Underwater acoustic gliders help monitor endangered North Atlantic right whales
The Government of Canada and its partners, including several academic institutions, are working together to help monitor and protect North Atlantic right whales, which spend part of the summer in Canada’s Atlantic waters.
A key driver for right whale migration is the availability of their food source, zooplankton. While North Atlantic right whales were historically present in the Bay of Fundy, climate change has driven zooplankton populations north, causing increased numbers of whales to travel to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, a main passageway for vessels into Canadian ports. As a result, these endangered whales can be vulnerable to collisions with vessels in or near busy shipping lanes.
Underwater gliders with hydrophones that identify whale calls are an innovative tool helping to detect where the right whales are, providing data that informs decisions to implement vessel slowdowns.
Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) has worked with Transport Canada (TC) to secure contracts for this new technology, enabling TC to complement its monitoring tools involved in the detection of the right whales.
Protecting North Atlantic right whales in Canadian waters
Since 2017, TC has implemented several vessel traffic management measures annually to protect these right whales, including speed restrictions in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. TC uses various monitoring tools to detect right whales in areas where vessel traffic management measures are in place. If a right whale is detected and confirmed in these areas, a vessel slowdown will be activated, while taking into consideration navigational safety.
TC continues to explore new technologies and works closely with many experts, including the Ocean Tracking Network (based out of Dalhousie University) and researchers from the University of New Brunswick, to determine innovative ways to detect this endangered species, including through the use of underwater acoustic gliders.
In 2020, PSPC issued a contract to the University of New Brunswick for the deployment of TC’s first underwater acoustic glider, which has since been used as a monitoring tool to detect whale calls.
In 2021, TC asked PSPC to issue another contract on its behalf, this time with Dalhousie University, working in partnership with the University of New Brunswick, to extend and enhance the North Atlantic right whale surveillance activities. This new contract not only included the operation of the first underwater acoustic glider by the Ocean Tracking Network but also provided for the purchase, operation and maintenance of an additional state-of-the-art underwater glider, capable of near-real-time whale detection reports.
“It was one of the most interesting contracts I have worked on during my 12 years in procurement,” said the lead PSPC supply specialist, adding that the contract award was very gratifying because it supports whale protection efforts.
A work in progress for the whales
Dr. Fred Whoriskey, Executive Director of the Ocean Tracking Network, explains why the gliders are important. “There is no one way to effectively determine where the right whales are at any given moment when they are in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.” That's why these sophisticated underwater gliders with hydrophones are a critical tool, he says. “They go down, listen and detect whale calls, then come up to the surface periodically and broadcast information, whether there are whales there or not.”
Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) is doing its part to protect North Atlantic right whales from entanglements in fishing gear by implementing seasonal and temporary fishing area closures in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and other areas where they are detected. Right whale detections can be seen in near-real-time on Whale Insight, DFO's online mapping application.
In these ways, Canada is taking comprehensive protection measures to help sustain the right whale population while ensuring that Canadians can continue to make a living from the sea.
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