Captains of BOSSS Marine the first to test our WG-SCOUT

At Whale Guardians – Africa, our challenge has been to gather data on the presence (or absence) of marine mammals where ships travel. In January 2026, we committed to building a device that vessel captains and other operators along our coast would find simple to use, and that would record marine mammal positions in and around shipping lanes. The WG-SCOUT was born, and the build began.

Ten months and five versions later, we proudly handed over WG-SCOUT devices to the vessel captains of BOSSS Marine, whose fast launches service ships off Durban, Richards Bay and Cape Town every day. Durban is the busiest port in sub-Saharan Africa. Richards Bay, 160 km up the coast, handles more cargo by volume than any other South African port and is home to Africa’s largest coal export terminal. Between them, these ports bring a constant stream of large vessels through waters used by humpback whales and, to a lesser extent, southern right whales.

We had built the device with these people in mind before we had properly met them, which only added to our anticipation of the handover and the coaching on how the devices work. Meeting the captains and their crews and introducing them to the WG-SCOUT was a privilege. These remarkable people encounter many species of marine life, and their care for the ocean came through clearly in their enthusiasm to collect data on their runs to ships anchored off these ports. Since the handover, their engagement has been invaluable: we value their input and feedback, and their commitment is an inspiration.

Whale sightings have already started coming in, even though we are near the end of the Humpback migration season. This gives us time to build more devices, now successfully tested and approved, for deployment on other vessels willing to take on the WG-SCOUT.

Video clips of our handover to the BOSSS Marine vessel captains are being edited and will soon be ready to share, so you’ll be able to see the day for yourself and meet some of the people now collecting whale data on our behalf.