The Future of Whale Conservation: Harnessing Distributed Acoustic Sensing for Real-Time Monitoring

Whale distribution is a key indicator of ocean health and ecosystem stability, highlighting the need for informed conservation efforts. Yet, current monitoring methods such as visual surveys or autonomous passive acoustic monitoring, lack the spatial and temporal resolution necessary for detailed and continuous surveys at scale.

Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) is a game-changing innovative technology that transforms optical fibers into a dense network of sensors for geophysical and acoustic measurements. By emitting laser pulses propagating along the fiber, DAS detects signals reflected back from various points along the cable, providing high-resolution spatial data, over tens of kms. At the cost of massive amounts of data that require fast, optimized  algorithms, this technology can operate on any optical fiber, including the hundreds of telecom cables already crisscrossing the world’s oceans.

In this presentation, we will illustrate how DAS implemented on seafloor cables along the French Mediterranean coast enables whale detection and localization. This innovative project aims to track the presence, migration patterns, and locations of whales, contributing valuable insights into their behavior and movement patterns. Moreover, with the ability to collect and process data in real-time opens up the possibility of sharing the cetacean locations with relevant stakeholders, including nearby vessels.This information can enable vessel operators to adjust their speed, thereby reducing the risk of collisions and protecting marine mammals from the impacts of human activities.