Sound is survival, protect killer whales
Quieter waters for wildlife.
Lower emissions for a healthier coast.
Better tools for conservation science.
Protect what you love
Help us quiet our research vessel, Achiever, so we can lead the way to a quieter coast and safeguard marine life habitat. A quieter boat means better science, and better science means stronger protection.
A quieter way forward
Donate and support whales:
- Reducing underwater noise is protection for whales
- Moving quietly is essential to listen and protect
- We push governments and industry to reduce the noise they put into whale habitat
- Achiever is a world-class research vessel
- We have an engineering plan to deploy one of the first hybrid electric systems in our vessel class
Quieting Achiever
For a project built on listening, moving quietly is essential.
Your gift puts a quieter research vessel on the water: one that disturbs less of what it studies, collects more accurate data, and shows the coast what responsible time on the water should look like.
Why is quieting Achiever essential
- Leadership on the coast
- Less noise in whale habitat
- Better science: record without masking the very calls we are recording
- Lower emissions
Rethinking the way we conduct research
Killer whales live in a world of sound, and we are filling it with noise. Unlike most pollution, noise stops the moment we stop making it. Every quieter vessel on the water makes a difference. This is why we are reimagining the way we do research.
Why sound matters
Killer whales depend on sound to stay in contact with family, coordinate their movements, find prey and pass knowledge from one generation to the next.
Underwater, light fades quickly, but sound travels more than four times faster than in air and carries over far greater distances. That is why killer whales and other marine mammals rely on sound for almost every aspect of their lives, and why the roar of a vessel can mask their calls from kilometers away.
Ocean noise is an existential threat for killer whales
For over a century, vessel traffic has been steadily increasing, and underwater noise has become one of the fastest-growing threats to ocean life. Noise masks killer whale calls, reduces the distance over which family members can hear one another, interferes with the echolocation they use to find prey, and can drive them away from key feeding grounds. Turning down that noise is possible, and it starts with the vessels already on the water, including our own.
Leading the way to a healthier ocean
A repowered Achiever would serve not only as a research platform but also as a demonstration of emerging technologies that can help reduce the acoustic footprint of marine activities in critical whale habitat. It will be a working model of an ethical research vessel on our coast: proof that research at sea can be done quietly, and an example for research, tourism, and commercial vessels to follow. Help us walk the talk.
Reducing ocean noise is everyone’s responsibility
Shipping, tourism, fishing, and recreational boats all add to underwater noise in killer whale habitat, and every one of them can be quieter. We are starting with our own boat, and with the science that shows why it matters. Help us lead the way to a quieter ocean.