Summer in Churchill means beluga whales, and thanks to a partnership between Explore.org, Polar Bears International and Frontiers North Adventures, webcams have gone live showing people all over the world the marine animals.
John Gunter, president of Frontiers North Adventure, says there are two cameras set up on a boat. One is above the water and has 360-degree ability to pan around, tilt and zoom.
The second camera is submerged at the back of the boat on a jib when the boat is going at trolling speed. The underwater camera is placed at the back of the boat, because beluga whales enjoy following boats and playing in the surf.
The cameras went live on Monday, July 27 and Gunter is looking forward to seeing the statistics from viewers tuning in.
Last fall when the polar bear camera went live there were over 55,000 hours of live footage streamed across the world.
Without the help of Explore.org, run by a multimedia organization, Gunter says this wouldn’t be possible.
“This boat is out in the middle of the Churchill river, with high-definition cameras,” he said. “There’s a lot of technological hurdles we’ve had to overcome. It’s not something that’s been slapped together with shelf products from Best Buy.”
– Thompson Citizen
