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Averill Elan Conley
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conley@seakeepers.org
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SEAKEEPERS SOCIETY LICENSES ITS PROPRIETARY TECHNOLOGY PRO BONO

Ft. Lauderdale, FL (May 2006) – In an effort to further its goal of reducing the cost and increasing the effectiveness of ocean monitoring, the International SeaKeepers Society Board of Directors has decided to allow other organizations and institutions to use its proprietary ocean monitoring system, FSIS™ or Ferrybox Sensor Interface Standard, without a licensing fee.

The patented FSIS modular concept allows various oceanographic sensors to be easily combined and interchanged within a standardized flow-through monitoring system. This system is a major advancement with several significant benefits for users, as well as manufacturers.

The SeaKeepers Society, a not-for-profit organization, developed this highly flexible, cost-effective system for ocean and atmospheric monitoring. The SeaKeeper 1000™ system is a fully automated unit that samples, measures, records and then transmits its data via satellite or other means of communication. The system provides a unifying platform for a wide variety of sensors, some already in development phase, adapted to the FSIS standard interface. The SeaKeeper 1000 is extremely cost-effective and has been proven to be highly robust with a number of installations passing five years of operation.

“This decision to license this monitoring system pro bono is very much in keeping with our expanded vision of the next phase of SeaKeepers’ development,” said Don Tomlin, board chairman. “The cost of researching and developing the SeaKeepers 1000 was a gift from our members to the world. With its decision the board is simply making sure this gift is used as widely and efficiently as humanly possible.” Six years and several millions of dollars in donations were spent on research, development and testing.

“We are very proud of the system we have developed,” said John Englander, SeaKeepers’ CEO. “Our board of directors recently decided that the best way to promote the application of our system to advance our ultimate goal of healthier and more diverse oceans was to make our technology available to the widest possible number of users.”

The FSIS sensor interface is a stainless steel template onto which a sensor is mounted. Common specifications exist for mounting holes, tubing for water sampling, electrical and data connectors. The system allows for interchangeable modules sharing a common architecture, analogous to the universal cards that are employed in IBM-compatible personal computers. Having a standardized architecture, as in the PC universe, will encourage the development of many more sensors and peripheral devices to plug into the system. The result, SeaKeepers hopes, will be a broader ocean monitoring network generating significantly more scientific data on the health of the seas.

This development is particularly relevant, Englander said, as the world comes to agreement on the need for a more sophisticated, integrated Global Earth Observing System (GEOS). “The world clearly needs standardized and less expensive monitoring systems. We hope very much our organization’s gift to the world will make a significant difference in what we know about what’s happening to the sea and how quickly we can reverse the steep decline in the ocean’s health.”

The benefit of this development to sensor manufacturers is that any devices they build using the FSIS ferrybox interface can be deployed on any of the 50 systems already installed by the SeaKeepers Society. This increases the market potential for their R&D efforts. Originally tested on large yachts, whose owners provided the funds necessary to develop the SeaKeeper 1000 system, the totally automated system is now deployed on cruise ships, NOAA sea buoys, freighters, research piers, a Mediterranean car ferry and a U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker, among others.

The term “ferrybox” has become a generic description for multiple-sensor water quality monitoring systems and is derived from diverse efforts around the world to assemble an automated, relatively inexpensive suite of sensors to complement far more expensively generated data gathered aboard dedicated research vessels.

Manufacturers offering FSIS compatible sensors in production or under development include Idronaut, Envirotech, General Oceanics, Satlantic, SeaBird, Seapoint Sensors, and Turner Designs. The sensors measure such parameters as temperature; conductivity; salinity; pH (acidity); dissolved oxygen, oxygen reduction potential; nitrates; nutrients; dissolved CO2; chlorophyll a; Colored Organic Matter (CDOM); Harmful Algal Blooms (“red tides”); and trace metals. More are under development. In addition to the flow-through seawater sensors, the SeaKeeper 1000 system often is installed with a meteorological suite to capture climatological and weather information simultaneously with the ocean data.

The SeaKeeper 1000 system and the FSIS sensor interface were developed by The International SeaKeepers Society, a non-profit organization founded in Monaco in 1998, now having offices in Fort Lauderdale, FL. In just eight years the Society has earned a considerable reputation and influence. Its Founders represent a network of international leaders in 13 countries concerned about the long term health and sustainability of the world’s oceans. The Society aims to be a catalyst on select projects that will contribute toward long-term ocean conservation; the development of the SeaKeeper 1000 was the first of such projects.

The release of the FSIS interface standard was made at Oceanology International 2006, a global tradeshow recently held in London. The announcement was made by CEO John Englander, joined by Technical Director Geoffrey Morrison. SeaKeepers welcomes inquiries from commercial firms, governmental agencies, and scientific organizations regarding the FSIS sensor interface, as well as the overall SeaKeeper 1000 monitoring system. For more information and/or a CD of images please contact Averill Elan Conley, Communications Manager, at 1 (954) 766-7100 or at conley@seakeepers.org, or visit or website at www.seakeepers.org.

The International SeaKeepers Society
Founded at the Monaco Rendezvous in 1998, the International SeaKeepers Society was begun by a small group of yacht owners who horrified by the deteriorating health of the waters they had grown to know and love. Their original mission was to develop an ocean monitoring system to collect data to provide scientists with a clearer picture of what is happening in the sea. In eight years its Founders have grown to a network of international leaders representing 14 countries.

The SeaKeepers Society aims to be a global catalyst working with governments, scientists, industry, and other marine organizations to promote knowledge and to support sensible, achievable marine protection and restoration initiatives. The development of the automated SeaKeeper 1000TM ocean and meteorological monitoring system is the first of many projects. The SK1000 is now deployed in some 50 locations around the world, including yachts, cruise ships, ferry boats, buoys and piers. It is endorsed by the United Nations, the World Meteorological Organization, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, NOAA and the U.S. National Weather Service.

The International SeaKeepers Society is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, registered in the United States. Registrations as a charitable organization in other countries are in process.