| Close encounters between ships and right whales suggest that right whales do not perceive approaching large vessels as a danger until too late. Photo: Harriet Corbett, New England Aquarium | |
Due to the interest in the
application, developers recognized a need for a more advanced version. Whale
Alert 2.0 was released in October of 2014 and transformed the application from
an information hub developed for the shipping industry to an international,
interactive two-way user interface. In addition to providing the original
functions, Whale Alert 2.0 now provides vital new features for mariners and a platform for
citizen science! The app has expanded geographic coverage to include Western US and Canadian coastal waters and also provides users with an interface
for reporting sightings of live and distressed whales.
Professional
mariners and the public can now contribute to international efforts to reduce
vessel strikes by contributing sighting data for right whales, humpbacks, fin
whales, gray whales, and more through the in-app whale sighting report feature.
The geographically smart app provides users a platform to accurately identify
and report live whale sightings, but more importantly, allows for reporting
sightings of dead, entangled, or stranded whales. When a user reports a whale
in distress, the app will automatically direct the user to the appropriate
government agency or response group based on their GPS location, expediting
response to whales in peril. This allows for users to play a direct role in
marine conservation science and could potentially save the lives of endangered
whales along international coastlines!
Screenshots
from Whale Alert 2.0 showing how to report whale sightings through the
application (Wiley et al., 2015).
Whale Alert is a revolutionary
mobile application that has evolved from a method of just delivering information on regulations and right whales to East
Coast US mariners into a multifaceted two-way user interface, bridging gaps
between the shipping industry, scientists, and the public to help whale species both nationally and internationally. Read below to learn
how you can download Whale Alert 2.0 and start participating in citizen science
to help save endangered whales today!
-Kelsey Stone (Research
Assistant at NEAq)
A dead North Atlantic right
whale with vessel propeller wounds. Photo: Monica Zani, New England Aquarium
Whale
Alert 2.0 is an entirely new and improved application. New users and
those still operating the original version are urged to scan the bar code below
or go the iTunes store and download the new version in order to benefit from
all the enhanced features! Whale Alert for Android phones is coming this
spring. You can learn more at www.whalealert.org.
Images
from: Wiley,
D., Argenault, R., Brown, M., Carver, M., Ramage, P., Schwher, K., Thompson,
M., Winney, B., & Jahncke, J. (2015).
Whale Alert: Dynamic Ocean Management to
Reduce Collisions between
Whales and Ships [PP slides].
