High-tech Buoys Help Whales Avoid Ship Collisions

The buoy works by using Buoys software called Listening to the Deep Ocean Environment (LIDO), which monitors sounds they can reduce noise and avoid collisions.

Floating Point Marker

As far as the majority of us are concerned, buoys are nothing more than floating point markers; their sole function consists of nothing more than bobbing up and down in response to the currents that flow underneath them. But there are those who are much more than that. In point of fact, a brand-new “smart buoys” in the Gulf of Corcovado in Chile is monitoring climate change while simultaneously reducing the risk of collisions between ships and whales and other forms of marine life.

Buoy Oceanographic Alert Technology

The Blue BOAT (Buoy Oceanographic Alert Technology) Initiative is the organization that owns the buoy. This initiative is a project that is financed by the Chilean Ministry of the Environment. The primary objective of the research is to ensure the safety of whales in migration; however, it also seeks to track any telltale signals of climate change in the waters. These findings contribute to the advancement of knowledge on the services provided by marine ecosystems as well as inquiries into the role whales play in the sequestration of carbon dioxide.

Listening to the Deep Ocean

Listening to the Deep Ocean (LIDO) is a piece of software that is used on the smart buoys that are part of the Blue BOAT Initiative to monitor sounds for marine traffic. After the detection of an animal, LIDO will employ artificial intelligence to determine the species of animal and its precise location before transmitting a signal to an early warning station located on land. The system then sounds an alarm to notify nearby vessels of the presence of the animal. Because animals are often not visible from the surface, this increases the likelihood that vessel operators will be able to avoid striking them (or because they become visible a bit too late).

Blue BOAT

The Blue BOAT Initiative is primarily focused on preventing blue whales, southern right whales, humpback whales, and sei whales from being struck by vessels, despite the fact that vessel strikes harm a diverse group of large marine mammals. Each of these species has been documented either as a resident of the Gulf of Corcovado or as a migrant through the area, which also plays host to a significant number of ships engaged in maritime traffic.

These vessels not only run the risk of colliding with whales, but they also emit noise that can cause the whales to get disoriented, suffer damage to their hearing, and experience disruptions in their ability to communicate, migrate and feed. The Blue BOAT Initiative’s smart buoys, in conjunction with Chile’s new maritime speed limit of 10 knots during the day and 8 knots at night, could help lessen the negative influence that vessels have on the daily lives of whales.

Buoy Temperature

One intelligent buoy has been deployed in the gulf as part of this experiment as of this point. The Blue BOAT Initiative has the goal of increasing its coverage area by installing at least five additional buoys, which would assist in covering the migration pathways of multiple whale species from Antarctica to the equator. As the climate issue continues to deteriorate, the initiative will continue to monitor the health of the ocean with the use of sensors on the buoys that measure water temperature and oxygen levels.