What is the public concerned about?
Underwater Internet Technology
The new 'smart' ocean underwater technology is a network designed to aid communication and internet connectivity, marine life tracking, military surveillance, and pollution detection.
Underwater sensor stations transmit data via sound waves to buoys, then convert it to WiFi signals for transfer to cell towers and satellites.
Artist representation of the acoustic network by Isa Maria.
Urgent scrutiny needed to determine environmental impact.
The noisy underwater acoustic transmitter network poses an urgent threat to marine life, potentially disrupting echolocation and navigational abilities in whales, dolphins, and damaging fish bladders and coral reefs. High noise levels may harm swimmer’s and diver’s hearing.
Monitoring equipment must prioritize marine safety to avoid ecological harm and extinction risks.
Listen to a sample of the noise: "Smart Ocean" Network Noise
An all acoustic network can cause the loss of important ocean resources, such as:
The ocean is:
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A significant source of food and nutrients
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Minerals, fish, shellfish, crustaceans, Seaweed, and more
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Supplements
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Essential fatty acids
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Salt
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A vital part of our economy
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Fishing industry
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Boating industry
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Tourism
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Deep sea mining
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A pivotal piece in combating climate change
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Whales sequester tons of carbon which aids in off-setting climate change
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What is a solution?
Fiber Optics - a marine life and animal friendly solution
A fiber optic underwater network is created with sensor stations that are connected by cable for the transmission of data. This will replace the need for loud data encoded sound waves that disrupt ocean life.
The benefits of fiber optics are:
- Quiet: Reduced risk to marine life or human swimmers/divers
- Sustaining ocean benefits (food, economy, etc.)
- Multiple channels/users (a sound wave only carries one user)
- Reliable and clear signal (acoustic signal will experience more interference from many sources, such as passing ships)
What is a Smart Ocean?
The Underwater Internet of Things
The oceans will soon be used as a worldwide underwater internet network to expand global internet communication and add a marine monitoring system collecting data and encoding it on sound waves, impacting all underwater life on earth. This network is already in the final approval process, soon to be manufactured and rolled out.
Listen to a sample: "Smart Ocean" Network Noise
You may think this sounds too unlikely to be real.
It is real, but is it safe?
How can we make it safer for ocean life?
By immediately converting the plan from a loud acoustic (sonar) network to a quiet, fiber-optic (cable) network.
Whom Can I Trust to Accomplish This Crucial Result?
Our Team:
Kathy Matara, PhD
Environmental Safety Advocate and founder and Director of Safe Technologies, and the Quiet Ocean Standards Initiative
Timothy Schoechle, PhD
Computer Engineering and Policy Scientist
Patrick J.O. Miller, BSFS, BS, PhD
Marine Biology Professor at St. Andrews University, Scotland
Victorine Lambert
Marine Biology Graduate Student, Canada
We are already working as Experts on the International Standards Organizations out of Geneva, Switzerland representing the United States, Scotland and Canada and we are working tirelessly to help the international planning committees approve safe network standards and publish guidelines for an environmentally sustainable Underwater Internet of Things network across the globe.
Our team members are working as experts on all of the following committees:
International Internet of Things (IoT)
Underwater Internet of Things (UIoT)
International Standards Organization (ISO)
International Electro-Technical Commission (IEC).
American National Standards Institute (ANSI)
These are the committees that have the authority to set the technology Standards for the “smart ocean” global underwater internet project.
Our team has already succeeded at delaying the approval of the acoustic technology in order to educate the international committees on the potential risks, and have become the driving force of the initiative to redirect the choice of acoustic “smart ocean” technology to one that proves safe for ocean life (such as fiber optics).
Our team has also established a New Joint Working Group on these International Standards Committees:
Kathy Matara has been chosen as Convener of the International Joint Technical Standards Working Group tasked with developing and delivering the Environmental and Ecological Risk Assessment and Technical Report to the international planning committee Experts who will be voting on the technical standards that will be chosen and published for the underwater network.
What will this global underwater network consist of?
Network description:
Present plans utilize high-intensity transmitters (sensor stations), placed throughout the ocean floor, which gather and forward data to other underwater sensor stations, then transmit it to buoys where the data is converted to a 5G / Wi-Fi signal, which forwards that data to cell towers on land and satellites in space.
Safe for Dolphins and Whales? No.
Dolphins, whales, and other marine life depend on their ability to use echolocation (sound) to navigate, feed and reproduce.
The sounds they depend on may effectively become “masked” or drowned out with the installation of a noisy underwater network.
The deafening screeching, buzzing and roaring noises from the transmitters may confuse their capacity to navigate, as well as torment them around the clock.
Given the potentially disruptive effects which this proposed network could have on ocean life, the Quiet Ocean Standards Initiative seeks to ensure that the committees developing these standards will consider only quiet and safe multi-modal options to prioritize protecting the ocean ecosystem from harm.
Please support this critically important work with your generous donation today. Time is of the essence, and this is the most powerful way you can impact the future of our planet right now.
How Does This Impact Me and my Family?
These underwater acoustic signals fall within the spectrum of frequencies that are fully audible to both humans and all other marine life forms including fish, crustaceans, whales and dolphins, as well as the Coral reef which communicates within itself with an orchestra of sounds, which implies the reef has an ability to hear.
Does your family swim in the ocean?
The underwater transmissions will be loud enough to hear when swimming or diving with ears under water.
The sound will be loud enough to rupture the eardrums of divers and swimmers who come within 30 feet of a sensor station.
Does your family eat seafood? Or use ocean products?
Marine life, such as fish, coral, and a vast network of marine flora and fauna may become extinct due to the inescapable ocean noise. This may drastically reduce food supply such as tuna, salmon, lobster, crab, shrimp, scallops, seaweed, and life-sustaining products like essential fatty acids and mineral supplements.
Climate change
Whales sequester billions of tons of carbon each year, offsetting climate change. When whales, dolphins, and other sea life become extinct, the delicate balance of life on the whole planet will be compromised.
Precautionary principle
We have no way to predict the full extent of the impact of this oceanwide sonar noise infiltration. Therefore, we can’t afford to allow it to happen.
How Can You Help?
Donate money or volunteer your time and ask your friends to donate to the nonprofit Quiet Ocean Standards Initiative today! The timing is critical.
Your donation enables the Quiet Ocean Standards Initiative team to collect the crucial environmental impact research and write the technical report that will guide the planning committees to choose technical standards that prevent our oceans from being saturated worldwide with constant, loud, shrill noise.
The underwater network must be converted from the planned acoustic (sonar) wireless system to a quiet (fiber-optic) cable network or other safe (quiet) multi-modal network options NOW, before the only underwater network system is approved and finalized.
We Need Your Help Right Now.
