Kategorie: News
New app helps prevent ship collisions with large whales
Whale mortality caused by ship collisions poses a significant anthropogenic threat to marine mammal populations. The Europe-wide launch of the “Whale Alert” app now offers an innovative way to tackle this problem through citizen science.
Developed by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) in collaboration with Conserve.IO, the app transforms smartphone users into active participants in whale conservation. The principle is ingenious: sighting reports from members of the public and professional seafarers are fed into a central database in real time, triggering automatic warnings for nearby vessels.
The issue is a serious one: more than two million vessels pass through European waters every year, with commercial shipping routes frequently overlapping with critical cetacean habitats – migration corridors, feeding grounds and breeding areas. Andreas Dinkelmeyer from IFAW Germany highlights the dramatic number of unreported cases: “According to expert estimates, around 95 per cent of fatal collisions remain undocumented – for every recorded case, there are around 20 more.”
Version 4.0 of the app – originally launched in North American waters in 2012 and now available thanks to a partnership with GREENOV – features protected areas mapped specifically for European seas. An algorithmic risk assessment calculates the potential for collision whilst the vessel is navigating, based on its size, speed and position. Particularly committed users can be certified as ‘trusted observers’.
The scientific dimension is considerable: all georeferenced sightings are fed into marine research databases and provide valuable insights into cetacean distribution, feeding ecology and migration behaviour. The GPS-supported warning function enables skippers to adapt their course and speed accordingly.
“Whale Alert democratises whale conservation,” explains Damien Demoor of GREENOV. “At the same time, it makes a complex mosaic of dynamic protected areas and shipping lanes navigable.”
The free app is available on both the Apple App Store and Google Play and represents a pragmatic approach to improving coexistence between maritime traffic and marine megafauna populations.
Apple Store: apps.apple.com/de/app/whale-alert/id911035973
Playstore: play.google.com/store/search?q=whale+alert
About IFAW
IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare) is a global non-profit organisation dedicated to improving the coexistence of animals and humans. We operate in more than 40 countries around the world and on the high seas. We rescue and care for animals, reintroduce them into the wild, and conserve and protect their natural habitats. The challenges we face are urgent and complex. To solve them, we need bold action and smart thinking. We work with communities, governments, other NGOs and businesses. Together, we find new and innovative ways to ensure that all species can thrive in their habitats. Find out more: ifaw.org
About Conserve.IO
Conserve.IO is working to close the loop on citizen science through mobile apps that make it easy to record human observations whilst providing users with valuable information to support their activities. We offer a combination of mobile, cloud and crowdsourcing technology to simplify and scale the collection of nature conservation data, whilst making the data more usable – for both spontaneous and planned surveys. In this way, we aim to help us better understand our environment, promote nature conservation policy and, in doing so, make our lives more sustainable and liveable.
About Greenov
Greenov is a company founded in 2021 that is dedicated to restoring marine ecosystems and protecting them from the impacts of human activities. Based in Nantes (France), the company operates in three main areas: reducing underwater noise pollution, reducing collisions between ships and large whales, and reducing fouling on ship hulls and underwater infrastructure through a preventative and environmentally friendly solution.