Our new whale livestream at a Southern Resident killer whale sanctuary zone
Tune in to the Raincoast Whale Sanctuary Livestream on our Youtube.
We just launched our Raincoast Whale Livestream which will be streaming both video and underwater soundscape from a hydrophone and webcam on North Pender Island. The monitoring site is in an Interim Sanctuary Zone for Southern Resident killer whales which is an area where vessel traffic is prohibited in key whale foraging areas to reduce acoustic and physical disturbance.
For more than a decade, Raincoast has been using science, the courts, and government engagement to advance recovery measures for SRKW. Our new monitoring program will continue this effort by improving scientific and public understanding of the exposure of SRKW to vessel noise and disturbance within an Interim Sanctuary Zone in the Salish Sea. Data acquired from our new, acoustic and visual monitoring station in the Sanctuary will help inform development and implementation of new or strengthened regulations and enforcement efforts in support of the recovery of the SRKW population.
The strategic location of the monitoring station will also allow us to demonstrate the use of the area by other marine mammals species, including Bigg’s killer whales, porpoises, sea lions, and humpback whales, visually or by listening for their characteristic vocalizations.
In addition to monitoring the use of the Pender Island Interim Sanctuary Zone by both whales and boats, our monitoring station will continuously measure underwater noise levels. Noise data from the site will be made available to NoiseTracker, a collaboration between hydrophone operators in British Columbia to present underwater noise levels at multiple locations in British Columbia on a shared, user-friendly website.
You can help
Raincoast’s in-house scientists, collaborating graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and professors make us unique among conservation groups. We work with First Nations, academic institutions, government, and other NGOs to build support and inform decisions that protect aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, and the wildlife that depend on them. We conduct ethically applied, process-oriented, and hypothesis-driven research that has immediate and relevant utility for conservation deliberations and the collective body of scientific knowledge.
We investigate to understand coastal species and processes. We inform by bringing science to decision-makers and communities. We inspire action to protect wildlife and wildlife habitats.
