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Understanding The Problem

Every year, untold numbers of whales are seriously injured, die, or are significantly harassed as a result of proximity to man’s activities. Sometimes the cause is a collision with ships at the intersection of whale migration paths and shipping lanes. Sometimes the cause is a very loud acoustic event, such as the demolition of an underwater structure, seismic charges used in the mapping of oil reserves, or high-powered military sonar used to detect enemy submarines. 

Acknowledging their importance, much national and international policy has been written to protect whales and other marine mammals from man’s seafaring activities. Regulations are now being put in place that require steps be taken to detect the presence of whales and other protected marine mammals, and to suspend potentially dangerous activity if they are in the vicinity.

Currently, the two principal methods of detection are visual identification and passive sonar. Neither is adequate because both have serious limitations.

Visual identification relies on the ability to see out to distances

on the order of a mile. It works well in daylight hours and when sea and skies are calm and clear. But at night or under inclement conditions, visual identification is at best difficult and at worst impossible.

Passive sonar is a technology that allows us to listen for sound waves underwater. It works well when whales are vocalizing, which creates a signal that can be detected by the passive sonar’s sensors. However, it has been shown that whales spend much their time in silence, which renders passive sonar useless. Further, it is not all that easy to determine the distance to a marine mammal that is vocalizing.

Clearly, the problem is not the absence of strong policy, but the absence of a reliable means of detecting the presence of whales and determining their precise location. We believe the number of whale injuries and deaths could be dramatically reduced if we were better able to detect when whales are in the vicinity.