The North Atlantic right whale is one of the world’s most critically endangered species, with less than 400 left, in part because it spends much time in the busy shipping lanes on the east coast of North America and now the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Nearly 90% of right whale deaths between 2003 and 2018 were caused by vessel strikes and entanglement with nets.

But a new scientific development known as bioacoustics has made it possible to protect the whales from ship strikes by using the sounds they make to let ship’s captains know when the whales are nearby. The program triangulates the locations of whales and conveys the information to ship’s captains in real time. The ships then have to slow down, stop, or move out of the way.

“Not a single right whale has died of a ship strike in this zone since this program was launched,” Karen Bakker said in a fascinating TED talk recorded in April 2023 that looked at what scientists are learning about how species communicate in ways humans can’t hear – but which AI is beginning to decipher. And scientists are exploring how such technology could be used more widely in the world’s oceans.