To mark World Ocean Day, tomorrow June 8, an event will be held at 11 am to honor the 12 dead whales that have washed up in the Bay Area since February and to demand better protections for these marine mammals.
The event has been organised by conservation groups and will be held at Crissy Field East Beach near the intersection of Jauss and Javowitz streets in San Francisco.
The center for biological diversity has confirmed that during the ceremony there will be colorful visuals, a scenic backdrop and speakers with expertise on what experts consider are the three main threats to whales: Malnutrition, entanglement and trauma from ship strikes.
Stephanie Prufer, from the Center for Biological Diversity said via statement;
Dead whales washing up on Bay Area beaches is a wake-up call. We'll honor the dead, celebrate whales' essential role in healthy oceans and urge our representatives to better protect these amazing creatures.We know ship speed limits save whales’ lives. We’re excited that ropeless fishing technology can replace the thousands of entangling crab lines along our coast. And we understand how climate change threatens whales, even as whales sequester carbon and are part of the climate change solution
During February, an adult female whale was found dead at North Salmon Creek Beach. By the end of April, the number of dead gray whales had increased to six. Three of them, died of suspected ship strike and the others, had an undetermined cause of dead.
The Marine Mammal Center, a leader in marine mammal health, science and conservation, and the largest marine mammal hospital in the world confirmed that in 2019, from March through May, scientists investigated 13 dead gray whales in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 2020, the Center responded to five dead gray whales in the same time period.
As a result of dead whales washing up on Bay Area beaches,the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has declared an Unusual Mortality Event (UME) for the species and there is an ongoing investigation where the Marine Mammal Center is closely working with NOAA’S gray whale UME team.
On April 28, the Center for Biological Diversity which is one of the organisers of tomorrow’s event, filed a legal petition asking the federal government to decree mandatory speed limits for ships traveling along parts of northern and southern California in order to reduce collisions with whales.
Back in 2017, the Center successfully sued the state of California over entanglement in fishing gear and thanks to this, California adopted new rules for the commercial Dungeness crab fishery last year to avoid entangling whales. The Center and other groups also supported the Whale Entanglement Prevention Act of 2021, which would mandate conversion to ropeless gear by 2026.
Local whales lovers are very welcome to join the event and show their respects to the beautiful whales that have sadly died and to celebrate those still migrating along the Pacific Coast shoreline, to cold, food-rich Arctic waters. If attending the event please remember that all attendees are required to mask up and socially distance
Happy World Ocean Day to NewsBreak readers!