Collisions of marine animals with large sea vehicles are among the largest threats to aquatic biodiversity. To help end this problem, a science center and one of the world's largest shipping enterprises collaborated to assemble robotic buoys.
The main goal of these buoys is to protect whales, which are the common victims of lethal marine vessel collisions.
WHOI Partners with Shipping Line to Create Robotic Buoys
Scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) led the development of the new robotic buoy technology. The instrument, partnered with underwater gliders, functions through sound recording that documents audio from nearby whales.
These real-time recordings would be utilized to get accurate information regarding the state of the aquatic species that swim in regions with high shipping traffic.
The North Atlantic right whales are the animals that are frequently killed by massive shipping vehicles. Because of this, the buoys were specialized to track the location of the endangered animals. The data from these robotic devices would then be relayed to businesses traveling back and forth across the oceans to change their direction and give way to inhabitants of the sea.
The robotic buoy development was led by Woods Hole marine ecology specialist Mark Baumgartner.
Up to this date, whales existing across the oceans sum up to only 340 individuals. The global population of whales continues to decrease because of the human-induced ship strikes that happen on the busiest routes.
Because of the gruesome collisions recorded throughout history, French shipping firm CMA CGM stepped up and collaborated with Woods Hole to minimize the casualties. The project involved the deployment of robotic buoys where the North Atlantic right whales are commonly detected, particularly in Norfolk, Virginia, and Savannah, Georgia.
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CMA CGM supported the scientific work by funding the mission. Baumgartner explained that the data recorded by these buoys would be consolidated together with the recordings collected from robotic buoys currently sitting in other parts of the east coast. He adds that the testings for the two new buoys for Virginia and Georgia will be tested soon.
Changing Industrial Shipping Practices: Protecting Whales in Shared Ocean
Baumgartner said that our industrial practices should adjust to the presence of whales across the oceans. The technology the team constructed functions to emphasize the damaging shipping practices and give more solutions for the whales that will be implemented, the expert continued.
The east coast was previously full of whales, but due to commercial whaling, their population dropped significantly. The new problems they face today are fishing gear entanglement and ship collisions.
Despite efforts to conserve the whales, most strays outside protected regions and end up on high-traffic shipping routes due to the changing climate and scarcity of food resources.
CMA CGM representatives said they chose to work on the deployment of the robotic buoys in Virginia and Georgia as it is one of the busiest shipping line regions in the United States.
CMA CGM America president Ed Aldridge also said that the project serves as a responsible act of sharing the ocean with the aquatic animals and protecting the endangered species.
Among the targets of the robotic buoy mission is to show the records of the selected regions to the public through an online platform, as well as to give insights to federal authorities regarding the implementation of 'right whale slow zones' that requires marine vehicle operators to notch their ship's speed down to 10 knots (18.5 kilometers per hour) or less, PhysOrg reports.
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