SAvE Whales: From Science to Real-Time Protection
Only around 200 sperm whales remain in the entire eastern Mediterranean and heavily trafficked shipping routes run directly through their most important habitat, the Hellenic Trench. More than half of the sperm whales that have stranded there over the past three decades showed injuries caused by ship collisions. The SAvE Whales system (System for the Avoidance of Ship Strikes with Endangered Whales) is designed to change that: underwater hydrophones detect sperm whales in real time using their clicks and determine their position, giving ship captains the chance to reduce speed or alter course before it is too late. This is the story of how a research idea became an international protection project.
2026 and outlook 2028: Handover of the first permanent, real-time warning system for sperm whales
In 2027, comprehensive testing of the developed buoys, accompanied by verification measures, will take place at the two designated deployment locations in the Strait of Kythira, as well as Site Acceptance Testing of the purchased equipment will be carried out.
In March 2026, an addendum to the Memorandum of Understanding was signed, securing the participation of the Greek environmental fund The Green Fund.
NECCA launched an international open tender for the SAvE Whales system and will result in the awarding of the contract for the production and provision of the buoys. A third field season took place in July 2026. Several shipping companies have agreed to test the system’s application in their navigation procedures.
The goal is for the fully operational SAvE Whales system to be handed over to the Greek Agency for Environment and Climate Change (NECCA) in 2028, marking the transition from a jointly developed protection project to a permanently institutionalised whale detection system in the eastern Mediterranean.
SAvE Whales can thus become the first permanent, real-time warning system for sperm whales in commercial shipping in the Mediterranean and serve as a model for other heavily trafficked marine regions.
2025: Towards permanent deployment
The SAvE Whales steering committee develops key project and implementation frameworks and drives forward the search for an industrial partner to produce the acoustic buoys. In July and August, FORTH tests a pilot buoy west of Kythira; simultaneous visual and acoustic monitoring by The Pelagos Cetacean Research Institute verifies the system’s functionality. In December, the Greek environmental fund Green Fund secures the long-term co-financing of the project as promised by the Greek government.
OceanCare holds discussions with shipping industry representatives on integrating the whale warning system into existing navigation regulations.
Neptune Lines announces that it will adjust its routes through the Hellenic Trench, a significant step, as the company’s vessels traverse the area more than 200 times a year. The project is presented at the Our Ocean Conference in South Korea, at the ACCOBAMS Conference of the Parties, and to the steering committee of PAMEx (Plan of Action for a Model Mediterranean Sea by 2030).
2024: Becoming a governmental commitment
At the Our Ocean Conference in Athens, the implementation of SAvE Whales is announced as one of Greece’s 20 voluntary commitments to marine conservation. OceanCare, The Green Tank, the Greek Ministry of Environment and Energy (MEEN) and the Greek Agency for Environment and Climate Change (NECCA) sign a Memorandum of Understanding to install the system in the Strait of Kythira, where shipping routes cannot be rerouted away from sperm whale habitat. Arcadia Shipmanagement becomes the first Greek shipping company to move its routes out of the sperm whales’ core habitat. The Greek government also announces that part of the sperm whale habitat in the Hellenic Trench will be placed under protection, in line with the longstanding demands of The Pelagos Cetacean Research Institute and OceanCare. In July 2024, the first field season took place in the Strait of Kythira. In September 2024, the SAvE Whales Steering Committee was launched.
2023: Towards implementation
OceanCare and The Green Tank begin informing Greek authorities about SAvE Whales and work towards collaborative implementation. Acting on scientific recommendations from an NGO coalition led by OceanCare, a growing number of shipping companies introduce voluntary protective measures: CMA CGM and DFDS instruct their captains to avoid sperm whale habitats in the Hellenic Trench.
2022: Publication and first shipping industry progress made
The results of the pilot project are published in Frontiers in Marine Science. SAvE Whales is presented at a side event at ACCOBAMS MOP8 (Meeting of Parties). In close collaboration with The Green Tank, OceanCare reaches out to the shipping industry: MSC, the world’s largest container shipping company, decides to reroute its vessels away from the sperm whales’ core habitat in the Hellenic Trench.
2020-2021: Pilot operations
Acoustic stations are deployed off south-west Crete and run in pilot service for three months, with in-situ validation by The Pelagos Cetacean Research Institute. After further development and refinement, a second three-month field run confirms the system’s reliability. The three-year pilot phase is successfully completed.
2019: Official project launch
In OceanCare’s 30th anniversary year, the SAvE Whales project officially kicks off together with The Pelagos Cetacean Research Institute, FORTH, MarineTraffic and Green2Sustain. A study published in PLOS ONE shows that major shipping routes pass directly through the core habitat of the endangered sperm whales. FORTH advances the concept of 3D localisation for a large-aperture array of moored hydrophones for the SAvE Whales system.
2017: Global recognition as an Important Marine Mammal Area
The IUCN designates the Hellenic Trench as an Important Marine Mammal Area (IMMA) for sperm whales and Cuvier’s beaked whales, a direct result of years of dedicated research by The Pelagos Cetacean Research Institute.
2013-2015: First prototypes in the water
A pilot acoustic buoy is built and tested in Portugal in 2013. The first live tests of acoustic buoys follow south of Zakynthos Island in the Hellenic Trench in 2014. By 2015, FORTH has developed the first operational system for 3D localisation based on a large-aperture towed array of hydrophones.
2011-2012: Documenting the scale of the problem
The Pelagos Cetacean Research Institute and OceanCare launch a joint project on ship strikes. Analysis of the available data reveals that the sperm whale population in the Hellenic Trench and the entire Eastern Mediterranean Basin numbers only around 200 individuals. OceanCare subsequently funds the “WhaleListen” project in collaboration with The Pelagos Cetacean Research Institute, FORTH, CINTAL (Portugal) and the University of Basel.
2007–2008: Protected area proposal and a new partner
Following an official proposal by The Pelagos Cetacean Research Institute, the Hellenic Trench is included in the list of proposed Mediterranean Marine Protected Areas by ACCOBAMS. In 2008, OceanCare begins supporting The Pelagos Cetacean Research Institute sperm whale research. It is the beginning of a collaboration that continues to this day.
2006: Listed as endangered
Based on data gathered primarily by The Pelagos Cetacean Research Institute, the IUCN Red List classifies the Mediterranean sperm whale population as endangered.
2004: Ship strikes identified as the primary threat
The Pelagos Cetacean Research Institute analyses stranding data: propeller marks on whale bodies confirm that ship strikes are the most serious threat to sperm whales along the Hellenic Trench. FORTH and The Pelagos Cetacean Research Institute publish their first joint paper on a localisation method based on double arrivals.
2002: First recognition
Following a proposal by The Pelagos Cetacean Research Institute, the ACCOBAMS parties recognise south-west Crete as a key area for the protection of Mediterranean sperm whales. In the same year, a scientific collaboration begins between The Pelagos Cetacean Research Institute and the Institute of Computational and Applied Mathematics of the Foundation for Research and Technology – Hellas (FORTH). FORTH establishes that the observed double arrivals of sperm whale clicks are caused by surface reflections, a finding that becomes the basis for the later localisation method.
2000: The birth of an idea
The Pelagos Cetacean Research Institute conceives an acoustic system capable of localising both sperm whales and illegal dynamite fishing activities in south-west Crete. This is the founding idea behind SAvE Whales.
1998: A sperm whale population discovered
The Pelagos Cetacean Research Institute (PCRI) discovers a sperm whale population in the Hellenic Trench, one of the most significant marine conservation findings in the Mediterranean.