There's an App for Whales

Modern technology has become so ubiquitous it often becomes humorous, leading to parodies of applications, or "apps," for unnecessary or absurd items.   However, modern technology retains its serious side.  Patients in need of a heart transplant can live outside the hospital because the power source for an artificial heart can fit in a back-pack.  Lost or stolen Apple products can fight crime by using GPS to tell the rightful owner their location.  And now, a new app can make marine wildlife conservationists out of boat captains.


All three species of Right whales are endangered.  Northern Atlantic Right whales live in the Atlantic ocean and migrate from Nova Scotia to Florida.  These long migrations place whales in the path of shipping lanes used by commerical and private mariners.  Due to the presence of under 1000 surviving Northern Atlantic Right whales, preventing accidental death of the animals by collisions with boats is a crucial part of their preservation.

Northern Atlantic Right whale and calf, February 2012
Photo curtsey of Sea to Shore Alliance, NOAA Permit #15488

Buoys throughout the Atlantic ocean have been equipped with acoustic recording devices to detect the calls of whales passing through the area.  This information identified normal seasonal locations of the whales, which helped develop recommended shipping routs to best avoid the whales.  But the information was separated on different websites, making it not user-friendly nor up-to-date.  Now, real-time data recorded by buoys can be overlapped directly on the ocean maps used by boat captains and displayed clearly on the iPad and iPhone Apple products via a free downloadable app called Whale Alert 1.0.  Using the GPS capabilities of the iProduct, the boat captain can recieve pop-up alerts when the ship enters protected areas as well as alerts when a buoy recording detects a whale is nearby.

The advent of private citizens possessing advanced technologies enables a variety of outlets for individual participation in mass communication.  Blogging is a prime example of how the personal computer and ease of internet access now allows individual voices to be heard on a massive scale.  With an iPad at every helm, perhaps conservation will now become an avenue of personal participation.  Where large, coordinated organizations have failed to create lasting global impacts, consciousness of how easy avoiding a collision with a whale can be may encourage mariners to act in an environmentally friendly manner.  Avoiding collisions with whales will be good for the whales, and ensure boat crews get to enjoy their marine neighbors for generations to come.

Whale Alert 1.0 was developed through a collaboration by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association and thirteen additional organizations.  To get your free copy of Whale Alert 1.0, visit the App Store.