As whales migrate into critical habitats, many authorities are activating seasonal and dynamic measures that can affect how should ships transit certain areas.
We recommend you check if any of your ships are travelling through areas with mandatory and voluntary whale strike reduction measures and if you can use any digital tools to help you navigate more efficiently in whale sensitive areas.
Measures
Every year, whales migrate between feeding, breeding and calving zones, often passing through some of the world’s busiest shipping routes. To reduce the risk of collisions, governments, ports and conservation initiatives have set up a range of seasonal, dynamic and location specific measures. These can include speed reductions, routing recommendations, reporting requirements and areas to be avoided.
In Canada, extensive protection measures for North Atlantic right whales remain in force throughout the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. The voluntary Cabot Strait slowdown has resumed and will remain in place until 15 November. This initiative is for ships over 13 metres in length and Transport Canada is requesting a voluntary maximum speed of 10 knots over ground within the designated Cabot Strait slowdown zone. This is a very important region due to bottlenecks which make the whales more vulnerable. The Shediac Valley restricted area is no longer in effect.
On the western coast of Canada, in the Admiralty Inlet and North Puget Sound, a voluntary ship slowdown project to protect southern resident killer whales requests all ships to reduce speeds to 10 knots and will run until 31 January. The Quiet Sound provides fleet operations managers regular updates on their fleet’s participation throughout the slowdown and after the slowdown has concluded.
The Mediterranean Sea remains an area of interest to the shipping industry and the conservation community as the region supports important populations of fin whales and sperm whales. Recent discussions have highlighted concerns regarding the approval of the operation of very high-speed passenger services within the Pelagos Sanctuary and the North-West Mediterranean Particularly Sensitive Sea Area (PSSA) protected areas.
While speed reduction remains one of the most effective measures for reducing both collision risk and the severity of strikes, stakeholders continue to debate how best to balance transport needs with whale conservation objectives. The Mediterranean also remains one of the regions with the highest reported risks of ship strikes for large whales globally, underlining the importance of proactive voyage planning and whale awareness.
Tools to help shipping companies reduce whale strikes
Digital tools can support whale strike mitigation in different ways. Whale Guardians focuses on proactive voyage planning, while Whale Alert provides near real-time information, helping crews respond to whale presence and management measures during a voyage.
Whale Guardians
Whale Guardians have developed a tool which aggregates all globally known and acknowledged whale routing measures into one ‘API’ (Application Programming Interface). This API can be used in existing navigational planning systems so that whale sensitive areas and the associated recommended measures can be included in a ship’s route planning. By integrating this API into the planning software, shipping companies can plan the most economical and fuel efficient route, while avoiding whale sensitive areas. Also, through pre-planning, the risk of the ship having to make dangerous and less effective last minute avoidance manoeuvres is greatly reduced.
The Whale Guardians platform also includes a module that allows shipping companies to evaluate their performance and impact. This module shows you how often you have followed local recommendations and aggregates this number into a company-based impact report. Whale Guardians can also provide performance evaluation consults and training, to help crew improve their whale avoidance strategies and to generate a broader understanding of whale behaviour with regards to ships.
Whale Alert
Another tool helping to reduce the risk of ship-whale collisions is Whale Alert. Available as both a desktop and mobile application, the platform combines whale sightings and detections as well as ship speed restrictions into actionable information for crew. Dynamic risk levels, whale presence, and management measures are displayed in a clear and intuitive format, helping crews make informed decisions while supporting compliance with local requirements.
Drawing on more than 20,000 annual whale sightings from trusted observer networks and monitoring technologies, Whale Alert provides near real-time awareness of whale activity. Crew members can also report sightings directly through the platform, with reports shared with scientists and fellow mariners to improve collective understanding of whale distribution. Fleet-level reporting tools further allow companies to monitor and demonstrate their contribution to whale conservation efforts.
Whale Alert is not only a whale strike mitigation tool but also a practical resource for accessing management measures, reporting requirements, and other operational information, making it easier for ship operators to support both conservation and safe navigation.
World Shipping Council
WSC in collaboration with HUB Ocean, has launched a digital version of its Whale Chart, bringing together whale strike mitigation and underwater radiated noise measures from around the world in an interactive, map-based platform.
More information
We encourage you to use the BIMCO whale resource (member login required) to keep up to date with all whale measures.
Other useful resources include Whale Insight which provides details on the current scientific efforts to detect whales and also provides real time updates on Slow Zones and SMAs. Whale Atlas also supplies a digitised whale conservation zones and protection measures relevant to shipping.
