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We’re pleased to bring you, over the next few weeks, a series of in-person interviews we recorded at the World Ocean Summit in Montreal at the beginning of March. This first episode is with Emily Charry Tissier, Founder and CEO of Whale Seeker, a company that uses AI to detect and monitor marine mammals from visual data such as drone or satellite images. The data feeds into everything from shipping routes to marine protected area management. Emily also poses a question: ocean technological solutions already exist, they work, and regulators have approved them. So why aren't they scaling? She has a clear view on why. We sat down in a quiet corner of the conference venue, with a view of the city in the background and a full-size whale model hanging from the ceiling, which also explains the occasional whale noises you’ll hear in the background. It was an inspiring conversation in a special setting, and we hope you can catch a glimpse of that atmosphere and energy.
Emily's Bio:
Emily Charry Tissier is a marine ecologist and the CEO and co-founder of Whale Seeker, a company that uses AI to detect marine mammals from drone, aircraft and satellite imagery. With 20 years of experience in coastal and arctic ecosystems, she has built Whale Seeker into a tool used across environmental impact assessment, shipping route management and marine protected area monitoring. She has engaged with international bodies including the IMO and IHO, and works at the intersection of ocean technology and maritime governance. She was named one of the top 100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics.
Timestamps:
00:00:10 - Introduction: Emily Charry Tissier and Whale Seeker
00:02:24 - What Whale Seeker does and why ocean data matters
00:05:10 - Who pays for ocean data?
00:06:00 - Government and industry mandates
00:08:37 - Dynamic shipping routes and marine life protection
00:09:03 - Working with regulators from day one
00:10:37 - Misconceptions about AI and why they matter
00:13:07 - Are we in an AI bubble?
00:15:05 - Hype cycles in ocean solutions: seaweed, carbon capture and beyond
00:17:19 - Why ocean tech isn't scaling: technology isn't the problem
00:20:44 - The psychology of change
00:22:47 - Ego as a barrier to adoption
00:24:45 - Certified routes: building a community around sustainable shipping
00:26:01 - The economics of whale-safe shipping routes
00:28:54 - Emily’s “Why”
Useful Links & Resources:
Emily Charry Tissier on Linkedin.
Whale Seeker: Website and LinkedIn.
Emily’s piece on The Journal of Ocean Technology: Innovation without Adoption: The Ocean Tech Bottleneck
Get in touch with The Ocean Age's host Fed DeGobbi on LinkedIn, X or by emailing directly at fed@oceanage.co
The Ocean Age Podcast is produced by Charlotte Raffo and edited by Nebojsa Lešević. Sarah Carpenter and Giulia Leanza are our research assistants.
Please send in your feedback: what do you want to hear more or less of? Any suggestions? Would love to hear what you think!
