SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — A new congressional bill announced this Earth Day aims to prevent ship strikes against whales in the San Francisco Bay. The “Save Willy Act,” introduced by Rep. Sam Liccardo (CA-16), comes as the Bay Area recorded its ninth whale death of the year this week.
The bill would establish a four-year pilot program to monitor whales in the Bay and the Golden Gate strait and improve coordination between vessel operators to reduce the risk of ship strikes. The U.S. Coast Guard’s San Francisco Vessel Traffic Service would be tasked with manning a “Whale Desk,” which would engage with the ship operators that are “in areas where large cetaceans have been seen or could reasonably be present to ensure compliance with applicable laws,” the bill’s text reads.
The Coast Guard would be directed to evaluate technologies, such as artificial intelligence tools, to track and forecast the whales’ presence and provide alerts to vessel operators to reduce the likelihood of ship strikes.
FILE – A humpback whale surfaces next to a U.S. Coast Guard vessel in Rio Vista, Calif. (AP Photo/Kat Wade, Pool)
The introduction of the bill comes after at least one gray whale in the Bay was killed by a suspected ship strike this year. The cause of death for other gray whales discovered this year has yet to be determined, with several found in inaccessible locations. In 2025, at least nine of the 21 gray whales that died in the Bay Area were from suspected or probable ship strikes, scientists reported.
The most recent dead gray whale was located on Monday at Alcatraz Island, according to The Marine Mammal Center.
Bay Area gray whale strandings in 2026 as of April 22:
April 20 – Alcatraz Island, San Francisco – cause of death undetermined
April 19 – Bodega Bay Harbor – cause of death undetermined
April 13 – Pier 19, San Francisco – cause of death undetermined
April 9 – Pedro Point, Pacifica – cause of death undetermined
April 3 – San Francisco Bay – cause of death undetermined
March 29 – Point Pinole – cause of death undetermined
March 28 – San Francisco Bay – cause of death undetermined
March 25 – Rodeo – cause of death undetermined
March 17 – San Francisco Bay – suspected vessel strike
“With at least eight whale deaths already recorded this year in the San Francisco Bay Area, we welcome the attention this bill brings to protecting whales in coastal waters,” said Kathi George, Director of Cetacean Conservation Biology at The Marine Mammal Center. “We’re grateful for the chance to highlight the important, ongoing role of the U.S. Coast Guard’s Vessel Traffic Service in helping keep both marine life and vessel traffic safe where boats and whale habitats overlap.”
A dead gray whale at Kirby Cove on May 28, 2025. (Photo: Marjorie Cox/The Marine Mammal Center)
The Save Willy Act of 2026 is cosponsored by fellow representatives Jimmy Panetta (CA-19), John Garamendi (CA-8), Zoe Lofgren (CA-18), Ro Khanna (CA-17), Kevin Mullin (CA-15), Robert Garcia (CA-42), Pablo José Hernández (PR-At Large), Mike Levin (CA-49) and Ted Lieu (CA-36). Organizations that have endorsed the legislation include The Marine Mammal Center, Monterey Bay Aquarium, California Academy of Sciences, Animal Welfare Institute and Oceana, according to Liccardo’s office.
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