBD-0323-source-0002", "AIBD-0323-source-0003", "AIBD-0323-source-0004", "AIBD-0323-source-0005", "AIBD-0323-source-0006", "AIBD-0323-source-0007" ], "role": "Existing evidence items, in their original order" }, "provenance": { "kind": "curatorial", "basis": "Stable within the fingerprinted record version; no source content or source review has been added.", "record_fields": [], "source_refs": [] }, "review_state": "record_mapped", "coverage": "complete" }, "sources[].language": { "state": "not_assessed", "review_state": "not_assessed", "coverage": "partial" }, "sources[].relationship": { "state": "value_present", "value": { "kind": "record_fields", "fields": { "evidence": [ { "kind": "news report", "citation": "Mongabay (2020). New tool alerts ships when whales are near. But will they slow down? 23 September 2020.", "title": "New tool alerts ships when whales are near. But will they slow down?", "url": "https://news.mongabay.com/2020/09/new-tool-alerts-ships-when-whales-are-near-but-will-they-slow-down/", "date": "2020-09-23", "written_by": "independent", "quote": "Launched Sept. 17, the Whale Safe system alerts ship operators to whales' presence, with the aim of encouraging vessels to slow down when whales are near." }, { "kind": "press release", "citation": "UC Santa Barbara, The Current (2022). Safe Harbor. 21 September 2022 (developer institution's news office).", "title": "Safe Harbor", "url": "https://news.ucsb.edu/2022/020717/safe-harbor", "date": "2022-09-21", "written_by": "makers", "quote": "Every year since the original launch of Whale Safe we have seen an increase in ship cooperation rates - which is good news," }, { "kind": "news report", "citation": "Wernik A (2024). UCSB's whale collision prevention tool reveals speed limit violations by large ships. KCBX, 11 April 2024.", "title": "UCSB's whale collision prevention tool reveals speed limit violations by large ships", "url": "https://www.kcbx.org/environment-and-energy/2024-04-11/ucsbs-whale-collision-prevention-tool-reveals-speed-limit-violations-by-large-ships", "date": "2024-04-11", "written_by": "independent", "quote": "The data showed that in 2023, large vessels only slowed down 59% of the time in designated slow speed zones." }, { "kind": "news report", "citation": "Santa Barbara Independent (2026). Record 60 Shipping Lines Take Part in Slowdown Program. 16 July 2026.", "title": "Record 60 Shipping Lines Take Part in Slowdown Program", "url": "https://www.independent.com/2026/07/16/record-60-shipping-lines-take-part-in-slowdown-program/", "date": "2026-07-16", "written_by": "independent", "quote": "According to a report in 2024 by BWBS, lowered vessel speeds reduced fatal whale strikes by 50 percent, and there was an 85 percent cooperation rate overall by fleets" }, { "kind": "press release", "citation": "Protecting Blue Whales and Blue Skies (2026). Reducing the Risk of Ship Strikes to Endangered Whales. bluewhalesblueskies.org (programme site).", "title": "Reducing the Risk of Ship Strikes to Endangered Whales", "url": "https://bluewhalesblueskies.org/impact/reducing-ship-strikes/", "written_by": "deployer", "quote": "Participating vessels during the 2025 VSR season posed 40% less risk to whales when compared to the baseline of transits in the area in 2016." }, { "kind": "peer-reviewed study", "citation": "Nazario EC, Bailey H, et al. (2026). The role of species distribution models and multiple data sources in implementing dynamic ocean management. Cambridge Prisms: Coastal Futures, doi:10.1017/cft.2026.10041 (PMC13419462).", "title": "The role of species distribution models and multiple data sources in implementing dynamic ocean management", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC13419462/", "written_by": "independent", "quote": "It has successfully helped improve voluntary vessel speed reduction cooperation" }, { "kind": "press release", "citation": "Whale Safe (undated). Methodology. whalesafe.com (developer's page).", "title": "Methodology | Whale Safe", "url": "https://whalesafe.com/methodology/", "written_by": "makers", "quote": "An analyst then reviews these data and indicates for each 15-minute period whether each of the monitored species was detected" } ] } }, "provenance": { "kind": "legacy_record", "basis": "Preserved from the existing AIBD record; external sources were not rechecked.", "record_fields": [ "evidence" ], "source_refs": [] }, "review_state": "record_mapped", "coverage": "partial" }, "sources[].upstream_sources": { "state": "not_assessed", "review_state": "not_assessed", "coverage": "partial" }, "strategic_assessments[]": { "state": "not_assessed", "review_state": "not_assessed", "coverage": "partial", "family": "strategic assessments" }, "summary": { "state": "value_present", "value": { "kind": "record_fields", "fields": { "summary": "Launched 17 Sep 2020 by UCSB's Benioff lab; grades ships' cooperation with NOAA's 10-knot zones. KCBX: vessels slowed 59% of the time in 2023; BWBS 2024 report: 85% cooperation. No vessel outcome.", "account": "The Benioff Ocean Initiative (now Benioff Ocean Science Laboratory) at UC Santa Barbara built Whale Safe. Partners were Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, NTNU, UC Santa Cruz, the University of Washington, NOAA's Southwest Fisheries Science Center and Conserve.io. It was launched on 17 September 2020 (Mongabay, 23 September 2020). Its methodology page describes a moored acoustic buoy whose “tiny computer” detects and classifies blue, humpback and fin whale calls. Next, “An analyst then reviews these data and indicates for each 15-minute period whether each of the monitored species was detected”. It also describes naturalist sightings via the Whale Alert and Spotter Pro apps, NOAA aerial surveys and the WhaleWatch 2.0 blue whale habitat model. These feed a daily Whale Presence Rating. AIS tracks are used to grade each vessel's “cooperation rate” with NOAA's voluntary 10-knot speed reduction zone. UC Santa Barbara's news office (21 September 2022) called the buoy system “AI-powered”. It quoted director Douglas McCauley: “Every year since the original launch of Whale Safe we have seen an increase in ship cooperation rates”. KCBX (11 April 2024) reported from Whale Safe data: “in 2023, large vessels only slowed down 59% of the time in designated slow speed zones”. The Santa Barbara Independent (16 July 2026) reported on a 2024 Protecting Blue Whales and Blue Skies (BWBS) report. It gave “an 85 percent cooperation rate overall by fleets” and a 50 percent reduction in fatal strikes. The BWBS site states 2025 participating vessels “posed 40% less risk to whales when compared to the baseline of transits in the area in 2016”. Nazario et al. (Cambridge Prisms: Coastal Futures, 2026) write that the initiative “has successfully helped improve voluntary vessel speed reduction cooperation”, citing whalesafe.com. The cooperation and risk figures belong to NOAA's and BWBS's voluntary program, which predates Whale Safe (2007 onward per UCSB). No cited source isolates Whale Safe's effect on any vessel. Cascadia's John Calambokidis told Mongabay in 2020 that voluntary slow-downs “haven't been very effective”. A separate record concerns a different system (LFDCS gliders and a NOAA Right Whale Slow Zone)." } }, "provenance": { "kind": "legacy_record", "basis": "Preserved from the existing AIBD record; external sources were not rechecked.", "record_fields": [ "summary", "account" ], "source_refs": [] }, "review_state": "record_mapped", "coverage": "partial" }, "systems[].autonomy_permissions": { "state": "not_assessed", "review_state": "not_assessed", "coverage": "partial" }, "systems[].component_role": { "state": "value_present", "value": { "kind": "text", "text": "The detector identified possible whale calls for an analyst to confirm." }, "provenance": { "kind": "legacy_record", "basis": "Restated the mechanical task already described in the existing system and AI-role fields. No new source review is claimed.", "record_fields": [ "system", "ai_role" ], "source_refs": [] }, "review_state": "record_mapped", "coverage": "partial" }, "systems[].deployment_configuration": { "state": "value_present", "value": { "kind": "text", "text": "The deployment used WhaleWatch 2.0." }, "provenance": { "kind": "legacy_record", "basis": "Separated the model, software, hardware, or operation already described in the existing record. No new source review is claimed.", "record_fields": [ "model_version", "system", "ai_role" ], "source_refs": [] }, "review_state": "record_mapped", "coverage": "partial" }, "systems[].inputs_outputs": { "state": "not_assessed", "review_state": "not_assessed", "coverage": "partial" }, "systems[].model_name": { "state": "not_assessed", "review_state": "not_assessed", "coverage": "partial" }, "systems[].model_version": { "state": "value_present", "value": { "kind": "record_fields", "fields": { "model_version": "WhaleWatch 2.0" } }, "provenance": { "kind": "legacy_record", "basis": "Preserved from the existing AIBD record; external sources were not rechecked.", "record_fields": [ "model_version" ], "source_refs": [] }, "review_state": "record_mapped", "coverage": "partial", "display": { "answer": "Exact release not established.", "editor_note": "" } }, "systems[].product_name": { "state": "value_present", "value": { "kind": "record_fields", "fields": { "system": "Whale Safe (near real-time acoustic buoy with automated call detection and classification reviewed by analysts, naturalist sightings, WhaleWatch 2.0 blue whale habitat model, and AIS-based vessel speed report cards)" } }, "provenance": { "kind": "legacy_record", "basis": "Preserved from the existing AIBD record; external sources were not rechecked.", "record_fields": [ "system" ], "source_refs": [] }, "review_state": "record_mapped", "coverage": "partial" }, "systems[].provider": { "state": "value_present", "value": { "kind": "structured", "data": { "application_developer": "Benioff Ocean Science Laboratory, Marine Science Institute, UC Santa Barbara, with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, UC Santa Cruz, University of Washington, NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center and Conserve.io" } }, "provenance": { "kind": "legacy_record", "basis": "Mapped from the existing case description without a new external source review.", "record_fields": [ "developer" ], "source_refs": [] }, "review_state": "record_mapped", "coverage": "partial" }, "taxonomy_crosswalks[]": { "state": "not_assessed", "review_state": "not_assessed", "coverage": "partial" }, "title": { "state": "value_present", "value": { "kind": "record_fields", "fields": { "title": "Whale Safe's acoustic, sighting and habitat-model whale presence ratings support voluntary ship slow-downs in the Santa Barbara Channel, with 59–85% cooperation", "headline": "Whale Safe ratings support ship slow-downs; cooperation 59–85%" } }, "provenance": { "kind": "legacy_record", "basis": "Preserved from the existing AIBD record; external sources were not rechecked.", "record_fields": [ "title", "headline" ], "source_refs": [] }, "review_state": "record_mapped", "coverage": "partial" }, "version": { "state": "value_present", "value": { "kind": "identifiers", "identifiers": [ "bc4659cae89266ee7d36dff972be946ba0cff4976c1b48080696fcaf664acd93" ], "role": "SHA-256 of normalized original case data" }, "provenance": { "kind": "curatorial", "basis": "Deterministic content version assigned by the local migration.", "record_fields": [], "source_refs": [] }, "review_state": "record_mapped", "coverage": "complete" }, "workflow": { "state": "value_present", "value": { "kind": "record_fields", "fields": { "account": "The Benioff Ocean Initiative (now Benioff Ocean Science Laboratory) at UC Santa Barbara built Whale Safe. Partners were Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, NTNU, UC Santa Cruz, the University of Washington, NOAA's Southwest Fisheries Science Center and Conserve.io. It was launched on 17 September 2020 (Mongabay, 23 September 2020). Its methodology page describes a moored acoustic buoy whose “tiny computer” detects and classifies blue, humpback and fin whale calls. Next, “An analyst then reviews these data and indicates for each 15-minute period whether each of the monitored species was detected”. It also describes naturalist sightings via the Whale Alert and Spotter Pro apps, NOAA aerial surveys and the WhaleWatch 2.0 blue whale habitat model. These feed a daily Whale Presence Rating. AIS tracks are used to grade each vessel's “cooperation rate” with NOAA's voluntary 10-knot speed reduction zone. UC Santa Barbara's news office (21 September 2022) called the buoy system “AI-powered”. It quoted director Douglas McCauley: “Every year since the original launch of Whale Safe we have seen an increase in ship cooperation rates”. KCBX (11 April 2024) reported from Whale Safe data: “in 2023, large vessels only slowed down 59% of the time in designated slow speed zones”. The Santa Barbara Independent (16 July 2026) reported on a 2024 Protecting Blue Whales and Blue Skies (BWBS) report. It gave “an 85 percent cooperation rate overall by fleets” and a 50 percent reduction in fatal strikes. The BWBS site states 2025 participating vessels “posed 40% less risk to whales when compared to the baseline of transits in the area in 2016”. Nazario et al. (Cambridge Prisms: Coastal Futures, 2026) write that the initiative “has successfully helped improve voluntary vessel speed reduction cooperation”, citing whalesafe.com. The cooperation and risk figures belong to NOAA's and BWBS's voluntary program, which predates Whale Safe (2007 onward per UCSB). No cited source isolates Whale Safe's effect on any vessel. Cascadia's John Calambokidis told Mongabay in 2020 that voluntary slow-downs “haven't been very effective”. A separate record concerns a different system (LFDCS gliders and a NOAA Right Whale Slow Zone).", "replication": { "produced_by": [ "A moored passive acoustic buoy with automated detection and classification (Baumgartner et al. 2019 system) plus analyst review", "Sightings from naturalists and NOAA aerial surveys, a daily blue whale habitat model, and AIS tracks processed by Global Fishing Watch", "An existing NOAA voluntary speed-reduction zone with BWBS incentives for shipping lines" ], "must_hold": [ "The acoustic buoy is online (the site reported the Santa Barbara system offline on 20 October 2026) and whales vocalize within range", "Operators choose to slow in a voluntary zone. Cooperation remains incentive-driven and uneven" ], "echoes": [ { "date": "2022-09-21", "setting": "Whale Safe expanded to the San Francisco Bay region with The Marine Mammal Center", "outcome": "unknown", "source": "https://news.ucsb.edu/2022/020717/safe-harbor" } ] } } }, "provenance": { "kind": "legacy_record", "basis": "Preserved from the existing AIBD record; external sources were not rechecked.", "record_fields": [ "account", "replication" ], "source_refs": [] }, "review_state": "record_mapped", "coverage": "partial" } }, "summary": { "total": 91, "addressed": 91, "known": 31, "reviewed": 0, "record_mapped": 31, "not_assessed": 60, "complete": false, "by_state": { "value_present": 31, "not_reported": 0, "unresolved": 0, "not_assessed": 60, "not_applicable": 0, "withheld": 0, "source_unavailable": 0 } } } }