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SAvE Whales: Implementation agreement with Greece signed to protect the endangered sperm whales from collision with ships in the Strait of Kythira

The Greek government, the Athens-based environmental think tank The Green Tank and OceanCare signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the implementation of the “SAvE Whales” system in the Strait of Kythira. This innovative technology is designed as a complementary tool to protect the endangered sperm whales from collision with ships in areas where re-routing of vessel traffic is not possible.

JOINT PRESS COMMENT – 19 June 2024

SAvE Whales: Implementation agreement with Greece signed to protect the endangered sperm whales from collision with ships in the Strait of Kythira

The Greek Minister of Environment and Energy, Theodoros Skylakakis, the President of the Natural Environment and Climate Change Agency (OFYPEKA-NECCA), Maria Papadopoulou, the co-founder and Policy Director of The Green Tank, Ioli Christopoulou, the President and Founder of OceanCare, Sigrid Lueber, and the Managing Director of OceanCare, Fabienne McLellan signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the effective development and full operation of SAvE Whales.

Ioli Christopoulou, Co-founder and Policy Director of The Green Tank, said:

“Today is a landmark day for the protection of sperm whales and the country’s biodiversity protection policy. In recent years, more and more international organizations have passed resolutions calling for urgent action to address the main threat to sperm whales in the Mediterranean, the collision with passing ships. With the MoU we signed today, we are giving perspective to an innovative solution in a key marine habitat within the Hellenic Trench for this species that has been identified as a high-risk area. In close collaboration with the Greek Ministry of Environment and Energy, NECCA, OceanCare and scientists, The Green Tank will contribute to the coordination and full implementation of the system in the Kythira Strait.”

Sigrid Lueber, President and Founder of OceanCare, added:

“The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding is the fruition of years of efforts to safeguard sperm whales, in collaboration with Greek scientists, Alexandros Frantzis, PELAGOS Cetacean Research Institute, and Emmanuel Skarsoulis, FORTH. Despite the challenges, we managed to design a system based on smart technology responding to the greatest threat for the sperm whales population in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. Our objective is for the system to steer the course in the Hellenic Trench for more intensive and complementary efforts to protect sperm whales from the threat of ship strikes, especially in areas – such as the Kythira Strait – where re-routing is not possible.”

The collaboration aims to scaling up the “SAvE Whales” (System for the Avoidance of ship-strikes with Endangered Whales) technology, so it can ultimately become an official mitigation and warning tool that will alert mariners about the presence of sperm whales in the Strait of Kythira. SAvE Whales is an innovative system locating the exact position of sperm whales up to 7 kilometers and transmitting the information in real-time to inform mariners to slow down or adjust route in order to avoid collision.

A joint commitment by the Greek Ministry of Environment and Energy, NECCA, OceanCare and The Green Tank to upgrade the SAvE Whales system was announced during the 9th Our Ocean Conference.

ENDS

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SAvE Whales, which stands for “System for the Avoidance of ship-strikes with Endangered Whales” offers a world first technology, serving as a complementary tool to the two primary response measures to the threat of ship strikes, namely ship re-routing and speed reduction, and particularly in those areas where re-routing is hardly possible. One such area is the Strait of Kythira between the island of Kythira and Cape Tainaron (southern Peloponnese).

In short, the system uses solar-powered high-tech buoys and/or cabled bottom stations equipped with hydrophones that receive the clicking sounds of the sperm whales, process them and send filtered data to a land-based analysis centre where computer models are used to detect, precisely localize the animals, and finally forward the localization fixes to nearby ships, all in real time. Specifically developed software combines localization results with shipping information from Marine Traffic, a leading ship tracking service provider, to assess collision risk. If a vessel is on a collision course with a whale, its captain can be warned well in advance, such that the ship slows down and/or changes course in time to prevent the collision.

OceanCare has been leading the development of SAvE Whales. The system was carried out by Greek researchers from the Institute of Applied and Computational Mathematics – FORTH (Greece) and the Pelagos Cetacean Research Institute (Greece), through collaboration with Marine Traffic, Green2Sustain and the CINTAL research centre – University of Algarve (Portugal). Following its successful pilot trials (2020-2021), OceanCare in collaboration with the Pelagos Cetacean Research Institute,the Institute of Applied and Computational Mathematics – FORTH and The Green Tank provided test results as well as suggestions for its implementation to the Greek authorities.

About OceanCare

OceanCare is an international marine conservation non-governmental organisation, founded in Switzerland in 1989. The organisation pursues the protection and restoration of the marine environment and marine wildlife with a strong policy focus, combining research, conservation projects and education. OceanCare’s remit includes marine pollution, climate change, marine mammal hunting and the environmental consequences of fisheries. Its work is supported by a team of scientific, legal and policy experts, and involves strategic collaboration with civil society organisations and coalitions around the world. OceanCare is an officially accredited partner and observer to several UN conventions and other international fora.  www.oceancare.org

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OceanCare
Dániel Fehér, Strategic Communications Lead
Gerbestrasse 6, P.O.Box 372
CH-8820 Waedenswil - Switzerland
+49 176 81434026 
dfeher@oceancare.org
www.oceancare.org

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