The smartWhales program relies on industry collaboration
The North Atlantic right whale is one of the world’s most endangered large whale species. (Photo: NOAA)
March 4, 2021
The endangered North Atlantic right whale faces many hazards — habitat loss, shipping traffic and strikes, pollution and a decreasing population — but a new program has given five companies funding to help combat these dangers.
Under the smartWhales initiative, the federal government is investing $5.3 million to companies working on innovative solutions to boost Canada’s ability to detect and monitor the presence of these whales in Canadian waters and predict their movements.
“We divided the call into two streams,” says Steve Iris, manager of applications and utilization at the Canadian Space Agency, about the initial request for proposals. “One was to improve accuracy of detection and monitoring, and one was to improve predictions and modelling.”