ORCA shares expertise in vessel strike mitigation at international conference

On Sunday (10th November), ORCA were invited to speak at the Society for Marine Mammology’s 25th biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals held in Perth, Australia.

We attended remotely, and were excited to present our work alongside other global leaders in vessel-strike mitigation and research for the workshop entitled ‘Preventing Ocean Roadkill: Global Technologies for Reducing Ship Strikes and Vessel Disturbance for Vulnerable Cetacean Populations’.

With a presence on platforms of opportunity (ferries and cruise ships) worldwide, we showcased how ORCA are in a unique position to work with the shipping industry to reduce the risk of vessel-strike, and the role of citizen science in its mitigation. We outlined survey methodologies for our ground-breaking projects into researching how large whales react to vessels in three vessel-strike hotspots around the world; Alaska, the Bay of Biscay and the Southern Ocean.

Understanding how large whales respond in close proximity to large vessels can give us important new insights into the way that these animals perceive shipping traffic. This understanding is crucial to reducing vessel-strike risk, as it can guide the advice given by conservation bodies to seafarers.

Further information about ORCA’s vessel-strike mitigation programmes can be found in our State of Cetaceans report, which can be read here.

The aim of this workshop was to foster innovation, collaboration, and the development of networks to propel future initiatives in vessel-strike mitigation. This workshop aims to culminate in a technical report, which we will share in this article once developed.