Abstract
Over the past decade, the New York Bight Apex has seen a surge in Humpback whale sightings. This may be due to the abundance of their food source (menhaden) and improvements to local water quality. Over time, the number of ships entering and leaving the New York Harbor has also increased, raising concerns about potential ship strikes. In this study, humpback whale data was collected by Gotham Whale from 2019.
A Hot Spot Analysis test was performed using ArcGIS Pro to identify areas where humpback whale density was greatest compared to vessel traffic routes. The results showed 72.6% of the humpback whale sightings were located within the projected vessel traffic lanes. Within these areas, clusters were significantly higher along the coastlines. Regulations and national marine sanctuaries have provided other populations of humpback whales protections that could be applied to this study area to reduce the risk of ship strikes. Future studies should analyze the benefits of regulations, national marine sanctuaries, and outreach. The conclusions for this study do not represent formal policy recommendations from Gotham Whale and were conducted as part of an independent study relying on Gotham Whale's data.