Have you had an encounter or collision with marine life while at sea? The Marine Mammal Advisory Group (MMAG) needs your help compiling their global Marine Strike Log. This critical collision data will help identify high-risk areas, minimize harm to marine biomes, improve safety for sailors and their vessels, and understand the true scale of this often under-reported issue. While sailboats make up a relatively small percentage of marine life collisions, they often go unreported because, unlike commercial vessels, there’s no reporting requirement.
“Seafarers are the eyes and ears of the scientific community. By sharing our observations we build a better understanding of our impact on ocean life and can use this knowledge to inform better practices as we shift our role from being ocean users to ocean stewards,” said Damian Foxall, professional offshore sailor and co-founder and coordinator of MMAG. “We’d like to thank in advance everyone who takes the time to complete this survey.”
Your help with this study will help MMAG understand how to better keep ocean racers safe and out of areas where they’re likely to cause harm to whales and other marine mammals.
To take the survey, click here.
Founded in 2022, the MMAG is a collaboration between ocean racing giants like the IMOCA class, Foxall Munro, and The Ocean Race. World Sailing and 11th Hour Racing are also founding members of the organization, and it partners with major events like the Transat Jaques Vabre, Arkea Ultim Challenge, and several grand prix transats to help develop collision mitigation strategies.
For more information on the MMAG, visit mmag.world
February 2025
