Whale Seeker

Whale Seeker is a Montreal-based company that applies artificial intelligence to imagery in order to visually detect and monitor marine mammals and birds. Its tools are aimed at energy, shipping, fishing, government and non-profit organizations that need detections for permitting, mitigation, security and conservation purposes, both for real-time field operations and for longer-term studies. The company states that its models detect large and small cetaceans including porpoises, pinnipeds such as seals and walrus, sharks, penguins and polar bears, including polar bear tracks and predation events, and that they also characterize environmental context such as land, ice, snow, soil and rock cover.

The product line includes Möbius, an aerial imagery analysis tool that combines human and machine judgement to detect marine mammals, coastlines, ice and snow; Möbius Observer, a real-time alerting tool for marine mammal observers that is being tested with innovation partners in additional environments and for additional species; Cetus, a satellite-based detection and classification system for monitoring whales across vast or remote ocean regions; and Arc, an in-development system using forward-facing infrared technology for real-time detection to avoid vessel collisions, intended to integrate with existing ship systems and notify captains, governments or other stakeholders, with stored, auditable imagery. Whale Seeker also describes a "Whale Seeker Certified Routes" initiative that would use the Cetus platform to analyze risk-reduced, mammal-safe shipping routes.

The company positions visual detection as complementary to passive acoustic monitoring, noting that some baleen whales are silent or less vocal and that acoustic methods cannot pinpoint exact locations. Its solutions are described as end-to-end, spanning data collection, software, training and support through a partner network, with data sharing agreements, encryption and storage protocols, and a commitment that client data remains the client's property.

Founding story

Whale Seeker was founded in Montreal in 2018 by Emily Charry Tissier, a biologist with roughly 20 years of experience in coastal and arctic ecosystems, Antoine Gagné-Turcotte, a biomedical engineer with over ten years of software development experience, and Bertrand Charry, a field biologist experienced in detecting whales from boats, shore and aircraft. The stated aim was to bridge the divide between profitability and sustainability by making marine mammal detection fast, accurate and accessible.

Business model

Whale Seeker sells AI-based detection tools and analysis services for marine mammal and bird monitoring, offering end-to-end solutions that combine software, human expert review, training and support delivered through a partner network. Products span aerial imagery analysis (Möbius), real-time observer alerts (Möbius Observer), satellite-based detection (Cetus) and an in-development shipboard infrared system (Arc). Some capabilities, such as Arc and Möbius Observer, are being developed and tested jointly with industry and innovation partners.

Traction

The company reports more than 165,000 marine mammals detected to date and a team with over 40 combined years of field biology experience, and states its tooling is 97% faster for biologists compared with fully manual detection. Testimonials come from a scientific researcher at Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the Director of Data Science at Black Bawks Ltd, and Transport Canada, which since 2021 has supported tracking the effectiveness of remotely piloted aircraft systems paired with advanced camera sensors and AI as a primary detection method for North Atlantic right whales.

Latest developments

In February 2026, Whale Seeker's satellite-based Cetus system was named to UNESCO IRCAI's top 100 projects list and described as "outstanding," the company's second such recognition after Möbius in 2022. Alongside Cetus, the company described a "Whale Seeker Certified Routes" initiative that would use the Cetus platform to analyze risk-reduced shipping routes for marine mammals. The CEO also stated the company has maintained and renewed its B Corp certification.