Advanced Technologies to Reduce Vessel Strikes

The Risk of Vessel Collisions with Marine Life

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Vessel strikes are one of the major threats facing large whales and other marine species such as sea turtles. Collisions between marine life and large vessels often go unnoticed and unreported, even though animals can be injured or killed and vessels can sustain damage. Even collisions with smaller boats can be lethal to animals and dangerous for boat passengers. The most common vessel-related injuries to marine life are blunt force trauma and propeller cuts. 

Vessel strikes happen throughout U.S. waters and around the world. This challenge continues worldwide as human activity and vessel traffic increase.

Current Strategies

NOAA Fisheries implements measures to reduce the risk of vessel strikes, especially in areas with dense, high-speed vessel traffic. These include: 

• Requiring vessels (65 feet and longer) to slow down in specific areas, such as Seasonal Management Areas established in North Atlantic right whale habitats
• Implementing voluntary seasonal and dynamic (temporary) speed reductions
• Enacting "no-approach" rules around marine mammals and sea turtles to prevent interactions
• Recommending modified and alternative shipping routes and areas to be avoided to reduce the overlap of ships and species vulnerable to vessel strikes
• Working with partners to develop mariner alert systems
• Improving our marine animal stranding response

We also educate vessel operators on responsible boating practices, such as:

• Slowing down in areas where marine mammals and sea turtles are likely present
• Keeping a sharp lookout for animals in the water or signs of their presence, like whale spouts
• Keeping a safe distance
• Shifting engines to neutral when close to marine life 

Exploring New Technological Tools

Technology has the potential to reduce the risk of vessel strikes. It could help marine industries (such as fisheries, boating, and shipping) continue to thrive and coexist with marine life. It could include tools that detect and identify animals, alert vessels when an animal is present, and recommend actions mariners could take to help avoid a collision.

Detection technology is only one part of reducing risk. It must be paired with mariner action—such as altering course or slowing down when whales are nearby—to reduce the chances of a vessel strike. These mitigation efforts are feasible when it is safe for the mariner and the vessel to do so. Navigational safety remains the top priority.

NOAA Investments in Research and Development

NOAA Fisheries and our partners invest in developing and deploying high-tech tools for vessel strike avoidance. Our investments advance the science and research behind innovations. We also work to increase the usefulness of existing technologies to reduce the risk of collisions. 

Our role is to support the development and evaluation of emerging and established technologies and help transition effective options to real-world implementation. 

Vessel Strike Risk Reduction Technology Workshop

NOAA Fisheries hosted a first-of-its-kind public workshop in March 2024 to explore and promote new and existing technologies to reduce the risk of vessel strikes for North Atlantic right whales and other large whales. The workshop drew nearly 600 participants from the maritime, technology, industrial, academic, nonprofit, tribal, and government sectors. 

Explore resources from the workshop

How Ready Are These Tools?

Detecting animals in complex marine environments is not straightforward. Mariners cannot always see or hear large marine life near the water’s surface, and their distribution varies throughout the water column. Environmental conditions can add to these challenges. High levels of ocean noise and adverse weather can obscure animal detection from both visual and acoustic sensors. 

No single system currently offers a verified, "one-size-fits-all" solution to prevent all collisions with marine life, but great progress is being made. A growing number of vessels are testing suites of onboard sensors and other electronics in real-world, on-water scenarios. They are evaluating and testing options for real-time whale detection and avoidance. 

This is just the start. NOAA and our partners are working to evaluate the efficacy of different approaches, using advanced modeling and enhanced AI interpretation of vessel sensor data.  

Some technology is already in use. On the East Coast, mariners transiting through seasonal speed zones for North Atlantic right whales may receive safety alerts through the Automatic Identification System. Near-real time acoustic and visual monitoring efforts are actively detecting whales. Researchers continue to work on other enhanced monitoring options, such as satellite-based whale detection and advanced tracking tags. 

Vessel collisions with whales is a challenging problem, and a "system of systems" approach is needed. This means integrating several technologies that complement each other, combining their strengths to address individual limitations in detecting marine life.  

How Do We Assess Technology Readiness?

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Technology Readiness Levels are a framework to assess how ready a technology is for a specific use. Several government agencies, including NOAA and NASA, use this framework. The readiness scale runs from 1 (basic research stage) to 9 (fully ready to use).

The scale measures how prepared a technology is to be used for a certain purpose, not how effective it is at that purpose. A very mature technology with a high readiness level may work very differently—and sometimes less effectively—in real-world situations. Radar is a good example of this. It is a well-established technology with a high readiness level for general navigation and avoiding collisions with other vessels. However, it is not well developed for use to avoid collisions with marine life like whales. Another example is passive acoustic monitoring, which has a high readiness level for detecting whales. Passive acoustic monitoring systems are highly advanced and used globally, but can only detect whales when they are vocalizing and in ocean conditions conducive to detection.  

In 2024, NOAA Fisheries contracted the MITRE Corporation to independently assess the current maturity level of different detection technologies to reduce vessel strike risk. This assessment focuses on the North Atlantic right whale, but the methodologies and technologies studied have broad applications to other marine species.

In November 2025, MITRE issued a report on their findings. This report evaluates the Technology Readiness Levels of 11 technologies for three specific applications:

• Detecting whales
• Reducing vessel strike risk for an individual vessel (e.g., onboard systems)
• Reducing vessel strike risk within a region (e.g., offboard systems)

Given the rapid pace of technical evolution, these findings represent a snapshot of the landscape as of late 2025. These readiness levels continue to change as the technology advances. 

Read the full 2025 Technology Readiness Level Report

Summary of Current Technology Readiness Levels for Vessel Strike Risk Reduction 

Scale: 1 (basic research stage) to 9 (fully ready to use)

How You Can Get Involved

We strongly encourage technology developers to become active in this space and foster collaboration within the maritime community. Continued innovation is vital for achieving robust vessel strike risk reduction.  

We appreciate the many vessel operators and companies who have stepped forward to test new systems or to offer a platform for researchers interested in conducting at-sea trials. These efforts are essential for advancing research in this area. 

Funding Opportunities

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation's Vessel Strike Avoidance Fund supports the development and adoption of innovative technology solutions to provide mariners with tools to more effectively avoid collisions with large whales. This work benefits the conservation of endangered North Atlantic right whales and other cetacean species. The program is a partnership between the foundation and NOAA and focuses primarily on the Atlantic Coast, the range of the North Atlantic right whale.

The latest request for proposals for the Vessel Strike Avoidance Fund is now available and accepting pre-proposals through April 15, 2026. 

Learn more about the Vessel Strike Avoidance Fund

Recent Announcements

As part of the Administration's ongoing efforts to evaluate and improve regulations, NOAA has announced an advance notice of proposed rulemaking considering deregulatory action to modify the North Atlantic Right Whale vessel speed rule. We are specifically seeking information concerning the effectiveness of technologies to reduce vessel strikes with whales, among other topics. The public comment period will be open through June 2.

Recent Publications

• Watercraft-Related Mortality of Sea Turtles
• Vessel Strike Encounter Risk Model for North Atlantic Right Whales
• Effects of Vessel Speed and Size on Whale Strike Lethality

Resources

• Marine Mammal Stock Assessment Reports
• Marine Mammal Mortality and Injury Reports:
  • Serious Injury and Mortality Determinations for Baleen Whale Stocks along the Gulf of Mexico, United States East Coast, and Atlantic Canadian Provinces
  • Causes of Mortality and pathologic findings in Pacific Island cetaceans: A review of strandings from 2006-2022
  • Sources of human-related injury and mortality for U.S. Pacific west coast marine mammal stock assessments, 2018-2022
  • Human-caused mortality and injury of NMFS-managed Alaska marine mammal stocks
• Regulations on Vessel Effects for Southern Resident Killer Whales
• Manta Ray Nursery Habitat Boat Strikes