YSI Appointed Exclusive Licensee for SeaKeeper1000™

The SeaKeepers board of directors recently approved an agreement to extend a license to YSI, a major company in the field of water quality monitoring, to develop commercial markets for the SeaKeeper 1000™ oceanographic, atmospheric and climate monitoring system.

The move, which has been in discussion by the board for several years, accomplishes several critical objectives simultaneously. It eliminates significant overhead from the charity, which in the past half-dozen years has seen its costs escalate dramatically in proportion to the size of its growing fleet of SeaKeeper 1000TM -equipped vessels, and creates a strategic alliance with a company eager and able to expand the charity’s original ocean-monitoring technology.

Originally called Yellow Springs Instruments, YSI was founded in 1948 at Antioch College (in Yellow Springs, Ohio) by a group of engineers. The company, wholly owned by its 400 employees, enjoys annual sales estimated at $90 million from business generated throughout North America, Europe, China, Japan, Australia and elsewhere.

YSI, whose motto is “Monitor, Analyze, and Protect the World’s Natural Resources,” offers a growing range of instruments for fresh water, atmosphere, and marine environments.

Jon Jarrell, YSI’s division manager responsible for the new SeaKeepers product line said, “I am excited we have been selected by the International SeaKeepers Society to take on its SeaKeeper 1000 product line. The more our engineers look at what SeaKeepers has accomplished with its modest resources, the more impressed we are. We are committed to continuing to service the SeaKeepers fleet and to advance the Society’s pioneering efforts.”

Under the agreement, the SeaKeepers engineering facility will be relocated to the YSI office in St. Petersburg, Florida. SeaKeepers VP of engineering Geoff Morrison is teaming with YSI to continue the development of cost effective solutions for monitoring and protecting the world’s oceans.

“On the surface,” said outgoing CEO John Englander, “nothing will look differently to our members, clients, or to the yachting or environmental communities. We will continue to seek new members to underwrite the cost of installing our ocean monitoring system, and to seek out corporate partners to advance our charitable objectives.”

The YSI marketing team will handle sales to governments, cruise lines, commercial shipping, universities, and the scientific community, as they do with their current line of products. All systems based on the innovative SeaKeepers design will continue to bear the name SeaKeeper 1000™ and YSI will pay SeaKeepers a substantial royalty on every commercial use of the trademark.

“This is a major advance for SeaKeepers,” said Michael T. Moore, chairman of the board. “We have been considering this kind of agreement for several years and are fortunate to have found an excellent partner. It’s a very positive step for us, providing us budgetary relief while simultaneously creating an entirely new revenue stream, and expanding the number of monitoring systems overall.”

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