Table of Contents:
  • Ship collision risk threatens whales across the world's oceans. Nisi, Anna C Welch, Heather Brodie, Stephanie Leiphardt, Callie Rhodes, Rachel Hazen, Elliott L Redfern, Jessica V Branch, Trevor A Barreto, Andre S Calambokidis, John Clavelle, Tyler Dares, Lauren de Vos, Asha Gero, Shane Jackson, Jennifer A Kenney, Robert D Kroodsma, David Leaper, Russell McCauley, Douglas J Moore, Sue E Ovsyanikova, Ekaterina Panigada, Simone Robinson, Chloe V White, Tim Wilson, Jono Abrahms, Briana Animals Conservation of Natural Resources Oceans and Seas Risk Ships Whales After the near-complete cessation of commercial whaling, ship collisions have emerged as a primary threat to large whales, but knowledge of collision risk is lacking across most of the world's oceans. We compiled a dataset of 435,000 whale locations to generate global distribution models for four globally ranging species. We then combined >35 billion positions from 176,000 ships to produce a global estimate of whale-ship collision risk. Shipping occurs across 92% of whale ranges, and