Boat International - February 2016

Highly commended – Smartfin

For – enabling surfers to collect data to understand better the effects of climate

change on coastal systems. Founded by Dr Andrew Stern, a retired neurologist,

Smartfin is a surfboard fin with sensors that measures multiple ocean parameters

including salinity, pH, temperature, location and wave characteristics

Highly commended – Schmidt Ocean Institute

For – its project in the remote Timor Sea, where some of the healthiest coral

reefs in the world continue to thrive. By combining the use of a high-performance

supercomputer, the first of its kind on a research vessel, with remote-sensing

technologies, it was able to examine how fine-scale oceanographicprocesses drive

the connectivity and productivity of these reefs, so enabling a greaterunderstanding

of the ecological processes that shape coral reef communities and identifying the

habitats most likely to be sensitive to disturbances such as bleaching

“W

e were looking for areas where space

technology could really provide some

advantage and it quickly became apparent that

themaritimesectorwasoneareawhereitwouldhaveahuge

advantage and could be doing much more than it currently

is.”SosaysStuartMartin,aformervice-chairofUKSpace

andacouncilmemberofEurospaceandnowCEOofSatellite

Applications Catapult, the UK innovation and technology

company created in 2013 to foster growth across the economy

through the exploitation of space.

Research into which areas might benefit led to a workshop

withPewCharitableTrusts,aPhiladelphia-basedNGOthat

hascampaignedtoendillegalfishing.“Sowestartedthinking

how satellites could shine a light on that activity,” says

Martin. The result is, in the words of one of the Ocean Awards

judges, Professor Callum Roberts, “a game-changer in ocean

conservation”: a pioneering technology named Eyes on the

Seas that can detect illegal fishing via satellites.

As Professor Roberts explains: “One of the arguments

continually laid at the foot of those campaigning for greater

ocean protection is: how can you stop people from fishing in

huge and remote areas? And the truth is that until now it was

diicult. But with satellite surveillance and monitoring, there

is no place for these boats to hide. We can watch them. We

can see what they’re doing. We can identify potentially illegal

behaviour patterns. We can see when they go into supposedly

protected waters; when they move around in a way that

suggests they are fishing. And when something signals

suspicious behaviour, you can focus in on that vessel, follow

it around, and when it next comes into port, you can nail it.” It

is also, he points out, a much less expensive and more eicient

wayofpatrollingtheoceanthanusingboats.

As Martin adds: “It supports nation states, it supports

enforcement agencies, fishing vessels that are trying to

behave legally and the supermarkets and supply-chain

companies so that they can have better assurance on where

the produce they are buying comes from. We’re at the stage

where we are doing live trials and will be moving to operation

next year.” Industrial-scale pirate fishers won’t know they are

under surveillance, but they will be.

Winner – Technology*

SATELLITE

A PPLICATIONS CATA PULT

Represented by Stuart Martin, chief executive

For–thecreationofitstechnologysystemProjectEyesontheSeas

THE OCEAN AWARDS 2016

*Criteria – the new technolog y or application thereof that has made the

biggest contribution to ocean conservation in the past year

http://www.boatinternational.com | February 2016

JUDGE #6 BEN GOLDSMITH
Last summer Goldsmith, founding partner of WHEB, a specialist investor in companies focused on energy eiciency, clean technology and sustainable development, which he
established in 2002, launched a new fund, Menhaden Capital, to invest in green businesses. He named this new venture after a type of fish. Brevoortia tyrannus, or menhaden,
is a member of the herring family that swims in large schools stratified by size and age and feeds on plankton by filtering water through its gills, so cleaning the ocean as it eats.
They are not overfished but they are a valuable source of food for other fish and birds such as ospreys and eagles. A dolphin can reportedly get through 20 pounds of menhaden
a day. So clearly ocean conservation is a subject close to Goldsmith’s heart. He is also chair of the Environmental Funders’ Network and the Conservative Environment Network.