Whales are not just the largest animals on Earth. They play a significant role in the food chain and the species diversity in our ocean. In addition, it can help to tackle climate change by naturally absorbing carbon from the atmosphere. 

The importance of whales to life on Earth underlines the need to protect them, according to the Whale Safe organization. They say that ship collision is the leading cause of death for large whales. 

Whales that spend their lives near the surface, such as humpback and right whales, are most at risk. According to a 2019 study, the plight of land animals forced them to crisscross the highways that cut through their habitats. The study states that whales are becoming ocean roadkill. 

AI for whale protection 

Whale Safe project, an organization which started in 2020, hopes to overcome the challenge of protection using AI. It provides close to real-time data on how many whales are present in the area and alerts shipping companies to slow their boats in the presence of the whales.  

Whale Safe is a mapping and analysis tool that shows whale and ship data for the Santa Barbara Channel, part of a curved stretch of coastline between California and Mexico on North America’s West Coast. 

Whale Safe says that ships can significantly reduce the danger they pose to whales by slowing their speed to 10 knots (18.5 kilometers per hour) in areas with a high presence of whales. 

How does AI function? 

Whale Safe’s algorithms detect visual and acoustic signs of whales. It also includes a blue whale habitat model that predicts the likely presence of blue whales. In addition, it identifies the sounds of blue, humpback and fin whales and reports them in real time using its passive acoustic monitoring system. 

Whale Safe uses ocean data to make daily predictions on blue whale habitats, while visual signs of whales are gathered by specialists, whale sighting volunteers, and whale watch vessels. 

The Whale Safe technology was developed by the Benioff Ocean Initiative. It is a healthy ocean initiative at the University of California Santa Barbara. It works with whale scientists from organizations including the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Norwegian University of Science and Technology, the University of Washington and the Southwest Fisheries Science Center. 

Why is it important? 

The protection of whales is vital for the conservation of our biodiversity. According to an IMF report on protecting whales, when Whale populations are healthy, it better the life of marine animals, including fish and sea birds. Whales also support life on land by recycling nutrients. The World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2021 ranks biodiversity loss as the world’s fifth most likely global risk and fourth most dangerous by impact, after infectious diseases, climate action failure and weapons of mass destruction. 

One whale can remove as much carbon from the atmosphere as thousands of trees. This is partly because whales promote the growth on the ocean surface of phytoplankton microscopic marine organisms that capture 37 billion tonnes of CO2 a year. They also naturally lock away around 33 tonnes of CO2 in their bodies.