Published by The Wall Street Journal: May 19, 2026

To stop the growing number of ships colliding with whales, scientists are deploying a network of AI-powered cameras in the San Francisco Bay

“Whale, 12 o’clock!” Kathi George called out from the bow of a yacht last week. Then, as if to caution the whale, she added: “Ferry! Be careful.”

Migrating gray whales and ships are on a collision course in the San Francisco Bay, with at least seven whales dead so far this year—many from vessels—after 21 fatalities in 2025.

To ease the deadly traffic jams, George, the director of whale conservation biology at the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, Calif., and other researchers are deploying whale-breath detectors powered by artificial intelligence.

A network of thermal cameras launched Tuesday in the San Francisco Bay will monitor the giant ocean mammals, which can reach a length of some 50 feet, and alert boat captains in the vicinity.

So far, one camera is posted on a Coast Guard tower, using AI and thermal technology to spot the warm breath of the gray whales when they come up for air. A second will soon board one of the fast-moving ferries that crisscross the bay, with more cameras planned as part of a two-year pilot project by the UC Santa Barbara’s Benioff Ocean Science Lab and partners like the Marine Mammal Center and Coast Guard.

“Every day is a nail-biter,” said Douglas McCauley, director of the Benioff lab and a UC Santa Barbara professor. “This new system will save whales’ lives.”

This new system will save whales’ lives.

Ship traffic is a growing threat to whales worldwide, emerging as a top killer of cetaceans in all oceans, according to federal research. To help mariners spot them, a company called WhaleSpotter commercialized the whale-breath detection technology, which also has been used on containerships.

Collisions with ships are an added danger for gray whales that migrate between feeding grounds in Alaska and Mexico to give birth, a 12,000-mile round trip that scientists say has become harder because their food source is diminishing due to changing ocean conditions. Over the past decade, gray whale numbers have plunged by about half from 26,000, McCauley said.

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