![\"Device](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776720437_998_default.jpg\")
There are eight engineers working on the Maritime Situational Awareness System and founder Glenn Jones says he doesn’t know of anybody else in the world doing this type of technology. (Glenn Jones)<\/p>\nA company out of Victoria, B.C., has created technology that can detect marine mammals and is piloting it on a new electric passenger ferry. <\/p>\n
Glenn Jones is the founder of Reach Technologies Inc.. It started 32 years ago in aerospace technology and recently started diving into marine detection.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’re starting trials with the Department of National Defence this month,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n
The company has built a novel multispectral camera that constantly rotates 360 degrees and can instantly identify objects, debris, people and animals.<\/p>\n
There are eight engineers working on the Maritime Situational Awareness System and founder Glenn Jones says he doesn’t know of anybody else in the world doing this type of technology. (Glenn Jones)<\/p>\n
\u201cAs soon as a marine mammal breaks the surface, we can detect it,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n
The devices are costly at up to $600,000. <\/p>\n
“I don’t know of anybody in the world doing this technology,” Jones said. <\/p>\n
Last fall, two humpback whales were struck and killed<\/a> in B.C., and a third humpback whale was hit and injured<\/a> off Vancouver by a ferry. Another humpback whale washed up dead <\/a>near Lasqueti Island in the Strait of Georgia.<\/p>\n \u201cThese humpbacks come back specifically to the area around Bowen Island and to Gibsons,\u201d said Jackie Hildering with the Marine Education and Research Society. <\/p>\n CIRQL Ferries<\/a> is looking to operate two electric ferries by 2028, travelling from Vancouver to Bowen Island and the Sunshine Coast, and is piloting the detection technology. The ferries will travel through the same area where a humpback was fatally struck <\/a>by a whale watching vessel in October 2025. <\/p>\n Marine Mammal Zoologist Anna Hall said Howe Sound has recently rebounded with wildlife.<\/p>\n \u201cHumpback whales [population] are still increasing, and they are a species that is very susceptible to vessel strikes, it can be fatal,\u201d Hall said. <\/p>\n More vessels will bring an increased risk to humpbacks being struck, according to researchers and marine mammal experts. <\/p>\n \u201cAny time that we have whales and vessels in the same area at the same time, we have a risk of vessel strikes,\u201d said Hall. <\/p>\n \u201cIt is our responsibility, as is the people on the water, to do everything we can to bring that risk as low as it possibly can be.\u201d<\/p>\n Canadian Wildlife Federation senior conservation biologist Sean Brillant said even smaller vessels can cause deadly strikes. <\/p>\n \u201cEven when they’re going at seemingly slow speeds like 10 knots, it could still be a very dangerous situation for that whale,\u201d said Brillant.<\/p>\n \u201cThis would certainly be the case with new ferries, and we’ve got lots of ferries everywhere in Canada that are posing threats to whales.\u201d<\/p>\n Reducing speed can help, but it doesn\u2019t solve the problem. <\/p>\n \u201cThe best solution is to not have vessels in places where there are whales,” Brillant said. <\/p>\n Having restricted areas and detection technology also helps. <\/p>\n \u201cIf we can detect the whales early, there is a belief we can reduce vessel strikes,\u201d Brillant said. <\/p>\n Less underwater pollution, more vessels<\/p>\n The Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada said there are two whale detection systems in areas where they are believed to be at higher risk of vessel collisions.\u00a0 <\/p>\n In an email, Transport Canada said all commercial vessel operators, including crew members, must be trained and certified by Transport Canada in marine safety. <\/p>\n CIRQL co-founder Darren Pereira is a second-generation mariner and said the ferries will travel up to 23 knots. <\/p>\n \u201cWe need to be stewards of our oceans. We need to protect it as much as we can,\u201d Pereira said. <\/p>\n Along with the technology, staff will be enrolled in courses, following proper protocol, including reducing speed, taking an alternate course, giving a wide berth and alert any whale sightings. <\/p>\n \u201cThe benefit of an electric ferry is that it reduces the underwater noise considerably,\u201d Pereira said. <\/p>\n While the vessels will be quieter, Hildering said there is an increased risk of strikes. <\/p>\n \u201cIf this is not displacing traffic from other ferries, it is increasing collision risk,\u201d Hildering said. \u201cLess noise generally is good if not too quiet \u2026 but this isn’t a displacement away from something else, it\u2019s in addition.\u201d<\/p>\n Humpbacks travel in unpredictable patterns, Hildering said. <\/p>\n \u201cWe should learn that humpbacks feed in these waters, that they bulk up here,\u201d Hildering said. <\/p>\n![\"Unlike](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776720437_412_default.jpg\")
The MSAS device was designed to detect logs in the water and unlike infrared cameras, it can detect animals as they come up to the surface and even detect what type it is. (Glenn Jones)<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776720438_983_default.jpg\")
A humpback whale was found dead and floating in the water off Keats Island on Oct. 26 2025. (Alex Cole)Slow can still be dangerous <\/p>\n![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776184214_932_default.jpg\")
A rendering of what the CIRQL Ferries service out of Coal Harbour in Vancouver would look like. (CIRQL Ferries\/3GA Marine\/Moffatt & Nichol\/BOP Architects)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776720440_242_default.jpg\")
Christie McMillan, a researcher with the DFO previously told CBC News there could be up to 400 humpback whales spending time in the Salish Sea during the fall. (Pacific Whale Foundation provided by B.C. Whales)<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776720441_223_default.jpg\")
Little Patch was swimming close to the shore off Selma Park near Sechelt, B.C. on Nov. 25 2025. (Ian Bolden)<\/p>\n