Marine conservation is getting some help from artificial intelligence — in a story with direct ties to Hawaiʻi.
“WhaleSpotter” does what it says — it helps ships avoid hitting and killing whales.
Late last year, Matson announced it would be the first container shipping company to use the technology. And 10 years ago, some of the key testing of WhaleSpotter was done off the coast of Kauaʻi.
The Conversation spoke with Daniel Zitterbart, one of the inventors of the technology that’s offering hope to quite literally “save the whales” by reducing whale strikes.
According to Zitterbart, an estimated 10,000-plus whales are struck by vessels globally each year.
The WhaleSpotter system uses artificial intelligence to detect whales.
"It looks for surfacing whales and measures the apparent temperature contrast between a whale spout, or its body, and the water surface," he said.
"It can detect a whale ahead of the boat in several nautical miles distance and alert captains in time about the animal being there so they can take evasive action if the whale is in the path of the vessel."
With WhaleSpotter now partnered with Matson, Zitterbart's hope is to scale up production and equip more ships with the technology.
As he explained, “our mission is to protect whales while making the coexistence between whales and vessels possible.”
This story aired on The Conversation on Feb. 26, 2026. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. This story has been adapted for the web.
