Whale rescue that is.
You wouldn’t think an animal as large as a whale would need much help. But when it comes to oceanic noise pollution, they do.
That’s where AI comes in.
Researchers at Spain’s Laboratory of Applied Bioacoustics have developed Listen to the Deep Ocean Environment (LIDO) software to prevent whale deaths caused by underwater noise pollution interfering with their echolocation.
Low frequency sound travels farther underwater than other frequencies. But since humans can’t hear those frequencies, it was assumed that the deep ocean was silent. Now we know better. And we know that marine animals depend on those sounds to locate food, navigate, and communicate with each other.
Recently, the ocean’s depths have become noisier. The rumble of ship engines, the intense pings of military sonar, seismic blasts used to locate oil and gas deposits have all contributed to the din that is drowning out marine life’s natural chatter. The impact? Life-threatening.
LIDO monitors submarine acoustic sources in real time and identifies them using artificial intelligence. The researchers plan to drop a LIDO-equipped buoy into the Gulf of Corcovado off the Chilean coast, where whale and ship activity are high. The software will be able to detect whales within at least a 10-kilometer (6.2-mile) radius and alert Chile’s navy, which will advise nearby vessels to change course or reduce speed to avoid the aquatic mammals.
Right now, the buoy’s LIDO technology can identify and classify four whale species from their song. As the buoys gather more data, LIDO can be trained to identify other marine species.
And while not a perfect solution, the LIDO buoy is a first step in protecting whales endangered by noise pollution.