Hi-tech look-out could save whales' lives (BBC)

[eppur_se_muova]

By Duncan Kennedy
BBC News, Civitavecchia port, Rome

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But now, thanks to a unique venture between one cruise company, WWF, and a number of other technology firms, help is at hand.

Four vessels, including the Costa Pacifica, owned by Costa Cruises, one of the biggest operators in the business, have been fitted with a software system called Repcet.

Repcet allows ships to share real-time information on the location of the whales.

Once a ship spots a whale, the co-ordinates are entered into the system. They are sent, via a satellite connection, to a server in France.

The server then centralises the data and sends out an alert to equipped vessels that are likely to be affected.
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more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11230661

[PJPhreak]

1. k and r

[kristopher]

2. We implimented a program like that in the US about 7 years ago...

IIRC it is managed by USCG.

[petronius]

3. The Atlantic had an info-graphic on some US East Coast methods

There was something similar, except that it was sound buoys that detected whales and then transmitted the locations to the ships. What struck me was how some very small changes (speed, route) gave huge reductions in strike risk...

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/09/whale-crossing/8192/ (Click the graphic)

http://www.listenforwhales.org/netcommunity/Page.aspx?pid=430