We Did It! A Historic Win For Our Oceans
We Did It! A Historic Win For Our Oceans
Dear Ocean Community,
We are writing with truly extraordinary news!
As many of you remember from our last update, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) Plenary in Berlin was poised to become a defining moment for the future of our oceans.
Thanks to your support, three of our highly qualified team of experts attended the Berlin conference in person: Professor Patrick Miller, Iain Sheppard, and Convenor Kathy Matara to ensure that the needs of our ocean were fully represented in the face of a proposed all acoustic, ocean-wide (loud, 160-250 dB) underwater internet and communications network.
We were seeking final approval to write safe, animal friendly underwater network specifications and publish an International Standard of our own that would describe an alternative (to an acoustic network) that will allow the marine life and eco-system to thrive, and that is exactly what we achieved!
We were able to get a majority vote and final approval for our new project (PWI) entitled:
“Guidelines and Requirements for ‘Bio-Friendly’ Underwater Communication, Internet and Monitoring Networks.”
Through this project approval, we now have permission to submit recommended animal-friendly underwater network specifications and ultimately create our own International Standard describing the network specifications that are deemed safe to run in the ocean.
This Standard will guide all future underwater networks on design specifications that will allow the marine life and ecosystem to survive and thrive in the presence of underwater networks.
This is a historic win for marine life and everyone who has worked to ensure that technological progress does not come at the expense of the living ocean and all its inhabitants!
Now the most important part of the work begins. We are on “equal ground” and will be in direct competition with the loud, all acoustic Network for the eventual vote on which network is chosen for worldwide installation. So stay tuned and stay with us!
And for the first time ever, our workshop recording link will be available to the public through the IEC Academy. Click here to watch recording of the IEC workshop in Berlin!
Additionally, Kathy Matara is on KKCR radio tonight 8:00pm-10:00pm HST to report on the Berlin conference. Click here to listen live!
Thank You
This victory simply would not have been possible without you, our Quiet Ocean community.
Every message of support, every donation, every shared belief in the importance of our mission, has helped ensure that we were in the room, fully prepared, fully present, and fully heard.
