See How These Drones Are Saving Whales And Other Endangered Species

Matt Pickett, Founder of the nonprofit, Oceans Unmanned, holds a DJI drone that will assist in the disentangling of humpback whales in Hawaii. In April 2018, the Washington Post reported that a sperm whale was found dead off the coast of Spain with 64 pounds of plastic debris in his stomach. Each fall, pods of endangered humpback whales numbering around 10,000, make their 3,000-mile journey towards Hawaii to winter over in the warm waters of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary. Along the way, these whales encounter man-made environmental hazards such as fishing gear lines and marine debris which become tangled around the whale's body and fins cutting into the whale's flesh and sometimes even dragging them down to the bottom of the sea where they drown. The work to untangle a 45-foot, 40-ton whale is dangerous to both the rescue team and the whale.