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 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.
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.
..Ioli Christopoulou, Co-founder and Policy Director of The Green Tank, said.
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.
..Sigrid Lueber, President and Founder of OceanCare, added.
As explained, 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.
