October 20, 2025 — The Gay Head Lighthouse in Aquinnah has joined a marine safety network meant to reduce the number of vessel strikes for the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale.
StationKeeper tracks vessel activity and sends messages directly from shore to vessels. Equipment installed at participating lighthouses makes it possible to warn mariners to slow down when they’re traveling through right whale habitat.
Race Point Lighthouse in Provincetown is a StationKeeper site, and more recently, the Gay Head Lighthouse in Aquinnah has joined the network, Gay Head Lighthouse principal keeper Chris Manning said.
“[StationKeeper] communicates and integrates with NOAA [the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration] to receive whale location data, and in turn it sends that information and the speed restriction zones to ships passing nearby,” he said. “As far as our role at the lighthouse, we host the system, but the system really operates and runs all on its own.”