{"id":43046,"date":"2019-08-22T11:29:41","date_gmt":"2019-08-22T15:29:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/?p=43046"},"modified":"2019-08-22T11:29:41","modified_gmt":"2019-08-22T15:29:41","slug":"bc-ferries-installs-underwater-thermal-imaging-cameras-to-monitor-threatened-whales","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/canada\/bc-ferries-installs-underwater-thermal-imaging-cameras-to-monitor-threatened-whales\/","title":{"rendered":"BC Ferries installs underwater thermal imaging cameras to monitor threatened whales"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div class=\"story\">\n<p>B.C. scientists are trying to get a better look\u00a0at one of the South Coast&#8217;s most threatened marine mammals\u00a0using thermal imaging cameras installed off\u00a0Galiano Island, B.C.<\/p>\n<p>The cameras were installed underwater at the Sturdies Bay terminal\u00a0in June\u00a0and\u00a0are part of a year-long pilot project aimed at improving detection of southern resident killer whales in the heavily trafficked\u00a0Salish Sea.<\/p>\n<section id=\"inread-wrapper-id-6\"><\/section>\n<p>In a written statement, BC Ferries said federal scientists are trying to determine if the use of thermal imagery together with visual and acoustic surveillance\u00a0is a reliable way to detect whales in the Salish Sea which is used by commercial\u00a0ships\u00a0and supports several\u00a0passenger ferry routes<\/p>\n<p>The cameras are able to &#8220;see&#8221; whales by detecting temperature differences between marine mammals, ships and the surrounding water, even at night.<\/p>\n<h2>Hydrophones\u00a0monitor noise<\/h2>\n<p>Underwater monitoring of marine life is not new.<\/p>\n<p>In November last year, the federal transport ministry installed hydrophones\u00a0at Boundary Pass near Saturna Island, also with the goal of monitoring the whales&#8217; habitat to improve killer whale hunting and survival outcomes.<\/p>\n<p>The hydrophones were installed specifically to detect noise levels the whales are subjected to by passing ships.<\/p>\n<p>According to BC Ferries,\u00a0if the new thermal imaging cameras are\u00a0successful, they could alert ships to the presence of\u00a0the endangered local orcas\u00a0in narrow shipping\u00a0lanes\u00a0and could help\u00a0pilots make real-time decisions to slow down or avoid areas when whales are present.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>BC Ferries has taken part in the Port of Vancouver Enhancing Cetacean Habitat and Observation (ECHO) program since 2014. The ECHO program aims to better understand and manage the impact of shipping activities on at-risk whales in the region.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"credits-overlay\" data-target=\".wp-image-43047\"><a href=\"\" target=\"_blank\">DR<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>B.C. scientists are trying to get a better look\u00a0at one of the South Coast&#8217;s most threatened marine mammals\u00a0using thermal imaging cameras installed off\u00a0Galiano Island, B.C. The cameras were installed underwater &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":43047,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3539],"tags":[12050,8610,10031,12051,9099],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/A-pod-of-southern-resident-killer-whales-and-a-passenger-ferry-in-B.C.-waters.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43046"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43046"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43046\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mileniostadium.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}