Would it be possible to fit more whales with location transmitters in order to prevent collisions?

Depending on the type of tag, the target cetacean species and how well the tag is attached to the animal, the tag will last anywhere from a few hours to 70 days, with some exceptional cases of up to several months. This approach therefore does not seem possible for long-term monitoring using currently available technologies.

Since radio telemetry (VHF) is generally used for short-term monitoring – for example, to understand the diving behaviour of a whale during feeding activities – satellite telemetry would be preferred. Satellite tags provide a reading of the animal’s position only when the latter surfaces. There may be tens of kilometres between any two positions, which means that it is not necessarily possible to know where the animal is at any given time. The quality of the position data will also vary depending on whether the animal has surfaced completely or the location of satellites as the tag emerges from the water. In any case, the animal’s position is not known on a continual basis.

Lastly, the cost of each tag is in the order of several thousand dollars. A large-scale tagging program would therefore be extremely costly.

Acoustic detection of whales by autonomous submarines (gliders), aerial surveillance, ship surveillance, the Whale Alert system (which allows vessels to share marine mammal observations), speed reductions in certain high-risk areas and even voluntary speed reductions therefore still seem to be the preferred methods for preventing collisions.