A collaborative project involving Australia’s offshore regulator, the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA), and the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) to improve the detection and identification of whales during marine seismic surveys has been shortlisted for development through the Federal Government’s Business Research and Innovation Initiative (BRII).

Through the BRII process, businesses are invited to respond to challenges identified by Government agencies and independent bodies such as NOPSEMA, with ideas for innovative solutions.

BRII has approximately $2.4 million for each approved challenge, including NOPSEMA’s, to support innovative businesses to build feasibility studies and produce working prototypes or demonstrations.

NOPSEMA’s challenge highlights the opportunity to build automated and integrated whale detection systems for fixing to vessels during seismic surveys.

This technology would help to provide further real-time information to industry to better manage their surveys, and data for regulators and researchers to improve their understanding of the spatial distribution and behaviour of whales.

The Australian Antarctic Division, based in Hobart, is part of the Australian Government’s Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment. It is responsible for Australia’s presence and activities in the Australian Antarctic Territory and the Southern Ocean. The Division leads Australia’s Antarctic Program.

A video on the BRII 2020 project can be found here.