Detecting whales from space
In May 2022, I started my PhD in the Davies lab at the University of New Brunswick - Saint John, on the east coast of Canada. I am looking at novel methods to detect North Atlantic right whales, with the hopes it will improve our knowledge of their populations and contribute to the conservation of the species. This NSERC funded research was recently featured by the University of New Brunswick.
North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) during field research in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
With approximately 340 individuals, North Atlantic right whales (NARW) are critically endangered. Ship strikes and entanglements in fishing gear are the main causes of mortality and the risk of extinction for this population.
I am looking at how we can use very high resolution satellite imagery to detect NARW and other whales. By understanding how satellite imagery can complement current methods to improve our limited knowledge of whale populations, we can more effectively mitigate the human impacts on these species. This work is being done with the smartWhales initiative that is combining the expertise of biologists and computer scientists to develop a workflow to collect satellite imagery, autodetect NARWs in the images, and apply the detections to gain knowledge useful for the conservation of the NARW.
Examples of NARWs found in very high resolution satellite imagery. Image credit: © Maxar Technologies
To learn more about the plight of the NARW, I suggest reading We Are All Whalers by Dr. Michael J. Moore and/or watch the documentary Last of the Right Whale.
I am also interested in using satellite imagery to study other whale species and megafauna because of the potential of satellite imagery to survey wildlife in areas that difficult or costly to survey by traditional methods. Check out this recent paper with colleagues where we detected and estimated the density of a remote high Arctic population of beluga whales!
Figure 2 from Watt et al. 2023 of a panchromatic WorldView 3 satellite image of beluga whales in the high Arctic. Image credit: © Maxar Technologies
