Whales migrate to the Caribbean annually to mate and give birth, making the region a crucial breeding ground. Human-related activities, including ocean plastics, overfishing, ship strikes, noise pollution, and climate change, have severely impacted their environment, threatening the survival of these species. Knowledge gaps regarding their movements, status, and interactions with key habitats hinder effective conservation and management efforts.
To address these challenges, the Elkhorn Marine Conservancy (EMC) has begun an initiative to deepen our understanding of whale species in the region, using a hydrophone, an underwater sound recorder, at a key site in Antigua, to record whale sounds, which will help us to develop artificial intelligence capable of analyzing their interactions with human activities, such as boat traffic. The observations collected will contribute to understanding the environmental factors shaping these species’ movements and habitat preferences while evaluating their interactions with human activities.
For more information on Elkhorn Marine Conservancy (EMC) please visit www.emcantigua.org.
