Bot meets whale: best practices for mitigating negative interactions between marine mammals and microROVs

Abstract

To better understand the potential risks and to establish an anticipatory framework to minimize negative interactions between MicroROV operators and marine mammals, we, a group of six experts in microROVs and/or marine mammal tourism, conservation, and ecology, conducted a self-guided series of surveys to better identify the most likely and most damaging sources of harmful interactions between microROVs and marine mammals. We then established a set of best practice guidelines for the responsible operation of microROVs in the presence of marine mammals.