A new study will help identify optimal locations, technology and scientific approaches to maximize the effectiveness of whale monitoring in and around a major Canadian shipping region with the goal of mitigating ship strike risk. 

The study uses autonomous underwater gliders and fixed moorings, both equipped with digital acoustic monitoring devices, to locate whales in the Honguedo Strait, between Anticosti Island and the northern Gaspé Peninsula in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 

JASCO Europe took part in the Boskalis Beach Clean Up in Wassenaar in the Netherlands. Our Rotterdam-based staff Federica Pace walked 11.5 km along the beach with 60 other participants, contributing to clearing the beach and dunes from 312 kg of waste, including a great many plastic straws and strands of fishing nets.

With only 75 individuals, the Southern Resident killer whales (SRKW) are critically endangered and face imminent threats to their survival.

A new Government of Canada poster and pamphlet outline the 2019 rules for boating around killer whales on the BC south coast. Help spread the word by sharing this article.

Roberto Racca, JASCO’s Chief Communications Officer, contributed an article to the Ocean Sound special issue of ECO Magazine, announced today.

From the article:
Vulnerable marine species and critical ecosystems worldwide are increasingly at risk of noise-related injury and disturbance from human activity. Shore-connected underwater acoustic observatories enable long-term, real-time monitoring that can document trends in underwater noise levels and simultaneously detect the presence of whales and other aquatic species.

JASCO Applied Sciences was honoured with the 2nd annual Gully Recognition Award for its contributions to the scientific understanding of the Gully Marine Protected Area (MPA). The award is given yearly by the Gully Advisory Committee, a group of government and non-government entities that advises DFO regarding the management of the Gully MPA.

JASCO’s Dartmouth staff welcomed the sunny weather during their annual litter clean-up in honour of Earth Day.

JASCO’s OceanObserver will soon be flying high as a result of a new partnership with Igloo Innovations Inc. JASCO and Igloo have announced an agreement to integrate the OceanObserver underwater acoustic monitoring technology into Igloo’s SeaHawk line of robotic flying vehicles.

In September 2017, JASCO’s global headquarters in Halifax, NS, achieved ISO 9001:2008 certification, which has since been updated to ISO 9001:2015. In November 2017, the Victoria, BC, office also achieved ISO 9001:2015 certification, meaning that JASCO Applied Sciences (Canada) Ltd is now fully certified.

On November 14, US$1 million of funding was announced for the Stones Metocean Monitoring Project. JASCO will receive a portion of these funds to deploy an AMAR G4 alongside Shell’s Stones Monitoring Station in the Gulf of Mexico. At 3000 m depth, this will be JASCO’s deepest acoustic deployment yet.

JASCO and Teledyne Webb Research have teamed to deploy a Slocum G3 underwater glider fitted with JASCO’s OceanObserver™ intelligent acoustic monitoring system in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. The glider was deployed September 15 in the Orpheline Channel on a 6-week test mission to attempt to detect and record North Atlantic right whales.

This year the JASCO Applied Sciences (Canada) team participated in Earth Day by cleaning up litter and helping with the restoration of native plants in habitats overrun by invasive species.

Earth Day was celebrated globally this year on 22 April, and the JASCO Applied Sciences team joined in the movement to keep the planet beautiful with two litter clean-up initiatives in the company’s Halifax and Victoria offices in Canada. JASCO members and friends gathered in numbers to tackle rubbish in local parks and neighbourhoods. The collected items were later sorted for recycling as far as possible. But personal involvement to helping the planet does not stop at just one day. A member of the JASCO team in the UK embraces the environment on a monthly basis by organizing litter clean ups in his community, and many others throughout company branches worldwide contribute in whatever way they can to reduce their environmental footprint every day of the year.