{"id":281524,"date":"2026-04-23T05:19:23","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T05:19:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/281524\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T05:19:23","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T05:19:23","slug":"save-willy-bill-introduced-to-protect-whales-in-san-francisco-bay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/281524\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Save Willy\u2019 bill introduced to protect whales in San Francisco Bay"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON<\/a>) \u2014 A new congressional bill announced this Earth Day aims to prevent ship strikes against whales in the San Francisco Bay. The \u201cSave Willy Act,\u201d introduced by Rep. Sam Liccardo (CA-16), comes as the Bay Area recorded its ninth whale death of the year this week.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s San Francisco Vessel Traffic Service would be tasked with manning a \u201cWhale Desk,\u201d which would engage with the ship operators that are \u201cin areas where large cetaceans have been seen or could reasonably be present to ensure compliance with applicable laws,\u201d the bill\u2019s text<\/a> reads.<\/p>\n

The Coast Guard would be directed to evaluate technologies, such as artificial intelligence tools, to track and forecast the whales\u2019 presence and provide alerts to vessel operators to reduce the likelihood of ship strikes.<\/p>\n

\"FILE<\/p>\n

FILE \u2013 A humpback whale surfaces next to a U.S. Coast Guard vessel in Rio Vista, Calif. (AP Photo\/Kat Wade, Pool)<\/p>\n

The introduction of the bill comes after at least one gray whale<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

The most recent dead gray whale was located on Monday at Alcatraz Island, according to The Marine Mammal Center.<\/p>\n

Bay Area gray whale strandings in 2026 as of April 22:<\/p>\n

April 20 \u2013 Alcatraz Island, San Francisco \u2013 cause of death undetermined<\/p>\n

April 19 \u2013 Bodega Bay Harbor \u2013 cause of death undetermined<\/p>\n

April 13 \u2013 Pier 19, San Francisco \u2013 cause of death undetermined<\/p>\n

April 9 \u2013 Pedro Point, Pacifica \u2013 cause of death undetermined<\/p>\n

April 3 \u2013 San Francisco Bay \u2013 cause of death undetermined<\/p>\n

March 29 \u2013 Point Pinole \u2013 cause of death undetermined<\/p>\n

March 28 \u2013 San Francisco Bay \u2013 cause of death undetermined<\/p>\n

March 25 \u2013 Rodeo \u2013 cause of death undetermined<\/p>\n

March 17 \u2013 San Francisco Bay \u2013 suspected vessel strike<\/p>\n

\u201cWith 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,\u201d said Kathi George, Director of Cetacean Conservation Biology at The Marine Mammal Center. \u201cWe\u2019re grateful for the chance to highlight the important, ongoing role of the U.S. Coast Guard\u2019s Vessel Traffic Service in helping keep both marine life and vessel traffic safe where boats and whale habitats overlap.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A dead gray whale at Kirby Cove on May 28, 2025. (Photo: Marjorie Cox\/The Marine Mammal Center)<\/p>\n

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 Jos\u00e9 Hern\u00e1ndez (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\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KRON4. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) \u2014 A new congressional bill announced this Earth Day aims to prevent ship strikes against…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":281525,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[184,72832,38782,65172,21662,16647,101,1914,103,102,104,106,105,121031,83108,4450,121032],"class_list":["post-281524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-bay-area","tag-bodega-bay","tag-cause-of-death","tag-gray-whale","tag-monterey-bay","tag-sam-liccardo","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-bay","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news","tag-ship-strikes","tag-the-marine-mammal-center","tag-u-s-coast-guard","tag-whales-in-the-bay"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=281524"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281524\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/281525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=281524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=281524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}