Updates on our Whale Routing App: 27 sensitive regions included

The Whale Guardians team have made some significant progress on our Whale Routing App the past few weeks. This is crucial to our mission because our app allows our shipping partners to actually include up-to-date and safe routing recommendations in their route planning software. This is the most effective and operationally sound way to avoid ship strikes with whales.

What we’ve accomplished in the past weeks

We now include all known and approved whale routing recommendations in our app, including those gathered or initiated by the World Shipping Council (WSC), the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the Blue Whales Blue Skies (BWBS) Whale Atlas, various local port authorities and conservation bodies and our own Great Whale Conservancy partners. This adds up to 27 sensitive regions with around 130 actual recommendations. For each recommendation in our app we clearly state the source and refer to original documents where possible. Next to that we clearly state whether the recommendation is mandatory or voluntary, whether it involves a Speed Reduction Zone (SRZ) or an Area to be Avoided (ATBA), and in which period the recommendation applies. 

Our own routing API is live and being tested as we speak by our partner Accelleron, thanks to the great work by Werner huysmans of Dice Consulting and Bogerd Martin. The API directly feeds the routing recommendations including all relevant metadata into routing software to plan routes safely and effectively. If you’re interested in our API for your routing needs please let us know and we’ll talk about how to welcome you into our league of partners.

The whale sightings layer in our app is getting more and more complete, with our own biologists data but also with API’s to partners like Whale Alert. We are always on the look out for more reliable and recent whale sighting data so drop us a line if you can help out.

Meanwhile we’re working on new routing projects in South-America and Africa and exploring partnerships in other regions. Our app is crucial in communicating the urgency and impact of our work to local authorities, shipping representatives and biologists. 

We have some great new features on the backlog and we can’t wait to increase the app’s functionality and usability for our partners. We are on the look out for funding to help us finance these efforts. If you’re interested or if you have ideas about funding, please let us know and we’ll send you the funding pitch deck. 

Whale Guardians is very proud to operate precisely at the crossroads of whale conservation, sustainable shipping and digital technology and we want to thank all our partners that are making this possible!

How can you help us save more whale lives

• Shipping Industry: Become a partner and integrate our API in your voyage optimization software

• Marine biologists/conservationists: Share whale data in regions that are not yet included

• Everyone: Make a donation and spread the word!