Right Whale Migration Tracking
Seguin Island Light Station is an active Station Keeper relay station helping protect the North Atlantic Right Whale. Station Keeper on Seguin monitors shipping speeds of commercial shipping in the region of Casco Bay and advises large ships to lower their speed to less than 10 knots in the Right Whale protection area. At slower speeds ships have more time to maneuver around pods of whales as well as the whales having time to get out of the way.
In addition, Seguin has been asked to expand our conservation role by Maine Department of Marine Resources to serve as a real time VHF relay station for the listening buoys that have been placed in the Gulf of Maine. This system will detect whales communicating with each other which will help track their presence off the Maine coast to better protect them during their migration through this area.
Our whales appear to have begun their southward migration which will bring them through Maine waters relatively soon this Fall. During this summer they were mainly spotted near the mouth of the St Lawrence River. The sightings just north of Prince Edward Island have diminished which indicated the whales are now between Cape Breton and the Gulf of Maine. There are no active listening buoys in this area so we will have to wait for them to show up in the Gulf of Maine. Below is a link to view where the whales have been spotted in the last 14 days along the Atlantic coast.
Protecting North Atlantic Right Whales
StationKeeper:
Most vessels 65 feet or longer are asked to travel at 10 knots or less in certain locations, called seasonal management areas for Right Whales, along the U.S. East Coast at certain times of the year. This is aimed at reducing the chances of collisions with North Atlantic Right Whales. StationKeeper, developed by Maritime Information Systems, Inc. monitors commercial shipping traffic on the existing maritime AIS system which is required on commercial cargo ships. AIS receivers are navigation safety devices that transmit and monitor the location and characteristics of vessels in federal and international waters in real time.
For more information on StationKeeper: https://www.motioninfo.com/stationkeeper
To listen to a podcast from the United States Lighthouse Society with StationKeeper founder Moses Colouro: https://uslhs.org/podcast/light-hearted-323-moses-calouro-portia-calouro-how-lighthouses-are-helping-save-right
Design:
When a ship is exceeding 10 knots in a designated Right Whale management area, a StationKeeper relay station transmits the following message by way of the ship’s AIS receiver and charting system display to the ship’s bridge, “Max speed 10 knots per 50CFR224.105-31″. Relay stations are now in place up and down the eastern seaboard.
Opportunity and Operations:
FOSILS is proud to participate in this worthy maritime program as part of our operations on the island. Our system is operating on the island under its own solar panels. We thank you for continued support of this historic landmark as we take on this function to protect the North American Right Whale.
