While 7 out of 13 great whale species are on the trajectory to extinction given pervasive overfishing and being caught as ‘by-catch’, colliding with ships has been identified as the main threat to whales in the Atlantic and Mediterranean Oceans.
Though ship collisions have been identified by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) as a significant threat to whale populations, the phenomenon remains widely unknown and research into preventative measures has consequently been neglected.
