Engineer Debunks Superferry Night-vision Goggles Claim

Duane Erway comments on Hawaii Superferry's claim that using night vision goggles will enable them to avoid smashing into whales and killing them during their proposed night run from Maui to 'Oahu:

"Hawaii Superferry's Terry O'Halloran carefully crafted statement won't do anything for whales; he says: " --- our whale lookouts have night vision goggles which give them the opportunity to see at night, and the clarity on these pieces is quite remarkable." The problem: many dark nights Hawaii Superferry won't see whales in time to avoid them.

"As the Hawaii Island alternate on the Sanctuary Advisory Council, I did get to participate in a demonstration of night vision goggles, a few years ago. I have followed this matter carefully, as I am an engineer who has been involved in field tests of night vision equipment for many years.

"To avoid whales at 35 knots, whales must be reliably identified at 1,000 yards, just as in the daytime. Even the most advanced (Generation 4) night vision goggles require some moonlight to see even high contrast targets at 1,000 yards. They will be of no use to see whales at 1,000 yards for several days either side of a new moon or when overcast hides the moon.

"A responsible operator would go 35 knots only when there was sufficient light to reliably see whales at 1,000 yards with night vision goggles. On other nights they would go 13 to 15 knots; speeds where adult humpbacks have apparently learned to avoid ships.

Duane Erway"