Fight To Save Right Whales Goes Hi-Tech

[Judi Lynn]

Fight To Save Right Whales Goes Hi-Tech



[font size=1]
There are only 350 to 550 North Atlantic right whales left in the world

2:46am UK, Thursday April 05, 2012[/font]

Efforts to protect the North Atlantic right whale have gone high-tech with a new iPad and iPhone app that tells mariners when they are approaching the highly endangered mammals.

The Whale Alert app, available for free download, uses global positioning system and other technology to send the latest data about right whale detections.
These are overlaid on National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) digital charts to the user's device.

The project is a joint effort between NOAA and other US government agencies, including the National Park Service and the Coast Guard, universities, and conservation groups.

It is hoped the system will limit the number of deadly collisions between whales and vessels, especially large vessels such as cruise ships and container ships.

More:
http://news.sky.com/home/technology/article/16202992

[kristopher]

1. This program has been in place for almost a decade

It wasn't an app for IPads, but they navigational systems have included dissemination of reported positions for the NA right whales. I was at a small presentation by the originators of the program a couple of years after they kicked it off. The first thing that came to my mind was that it seemed like it was painting a target on the back of the whales to me. Some of the mariners I've known would look at it as an opportunity to get a hell of a trophy, even if they can't brag openly about it.


http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/shipstrike/msr/


I'd love to know if the incidence of collision has declined since the program really got rolling.