SEAKEEPERS & SCRIPPS LAUNCH
$1MM COASTAL MONITORING PROJECT
Download White Paper (pdf)

Members of The International SeaKeepers Society and senior staff from Scripps Institution of Oceanography participated in a commencement dinner at the Birch Aquarium in San Diego, CA in late May to launch the new SeaKeepers / Scripps Coastal Monitoring Project. This exciting new initiative combines the world renowned scientific and technical expertise of Scripps with the financial resources and marine conservation passion of the Sea-Keepers. In a three-year, $1 million research and development program this project will create instrumentation that can be networked for coastal observing, with the potential of providing high-quality, low-cost, standardized, near-shore oceanographic data to scientists and resource managers around the world.

By 2050, it is estimated that more than 75% of all the world's inhabitants will live within 25 miles of the sea. More than 80% of all marine organisms live in coastal waters. The majority of the seafood consumed every year is harvested within 100 miles of land. In many coastal states, countries, and regions, ocean-related tourism and commercial fishing are the leading industries. High coastal real estate values provide economic stability and growth for many states, regions and nations in the world.

Man's activities impact the sea. We are simultaneously becoming ever more efficient harvesters of the sea's bounty at the same time we are diminishing the sea's ability to generate that very harvest.We depend more and more on the sea to give us food, economic stability, recreational opportunities and physical renewal while doing little to protect these resources and capacities.

Major scientific studies and reports call for more and better data to arm ourselves with the knowledge of the health and well-being of the oceans we rely so heavily upon. Improved resolution of our observations of the coastal ocean, and the scientific interpretation of that data, will improve our ability to more precisely manage our fragile coastlines.

[Pictured: Founders John and Sue Sobrato of San Jose, CA, hosts of the Coastal Monitoring Project inaugural dinner and the first to underwrite one of the Seakeeper systems for this important initiative, with admiral's Club members Jim and Nancy Baldwin of Newport Beach, CA (center).]

The SeaKeepers / Scripps Coastal Monitoring Project will provide a standardized, cost-effective, modular, reliable system to better understand the changes taking place in our coastal environment and to provide policy makers with the scientific data they need to protect our ocean resources.

1. Develop the next-generation technology designed specifically for standardized monitoring in the rigors of the near shore environment.
2. Deploy six pilot monitoring systems on piers in Southern California.
3. Evaluate the quality of collected data, maintenance cycles and cost, including ease and cost of calibration.
4. Develop an efficient and scaleable information delivery and storage system for an international network of systems.

The $1.1 million target cost of this program will provide the R&D, fabrication, deployment and evaluation for six systems for three years, broken down to a nominal $50,000 per system, per year. For more information on the Coastal Monitoring Program, you can download a pdf of the White Paper here.

Board Chairman Don Tomlin said, "The Society is very grateful to Founders John and Sue Sobrato for sponsoring the inauguration dinner for the Coastal Monitoring Project at Birch Aquarium, and especially for providing the financial underwriting of the first of the six SeaKeeper systems necessary to launch this critical, high-profile initiative."