Whale Alert depicts active management areas, required reporting areas, and near real-time warnings of the presence of North Atlantic right whales in Massachusetts Bay shipping lanes, allowing vessel operators to avoid collision by slowing down and heightening their visual awareness.

The app, called WhaleAlert, hit Apple's iTunes store late last week and is already proving to be a big hit. More than 5,000 people have downloaded the free program.

The app was developed by the International Fund for Animal Welfare. It's designed primarily to alert mariners to the location of endangered right whales in order to avoid collisions. Large ships are required to alert authorities when they enter an area where endangered whales are known to be, and ships in those zones can't go faster than 10 knots, which is 11.5 mph.

But you don't have to be a ship captain to use it. Anyone with an iPhone or iPad can access the program and track the general location of whale pods.

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