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Whale watching and learning UCSB’s Benioff Ocean Initiative launches online tool to save whales
COURTESY PHOTOS
Authorities deployed boats and aircraft in the search for a Cessna 182 airplane that crashed off the coast of Isla Vista on Sunday.
Small plane crashes two miles off coast of Isla Vista By ANNELISE HANSHAW NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
Just after 7 a.m. Sunday, a witness spotted a single-engine plane descend after flying approximately two miles out of the Santa Barbara Airport. The reported plane is a Cessna 182. Deanna Zachrisson, a spokeswoman for the airport, told local reporters that the plane was heading to the Lake Tahoe area. She thinks a female pilot was the only one onboard. Four Santa Barbara County Fire Department personal watercrafts, a Santa Barbara
Harbor Patrol boat, a Coast Guard cutter, a Coast Guard helicopter and a Santa Barbara County Sheriff Air Support helicopter responded to the report. They found oil sheen and debris approximately two miles out from the coast of Isla Vista. The water is 180-250 feet deep at the site. The Coast Guard called LA County divers, a team with specialized equipment also utilized during the Conception search. email: ahanshaw@newspress.com
COURTESY TODD CRAVENS
An acoustic detection system developed by scientists at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Texas A&M University at Galveston was deployed in the Santa Barbara Channel near the shipping lanes in 2019.
By ANNELISE HANSHAW NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
Whales aren’t the only large creature in the ocean; there’s also cargo ships. When the two collide, it’s fatal to whales and barely noticeable to large ships cruising through the Santa Barbara Channel. That’s why UCSB’s Benioff Ocean Initiative set out to help the endangered species in 2017 with an online tool called Whale Safe, that predicts the presence of whales in the channel. It helps inform ship captains to slow down to avoid hitting a whale. Whale Safe launched Sept. 17 with a small virtual kickoff event. “There’s been a lot of activity of both ships and whales since we launched,” said Morgan Visalli, BOI scientist and project lead. The Port of Los Angeles is the world’s busiest port, and many ships travel through the Santa Barbara Channel to access it. “It’s interesting that the international shipping lanes go through the channel, because it leads to quite an overlap of ships and whales,” she said. “It’s a really busy piece of the ocean.” Whale Safe tracks activity through a few measurements. Whale watching boats are encouraged to report a whale sighting through an app called Whale Alert. Professionals, like the Channel Islands Naturalist Corps, report sightings in another app.
Oil sheen and debris were found about two miles off the coast, where the water is 180-250 feet deep.
SB Council to discuss renaming street By MITCHELL WHITE NEWS-PRESS ASSOCIATE EDITOR
COURTESY VIVEK KUMAR
Four humpback whales lunge feed off the coast of Monterey. Currently, the rate of whale strikes is too high to sustain the population of endangered blue, fin and humpback whales.
Then, BOI partnered with teams from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Texas A&M University Galveston to create and deploy a large buoy with a microphone that measures whale calls. The sea surface temperature is measured as well. Those tools, alongside scientific knowledge of whale migration, allows Whale Safe to predict the presence of whales. The site
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displays a meter to show the risk of hitting a whale, much like National Parks assess fire risk. The Coast Guard and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a voluntary speed limit of 10 knots to reduce whale strikes, but less than half of the ships follow the guidance. Whale Safe publishes automated report cards for
shipping companies, calculated by measuring the portion of travel they follow the voluntary speed limit. Ms. Visalli hopes to spread this information so businesses can be aware if their products are imported sustainably. “Maybe one day, we’ll be able to buy whale-safe products the way we buy dolphin-safe tuna,” she said. Please see whales on A8
The Santa Barbara City Council will meet Tuesday and consider a request from the Barbareño Chumash Tribal Council to rename portions of Indio Muerto Street. The council received a request from the tribal council in June to change the name of the street, which translates “dead Indian,” to Hutash Street, which translates to “Earth Mother.” As noted by local historian Neil Graffy in his book “Street Names of Santa Barbara,” which was published in 2008 and edited in 2015, Indio Muerto “owes its name to the discovery
of a deceased Indian found in the area during the time of the Haley Survey.” The staff report acknowledges that city staff “have no reason” to discount Mr. Graffy’s historical perspective. The tribal council argues the current name is “insulting, oppressive, and demeaning,” according to the staff report. City staff estimates that as many as 200 residents, or 40 houses and five businesses, would be affected by the street name change. “Public Works Department (Public Works) staff anticipates that street numbers would Please see COUNCIL on A8
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