Technology requires ‘holistic approach’ to reduce whale strikes

The technology to help reduce vessel strikes to endangered North Atlantic right whales (NARW) exists, in large part, today; is relatively affordable, and can be found on perhaps 90% of the boats between 35ft-65ft that would be impacted by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) proposed vessel speed rule, marine and oceanic industry experts say. And a recent influx of US$6m in grant money could help get the remaining development up on plane faster and more efficiently.

NOAA wants to extend an existing 10kt speed restriction on vessels over 65ft to smaller boats through much of the year and along much of the US east coast. It is the agency’s primary tool, said Whale and Vessel Speed (WAVS) Taskforce chair John DePersenaire, who also handles government affairs for Viking Yachts.

“And it does have shortcomings. It fails to address the whale and vessel interaction, which is the most critical part of what we are trying to do here. Vessel speed does not address that part of the problem.

“If you dig into the information that was used to develop the rule, NOAA does clearly say that vessel speed is not linked to risk reduction. We are looking for data-driven, results-driven alternatives here.”

The marine industry believes NOAA should have been looking at technology from the beginning of the rule making process.

“The recreational boating industry has long been urging NOAA to accelerate the analysis of currently available technologies as an alternative and measurable approach to reducing vessel strike risk for recreational boats, and we’re glad to see NOAA finally making use of Inflation Reduction Act funding towards this effort,” said Frank Hugelmeyer, president of the National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA). “Technologies exist to help solve the North Atlantic right whale conservation challenge, which is why we continue to call upon the Administration to withdraw the vessel speed rule and instead use advanced marine technologies to mitigate the risk of vessel strikes.”

However, progress has been made among WAVS members since the NOAA Technology Workshop in March.

Taking the framework established at the workshop, WAVS members are focusing on prediction modeling, detection, data collection/aggregation and dissemination/integration. In all of these areas, there is existing technology; some widely available, some near-market, and how the different tech communicates with each other is one of the remaining hurdles.

During a panel discussion at the recent American Boating Congress (ABC) a handful of WAVS members presented information on available technology that mirrored some presentations given to Congress back in April.

PREDICITION MODELLING

“Current projects by NOAA and others focus on management practices and regulation, where we’re trying to develop a data tool for mariners on the water so they can be more aware and reduce their risk of vessel strikes,” said Taylor Shropshire an oceanographer with Fathom Science, an ocean forecasting and data analytics company.

The NARW is one of the most studied marine mammals with over 30 years of data documenting more than 50,000 sightings. Historic and real time data can be combined, Shropshire suggests, to more accurately predict where right whales might be at any given time.

“Locating is only one piece of the puzzle. But it’s important to take a holistic approach,” he said.

DETECTION

Radar and sonar are existing technologies that can aid in detecting whales and other hazards, but to do a more effective job requires some tweaking. Sonar, for example, typically looks down, but not forward. One company, FarSounder, is developing a forward-looking sonar that with a range of 1,000m that will scan for obstacles from the surface to the sea floor. The company – which has had product on the market for nearly 20 years – is working on adding a whale logging capability, said Mathew Zimmerman.

“We have had customers report a lot of anecdotes about using our sonar to safely detect whales. We operate at frequencies that the great whales can’t hear, and we’ve made sure we are following all of the NOAA guidelines to make sure we’re not causing any acoustic harassment of the animals.”

SEA.AI uses technology to protect lives and assets at sea using Machine Vision, which the company’s Hernando Giraldo says is an offshoot of artificial intelligence (AI).

“We take powerful optics from cameras and infrared sensors and combine that with a powerful processor and then layer that with powerful Machine Vision software.

“The result of that is a system that can scan the horizon day or night. Detect things between the vessel and the horizon; classify those things – is it a man overboard? Is it a sailboat? Is it a stationary channel marker? Is it a semi-submerged container or is it a whale? - and then when appropriate, which is condition-based, it needs to alert a human [to pay attention].”

From a distance of 3,000m, Giraldo explained, the system will identify something as small as a dinghy or a RIB.

“I truly believe that the most robust solution for detecting marine mammals is a combination of different technologies; different detection methods that can feed data directly into predication modeling methods and disseminating them to the larger fleet through third-party integrators,” Zimmerman said, adding that testing is underway for data fusion between above and below surface devices.

DATA COLLECTION/AGGREGATION

While a lot of data on NARW exists, it is contained in different silos from different organiSations and pulling it all together in a meaningful way for boaters on the water is the current challenge, which is where the National Marine Electronics Association (NEMA) comes to play.

Its president, Mark Reedenauer, suggests technology like that used for the traffic app Waze – using crowd sourced data to warn motorists of hazards ahead – could be easily adapted for use on the water.

“NMEA is at a point where we can be the custodian of this data, hosted in the cloud, and have it for the industry’s use. This is not just about whale detection but about avoiding containers and any seas surface obstacles. As time goes on, we can build a very large data set,” Reedenauer said.

The existing Automatic Identification System (AIS), required on commercial vessels over 65ft, many believe, can be used as the basis for any detection/prevention system. And while historically, there has been a resistance to requiring AIS on private vessels, technological improvements are already integrated some of that information into the electronics on smaller, private vessels, and Reedenauer said the privacy issue is one that needs to be addressed.

“Privacy for both the boater and the whales: Privacy for the boater; there would need to be opt-in/opt-out if they wanted to share this information. Privacy for the whale, meaning, we don’t want every whale watching boat in Cape Cod Bay coming to where the right whales might be.”

DISSEMINATION/INTEGRATION

Getting important information about whale locations on to a boat’s multi-function display is key and many believe AIS – used worldwide – is the easiest way to get there.

“We can very easily piggyback this information onto [the AIS] network that exists today,” offered Todd Tally, Atlantic Marine Electronics, part of Viking Marine Group. “Beyond that, it will be moving to the internet. The internet globally has become prolific. Has anyone in here not heard of Starlink? There’s more coming in that arena. Amazon has Project Hyper. There’s OneWeb. internet data at sea is very rapidly becoming low-cost and accessible to everyone.”

Navico Group’s Steve Thomas told the conference there are five existing technologies on the market today that are either currently or in short-term, capable of providing information to the mariner for safe navigation for both the vessel and the North American right whales.

“The compelling thing about these technologies is that they are not new. They are existing technologies that have been adapted to fit this specific problem.

“Because these technologies have existed for a while, the advantage of that is, not only are they technically feasible, they’re economically accessible to those that need to have access to this technology.”

Multi-function displays, VHF radios, charts, app and sensor technology that already exist on many recreational boats over 35ft. “These components, with relatively minor adaptations can be used to both receive and display relevant information with regard to specific whale sightings, general areas for caution or areas to avoid altogether,” Thomas said. “What is missing today is clear direction from a government authority, that this is an approved use of this network, and this is the type of information they want to display across the network. But I’m happy to say we are making very good progress in that area.”

Getting whale and other data onto electronic chart plotters, for example, is already underway with the industry taking NOAA information, applying its own editing process and sending out the information to boats on the water. “The technology exists today for the rapid updating of this information on all of these charts. So, when NOAA makes changes to the seasonal management areas on these charts, that information can flow into our databases within 48 hours and be available for relay to displays and upgrade to the charts a short time after.”

Thomas further suggests that apps, like the Whale Alert app, can be integrated onto a multi-function display. “Better integration can be accomplished by overcoming some minor technical hurdles, and to make this function without internet connectivity.”

And for senor technology, like SEA.AI or FarSounder, that too is easily integrated onto a boat’s electronic displays. “Most display manufacturers provide a tool kit that allow these technologies to be connected to the existing displays for cost effective and friendly implementations.”

The WAVS Taskforce is investigating the possibility of applying for some of the NOAA grant money as part of a group effort that would encompass the various different components of risk reduction.