The Ships, Whales, and Acoustics in Gitga’at Territory (SWAG) project is a collaboration between the Gitga’at Oceans and Land Department, BC Whales, and WWF-Canada. The main goals of the project are to understand and mitigate the impacts of shipping on whales and to further build and support Gitga’at capacity for monitoring and managing shipping impacts in the Territory.
The SWAG project’s research and monitoring is centred at the Fin Island Research Station and encompasses the central waters of Gitga’at Territory. These efforts include;
- localizing vocal whales using 4 hydrophones in Squally Channel,
- daily systematic land-based surveys documenting whale and vessel distribution and habitat usage,
- line-transect surveys throughout the territory,
- conducting drone surveys to assess whale ship-strike vulnerability, and
- publishing peer-reviewed scientific literature to assist in the development of the best and most informed threat mitigation measures and stewardship practices.
The SWAG project is enabling efforts to reduce the impacts of shipping on whales by providing Gitga’at and mariners real time information on the location of whales. SWAG has supported Gitga’at efforts to refine waterway management guidelines developed through the Proactive Vessel Management Initiative co-led by Gitga’at, Gitxaala and Transport Canada to reduce the risk of whale strikes. In addition, SWAG has been pioneering and prototyping a framework to monitor and manage underwater noise from shipping in the territory.
