新的应用软件可保护濒临灭绝的鲸鱼。

北大西洋露脊鲸濒临灭绝，主要原因之一是与游轮和货运船舶发生碰撞。一种新的 iPad和iPhone应用软件提供了减少碰撞的方式。

接收鲸鱼呼叫的浮标可以启动鲸鱼警讯(Whale Alert)的实时报警，向附近的使用者通报鲸鱼的位置。此外，鲸鱼警讯还向过往船舶通报国家海洋和大气管理局（National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration）适用于附近海域的露脊鲸保护措施,如降低航速的限制等。

鲸鱼警讯是政府机构、学术界、非政府保护组织和民营产业合作的产物,由设在马萨诸塞湾（Massachusetts Bay）河口的国家海洋和大气管理局斯特尔威根海岸国家海洋保护区（Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary）主持研制工作。

鲸鱼警讯的协作机构之一,国际爱护动物基金会（International Fund for Animal Welfare）的全球鲸鱼保护事务主任帕特里克·拉梅奇（Patrick Ramage）说：“露脊鲸鱼的生存有赖于保护工作方面的巨大进展。这一新的iPad应用软件为这些鲸鱼提供了求生的机会。

A new iPad app can help ships avoid collisions with nearly extinct North Atlantic right whales.

North Atlantic right whales (above) are on the brink of extinction, and a leading cause of their death is collisions with cruise and shipping vessels. A new iPad and iPhone app offers a way for ships to reduce the collisions.

Whale Alert gives real-time warnings triggered by buoys that listen for the whales’ calls and alert nearby users to their positions. In addition, it alerts mariners to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s right whale conservation measures — such as reduced speed limitations — that are active in their immediate vicinity.

Whale Alert was developed through a collaboration between government agencies, academic institutions, nonprofit conservation groups and private-sector industries, led by scientists at NOAA’s Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary at the mouth of Massachusetts Bay.

"Right whales need dramatic conservation progress to survive,” said Patrick Ramage, global whale director for the International Fund for Animal Welfare and one of the collaborators on Whale Alert. “This new iPad app gives these whales a fighting chance."