Terms of use

Version 1, 30 October 2026

SalishSea.io is a free, open map of marine mammal sightings around the Salish Sea, and a project of Beam Reach LLC (“we”). These terms cover what happens to the sightings you submit, and what we ask of you. If you only look at the map, or download its data, the data’s licenses below are all that apply.

When you submit a sighting

• You publish it under CC BY 4.0. Anyone may copy, share and adapt it, for any purpose, including commercial ones such as helping ships avoid whales, as long as they credit you and SalishSea.io. Agreeing to these terms also publishes, under the same license, the sightings you submitted before you agreed.
• What becomes public: your display name, what you saw, when, where the animals were (and where you were, if you give it), and your notes.
• Your photos keep the license you choose for each one. We show every photo on SalishSea.io. Only photos with a Creative Commons license or CC0 go into the data download.
• Where your sightings go: onto the map; into SalishSea.io’s open data download, which GBIF and others may index; and to partners that share sightings for conservation and safety, such as the Acartia data cooperative and the systems ports use to warn ships.
• You can delete a sighting. It leaves the map and the next data download. Copies others made while it was public keep the license you gave them.
• Submit only what you saw yourself, or have permission to share, and only photos you took or have the right to share.

Watching responsibly

Follow the Be Whale Wise guidelines and US and Canadian law. Never approach or disturb an animal to get a sighting or a photo. Report honestly what you saw, where and when, and say when you’re unsure.

Using SalishSea.io’s data

Sightings made on SalishSea.io are CC BY 4.0: credit the observer and SalishSea.io. Sightings that reach us through the Acartia data cooperative are CC BY 4.0 too: credit acartia.io and each data provider, and keep each sighting’s record of where it came from. iNaturalist observations carry the license each observer chose there. We ask that you use the data to promote marine conservation and responsible behavior around wildlife.

Your account

You sign in with Google, and you’re responsible for what’s submitted from your account. Accounts are for people, not bots. We may remove sightings, photos or accounts that break these terms or that we judge harmful, such as one that would expose an animal to disturbance.

No guarantees

Sightings are reports from the public and from partners, and some are wrong. Don’t rely on SalishSea.io for navigation or safety decisions. We provide the site as it is, without warranty, and we aren’t liable for losses that come from using it or from not being able to.

Changes

We may update these terms; the version and date above will change. If a change affects the license of what you submit, we’ll ask you to agree again before your new sightings are published under it. Sightings you’ve already submitted keep the terms you agreed to.

Questions: use the Feedback button on the map, or email rainhead@gmail.com.

These terms adapt the Acartia data cooperative’s community rules (MIT License) and Basecamp’s open-source policies (CC BY 4.0).