Digital detection system aims to save swimmers - and sharks

Shark detection device under testing.

From SMH by Peter Hannam

Shark nets and aerial searches to protect the nation’s beachgoers may become costly relics of the past if digital technology able to detect the potentially menacing creatures succeeds.

Dubbed the “Clever Buoy”, the floats use sonar devices to search for objects of greater than two metres in length approaching within about 60 metres.
If confirmed as a shark, the device will send an alert via satellite to beach-based lifeguards who would then evacuate swimmers.

Shark attack

Shark Mitigation Services (SMS), which has tested the technology at the Sydney Aquarium and at the remote Abrolhos Islands off the WA coast, hopes to release commercial versions by the middle of next year.

Introducing Clever buoy

“It’s like face-recognition software,” said Hamish Jolly, a director of the company.
“We can teach the software to look for the unique characteristics that we see in large sharks swimming.”
If the WA experience is any guide, governments could do with more accurate methods to identify and respond to shark threats.
Bowing to public fears after a series of shark deaths off WA beaches, the WA government began culling sharks in January and is seeking a three-year extension from federal environment minister Greg Hunt.
The cull, though, failed to catch a single great white shark – its main target.
Many of the 172 sharks caught were tiger sharks, which have not been linked to recent human fatalities.

Clever buoy - Testing the sonar

An interest in shark conservation was one reason why telecoms provider Optus teamed with Mr Jolly’s company to provide satellite expertise for the buoys.
“We want to provide the environment that’s safe for beachgoers but also provides the opportunity to protect sharks long-term as well,” Nathan Rosenberg, head of Brand and Communications for Optus, said.
Shaun Collin, head of the University of WA's Oceans Institute - which has worked with SMS on other research - said the presence of a shark "certainly does not mean an attack is imminent".
The way forward is to quickly identify any potential risk, convey that to the public while also deploying a deterrent to ward them off, Professor Collin said.

World-leading shark scientists at the University of Western Australia now understand exactly how sharks see.

In collaboration with the university, SAMS has also translated the scientific data into a range of patented shark deterrent and repellent wetsuits, along with other products now available online.

Test footage was captured by National Geographic.

Worldwide options

The use of satellites rather than mobile phone networks would allow the buoys to be anchored off remote beaches in Australia and elsewhere.
“We want to be able to deploy this anywhere in the world,” Mr Jolly said, adding that Hawaii and Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean were among possible markets.
The final cost of the buoys, developed using Google platforms, remains unclear.
Although sharks remain a tiny threat for most ocean swimmers - the number of unprovoked shark encounters a year has doubled since the 1960s to about 80 worldwide – local authorities are going to invest to reduce the risk, he said.
“At the moment, the alternatives are aerial spotting, netting and visual patrols from lifeguards,” Mr Jolly said.
“(The buoy) is going to have to fit into that cost array in order to be competitive.”

 Shark attacks in Australia : a timeline (Australaian Geographic)

A rise in deaths is understood to be largely down to more people entering shark space.
The recovery of whale numbers, such as humpbacks, is also likely to raise shark bite risk, according to a study out earlier this year by Peter Sprivulis, a professor of emergency medicine at the University of WA.
NSW has recorded 47 fatalities from sharks in the past 100 years, including the death of Christine Armstrong off Tathra in April, according to Taronga Zoo’s Shark Attack File.
For Victoria, the last death from sharks was in 1987 on the Mornington Peninsula, with four fatalities in the past century.
WA’s shark deaths total 19 during that time.
Tests now underway are to extend the operating life of the systems – batteries now need to be replaced each day – and to determine whether the most effective use involves lines of buoys creating a virtual perimeter fence.

Links :

• WP : After shark attacks kill surfers in Australia, the government is killing sharks

Monstrous wind farm that will 'dwarf' the Isle of Wight

Nearly 200 towers, spanning an area larger than Manchester, are proposed just nine miles off Dorset's unique Jurassic Coast

From DailyMail

Britain's biggest offshore wind farm with turbines up to 650ft high will dwarf views of the Isle of Wight, the United Nations has warned.
Nearly 200 towers, spanning an area larger than Manchester, are proposed just nine miles off Dorset’s unique Jurassic Coast.

Windfarm area (Marine GeoGarage)

But in an explosive letter to the Government, the UN’s Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) has said the project would significantly affect the coastline and could threaten its status as England’s only natural World Heritage Site.

Unesco insists that the £3.5 billion French-Dutch Navitus Bay development – with up to 194 turbines, each the height of London’s ‘Gherkin’ building – will ‘dominate’ the area and change the seascape for ever. Local opponents to the plan say it will devastate tourism in the area.

 The impact of the proposed Navitus offshore windfarm near the Hampshire and Dorset coasts is now easier to judge, with a new interactive model produced by the developers.

Unesco director Kishore Rao wrote to the Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) which is responsible for managing the World Heritage site along 95 miles of the stunning Dorset and Devon coastline.
Earlier this year, DCMS claimed to Unesco that the Government-backed wind farm would have little impact on the Jurassic Coast.
But Unesco has commissioned its own advisory study and in a strongly worded letter seen by the Mail on Sunday, Mr Rao said it ‘considers the project will have a significant impact on the natural setting of the property (the Jurassic Coast), in that it would adversely impact on important views’.
He went on: ‘The project would replace the Isle of Wight as the dominant feature on the horizon.
'This is likely to significantly impact on visitors’ experience and appreciation of the property which could compromise the long-term sustainability of the management of the property.
‘Any potential impacts on this natural property are in contradiction to the overarching principle of the World Heritage Convention... The property will change from being located in a natural setting largely free from human-made structures to one dominated by human-made structures.’

 Viewpoint from Bournemouth

Should the proposal be given the go-ahead, the developers expect the first turbines to come online in 2019 and provide power for 700,000 homes.
Dr Andrew Langley, of opposition group Challenge Navitus, said: ‘The Navitus Bay wind farm would completely change the character of views from Durlston Castle near Swanage.

‘The decision by the Crown Estate in 2009 to designate this zone so close to England’s only natural World Heritage Site, two areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and a national park, was extremely surprising.’ 

Impact assessments carried out by Navitus Bay itself found that up to a third of visitors could be deterred from holidaying in the area during the construction phase.
And once the wind farm is in operation, 14 per cent of visitors said the loss of view would prevent them from returning.
Bournemouth council’s head of tourism Mark Smith said that could mean thousands of people losing their jobs.
‘We’re very concerned. If the figures that Navitus is using are right, it would devastate tourism and result in massive unemployment,’ he added.
Last night, Mike Unsworth, project director at Navitus Bay, said: ‘We are aware of the letter from Unesco  to the DCMS.
'We will be seeking  further clarification as the interim comments are not aligned with the independent impact assessment or the conclusion of DCMS.’

The last frontier

The Last Frontier : A short film by Stanley Leroux from Stanley Leroux

Gigantic school of rays

A record-breaking school of mobular rays has arrived off the coast of Baja.

Science graphic of the week: Monitoring ocean waves from space

Image credit: ESA/DLR (Animation: WIRED)

Ships, oil platforms and offshore wind farms are threatened by rough seas.

Information provided by radar satellites can support the detection and forecast of extreme wave heights.

From Wired by Betsy Mason

The radar instruments on some satellites can be used to gather all sorts of interesting information.
The animation above (see video) illustrates wave heights in the North Sea that were derived from satellite radar measurements.

Wave height and frequency in a large body of water are largely dependent on the speed of the wind moving across the surface.
Satellites with specialized radar sensors can measure wind speed by looking at the ocean surface from several angles as it passes over.
The radar detects the reflectivity of the water, which is determined by the roughness of the surface.
Higher reflectivity means rougher water, which is caused by stronger winds.
Wind direction can be estimated by looking at wind streaks in radar images of the water’s surface.

In response to threats from extreme waves to ships, oil platforms and wind farms in the North Sea, the European Space Agency is using its satellites to monitor the roughness of the sea surface to help spot big waves and feed computer models that try to forecast dangerous waves.