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Ocean Technologies and WCA partner to educate crew on avoiding ship strikes

PHOTO: ALAN BEDDING cruise_whale_strikes.jpg
The WCA-designed course supports operators by educating crews on how to avoid collisions with whales and dolphins. (Photo: A humpback whale in Alaska.)
Ocean Technologies Group (OTG) will host World Cetacean Alliance’s (WCA) ‘Becoming Whale Aware’ course on its platform, a move intended to reduce ship strikes and risks posed to marine mammals.

The e-learning module will be the first in OTG’s Ocean Learning Library specifically developed to help ship owners and operators educate crew on measures to minimise the risk of strikes.

It can be accessed through the Ocean Learning Platform.

Advocates of protecting marine habitats

‘Being able to offer this whale awareness e-learning is of huge interest and benefit to our customers for whom protecting the environment is a high priority,’ explained Joost Van Ree, group director cruise & yachts, Ocean Technologies Group.

‘It is particularly important for our cruise industry clients who are huge advocates of ensuring crew understand the actions that they can take to protect marine habitats.

‘This partnership with the WCA will prove to be invaluable in helping OLP users to protect our marine ecosystem for future generations.’

Reaching countless seafarers

Collisions with ships are one of the greatest known threats to whales, dolphins, and porpoises and pose a significant risk to large whale species, including the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale.

World Cetacean Alliance CEO Harry Eckman said of the partnership, ‘…It’s a hugely important relationship that puts our course within reach of over one million seafarers and provides training that can potentially save the lives of thousands of whales.’

TAGS: elearning