“whale-roads” is a short documentary film aimed at increasing community awareness and engagement on the issue of whale-ship strikes in the santa barbara channel, while showcasing initiatives to help reduce collisions. 

at the time of production, my co-directors and i were students at ucsb, and were all interested in how visual storytelling can be used to amplify pressing environmental topics. 

when one of my teammates suggested we make a film to raise awareness about the issue of whale-ship strikes in the santa barbara channel, i was hooked. this was a serious problem occurring in our own backyard and i had never heard about it, despite being a college student at one of the best schools for environmental science and marine biology in the world.

in order to humanize this broad and complex topic, my teammates and i knew we wanted to highlight diverse, local perspectives, from policy and implementation to community impacts. 

since both ucsb and the broader santa barbara area are situated upon historically chumash indian territory, we also knew that we wanted and needed to acknowledge the historic and cultural importance of whales to california’s coastal indigenous communities. 

we therefore structured our story around three main characters: ernestine ygnacio-de soto, a barbareño chumash illustrator and historian; sean hastings, policy, information, and management officer for noaa’s channel islands national marine sanctuary; and dave beezer, captain of the condor express whale watching cruise. 

throughout the film, our protagonists share valuable perspectives on the issue of whale-ship strikes in the santa barbara channel, and what people can do to help mitigate those strikes. 

ernestine, with her quiet wisdom and sharp wit, speaks to her own culture’s relationship with whales and encourages others to “put [their] ear to the ground and … hear the earth speaking.”

sean outlines the threats industrial shipping poses to whales and introduces “protecting blue whales and blue skies,” the voluntary vessel speed reduction program that he founded. he also shares an inspiring vision for the future in which consumers can know whether products were shipped sustainably by seeing a whale-tail label.

finally, captain dave shares his powerful experiences on the santa barbara channel, where he has watched generations of humpback and blue whales return season after season, and explains that the primary thing that he believes will help reduce whale-ship collisions is for vessels to slow down in the channel.

the film also explores the history of humans’ relationship with, and exploitation of, whales through archival images and drawings of whaling around the world, including a specific reference to the whaling station that once stood on the ucsb campus. we wanted to emphasize the fact that humans’ tense history with whales never quite came to an end, despite what many people think today. 

in the film’s closing minutes, all three protagonists offer their final reflections on what a sustainable future for both humans and whales might look like — and the sacrifices that will be required to make it happen. 

ernestine leaves us with a simple but pointed question: “which is more important, humanity or money?”

this project drove home for me the fact that effectively communicated research can lead to greater public awareness and engagement, eventually resulting in policies and legislation on key issues. working on this film was incredibly inspiring, reinforcing my desire to help protect these gentle giants, and leading me to stay in california after graduation to pursue a masters degree in ocean and coastal policy.

claude.ai was used in the creation of this story to help vary word choice by acting as a thesaurus and grammar-checking tool.