New AI Website Helps Track Humpback Whales in Newfoundland

St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador – A new website called Hello Humpback is using artificial intelligence to help track the province’s humpback whale population. Launched by the tourism department, it allows users to upload whale watching photos and assists in telling the unique stories of these marine giants.

Darrell Smith, the director of marketing for the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts and Recreation, explains that no two humpback whale tails are alike. He compares their markings to human fingerprints. “Every one of those is unique,” Smith told CBC Radio’s Newfoundland Morning. This uniqueness plays a key role in the tracking process.

When a user uploads a photo, the site employs image recognition software to search a database maintained by Happy Whale, a group that has tracked the migration patterns of humpback whales for years. Smith elaborated, “It’ll show you the whale that you have seen yourself and will say, ‘OK, this guy’s been in the Dominican Republic and was recently seen off North Point.’”

Additionally, the program generates stories about each whale, including their movements and sea conditions. According to Smith, this process is part of citizen science, where individuals contribute to environmental research.

The AI for Hello Humpback was designed to reflect a unique Newfoundland and Labrador approach, despite the global data from Happy Whale. “We didn’t hire local writers because AI can generate a whale’s story much faster,” Smith noted.

Hello Humpback reports that Newfoundland and Labrador hosts the world’s largest population of humpbacks annually. The site shares the stories of whales like Ryan and Michael, both last spotted in the region in 2022.