Title:

Marine and Naval Technological Advancements for Robotic Autonomy Sustainable Safe Whale Tagging with Power-Efficient Sensor Telemetry

Current cetacean tagging methods endanger the life of cetaceans. The most popular long- term tag for cetaceans is Dart Tags, which are invasive and embedded into the whale’s blubber using small darts or barbs. While the life-threatening danger is not high, there is still damage and harm that comes to the cetaceans through this variation of tagging. Whales are commonly hurt and scarred by this process, which could cause damage to the underlying tissue. This can cause a variety of issues, which include but are not limited to infection, long-term irritation, behavioral disruptions, reduced hydrodynamics, and potential breakdown of the tag itself. Since cetacean tagging is an attempt to learn more about how whales function and their behavior/environment, causing issues that impact the behavior and quality of life of the whale decreases understanding and only causes harm to said whales. In addition, according to National Geographic, before humans started actively hunting whales, the number of whales in the ocean numbered between 4 and 5 million. Now, after human involvement, whales are numbered just above one million. To preserve this species as much as possible, humans need to tag less invasively.

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