New tool tracks ship speed to protect whales

A new online map is available to help marine vessels avoid collisions with critically endangered North Atlantic right whales in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Whale Safe was developed by scientists at the Benioff Ocean Science Lab, a center for applied marine conservation at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

The lab focuses on using AI-powered ocean sensors, big data models, citizen science and ship tracking to prevent ship strikes, which are one of the leading causes of serious whale injuries and deaths.

Its Whale Safe tool uses cloud computing to analyze billions of data points from the automatic identification system, or AIS, a transmitter-based tracking system for marine traffic, said Rachel Rhodes, a data scientist in the Benioff lab.

Whale Safe can show in near real time where speed limits are set and which vessels are in compliance, she said.

“The nice thing about this tool is that … it's filtering to classify these vessels only where these zones are in effect and when it's the right size of vessel,” Rhodes said.

Whale Safe was developed after an increase in ship strikes on the West Coast several years ago, she said. It started in that area in 2020.

Based on demand from shipping companies, it has now expanded to all slow-speed areas around North America, she said.

The goal is to help with travel planning and logistics to slow down.

“We understand that there is a lot to keep track of these captains, crews and ship companies, knowing when these zones are in effect. Some … are dynamic, so they appear based on sightings or acoustic detections. We we know that nobody wants to hit a whale”.

Whale Safe works with shipping companies to help them identify which ships in their fleet are the best and worst at complying with whale protection measures, Rhodes said.

Some trucking companies operating on the West Coast have used the information provided to upgrade their grades from F to B, she said.

Last year, boats slowed to the speed limit 59 percent of the time, Rhodes said.

“There are some companies that are getting A's and B's, but there are also a lot of companies that are getting D's and F's and they have a lot of work to do to improve this overall collaboration,” she said.

Of the several ships that were in the Bay of St. Lawrence when publicly available AIS records were retrieved on Thursday, only one was in the Whalesafe database.

The ES Integrity was en route to Gibraltar, according to MarineTraffic.com.

That site doesn't say who owns the vessel, but according to Whale Safe, it belongs to Glory Harvest Ltd.

It is the only vessel belonging to that company currently in the Whale Safe database.

More ships and companies will appear after transiting through the reduced-speed zones, Rhodes said.

Glory Harvest's cooperation rate so far, based on its trips to other areas along the East Coast that are already in place, is 42.4 percent, giving it a C grade.

Several other ships in the bay on Thursday, the Canadian oil/chemical tanker Algoluna, the Marshall Islands-flagged bulk carrier Federal Sakura, the Dutch general cargo ship Muntgracht and the petroleum products tanker Dubai Green have either passed. through reduced speed zones yet this year or are not in the S&P Global Information Processing Services database.

To be included in the Whale Safe tool, vessels must also use the AIS system.

This year's federal measures to protect whales from ship strikes are the same as last year's, according to a news release from Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

They include speed limits in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. When whales are spotted, all vessels longer than 13 meters must proceed at a speed of no more than 10 knots.

There is also an area in the southern Gulf where whales have been found congregating that is off limits to vessels over 13 meters long.

These restrictions will come into effect on April 17 and will remain in place until November 15.

Fines of up to $250,000 can be imposed for violations.

According to the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium, the estimated population of right whales as of October was 356.

Five North Atlantic right whales have been found dead so far this year, according to the US National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, at least three from ship strikes.