Our training course calendar for 2023 is now live. If you would like more information, or to book a place, please email training@seiche.com
Opening – Smart Sound Plymouth
Great to be at the official opening of the Smart Sound Plymouth, Connect Control Centre at Oceansgate Limited, this morning with MBTC, Plymouth Marine Laboratory, University of Plymouth, University of Exeter, and The Marine Biological Association.
Smart Sound Plymouth is Britain’s premier proving area for designing, testing and developing cutting edge products and services for the marine sector, and is ideally suited for building and supporting the next generation of advanced marine technologies.
Co-ordinated through the Marine Business Technology Centre, Smart Sound Plymouth is a partnership between five organisations boasting considerable expertise in autonomous systems, environmental sensor technologies, alternative propulsion, advanced manufacturing and cyber security.
Field Trials – Plymouth Marine Laboratory
Thanks to Plymouth Marine Laboratory, in particular to Jani Pewter and Dr James Fishwick, for supporting field trials of our new camera systems. Taking the tech to the roof of PML, the Penlee data observatory and Rame Head.
They are hoping to trial this further on their research vessel The Quest. Stay tuned!
Join us at Global Offshore Wind
We’re here and ready to welcome you to RenewableUK‘s Global Offshore Wind conference to talk all things marine mammals and underwater noise – and we have our new HD/thermal-imaging camera systems to show you! Come find us on stand 120.
Rob Lee joins the team as Lead Marine Acoustician
We’re delighted to welcome Rob Lee to the team as Lead Marine Acoustician, following our growth in underwater acoustic modelling and monitoring and in particular the demand we’re seeing due to the offshore renewables market. With 11 years’ experience in underwater acoustics, Rob has a great depth of knowledge in both software and hardware development and their deployment at sea.
Rob will be instrumental in the development of new technology to keep ahead of the curve in meeting and exceeding our clients’ needs within the ever-evolving underwater noise market.
Rob comments: “I am incredibly excited to be joining Seiche, a company that I’ve long admired. I look forward to bringing all the skills I’ve acquired over the years to an organisation that is devoted to the understanding and protection of the underwater soundscape.”
Simon Stephenson, Senior Marine Acoustician at Seiche said: “It is fantastic to see our team expanding and we are thrilled to welcome Rob to the team. Not only does he bring fantastic experience with him, but his skills will help us develop industry-leading and innovative solutions for the offshore renewables market.”
Welcome to the team Rob, great to have you on board!
Collaboration with Jan De Nul Group to test automated marine mammal detection during offshore activities
Seiche Ltd is collaborating with Jan De Nul Group to start a two-month pilot project to test the A.I capacity and visual reach of Seiche’s new second-generation HD thermal cameras on board the vessel Adhémar de Saint-Venant, currently working in the Netherlands.
The aim of the collaboration is to re-invent the detection and protection of marine mammals in the dredging and offshore construction business on projects worldwide and is a first step towards the fully automated detection of marine mammals, thereby setting a new standard to increase the level of protection of marine mammals and to reduce safety risks, costs and impact upon the environment.
As a global leader in passive acoustic monitoring technology and marine mitigation, this trial will allow Seiche to collect the necessary data for testing and fine-tuning the A.I. capacity of the automated detection function and the visual distances these cameras can cover.
The project was initiated by four employees of Jan De Nul, as part of their internal innovation challenge and proposed using this innovative technology during marine offshore operations. A team from Jan De Nul and Seiche travelled to Rotterdam to install the detection system on board. The combined visual and thermal cameras, secured to high points on the vessel for an increased visual reach, will be fully tested over the coming two months.
Nicola Harris, Associate Director of Environmental Services at Seiche Ltd commented: “We are really excited to be working with Jan De Nul on the testing phase of our new camera systems – allowing us to really showcase the enhanced capabilities of the new devices. It is really great to see construction companies like Jan De Nul showing an active interest in developing such key tools for protecting the environment.”
Inge Van Tomme, Director of the KPI Department at Jan De Nul Group: “The idea of automated mammal detection originated from an internal JDN Innovation Challenge. We chose this competition entry as the outright winner, out of many other viable ideas. By joining forces with a well experienced technology solution partner as Seiche Ltd., we are convinced that we can re-invent the way of detecting and protecting marine mammals for the whole dredging and offshore construction business on projects worldwide.”
Detecting Ocean Life with a Wave-Propelled, Long Endurance USV
Our uncrewed surface vessels are paving the way in monitoring ocean life, as featured in the Spring issue of Eco Magazine. Click here to read the full story.
Seiche Ltd works with Ørsted during construction of its Hornsea Two offshore wind farm
As well-respected specialists in the field of marine mammal monitoring and mitigation measures, Seiche Ltd was engaged by Ørsted earlier this year to minimise the impact on marine mammals during construction of its Hornsea Two wind farm, located 89km off the UK’s North East coast. This was a key requirement of the wind farm’s marine licence conditions.
Marine Mammal Observers worked from the installation vessel to ensure that marine mammals were protected during the installation of the Offshore Substation (OSS), Reactive Compensation Station (RCS) (September to October 2020) and the Wind Turbine Generators (WTG’s) (October 2020 – October 2021). To achieve this, Seiche provided an Acoustic Deterrent Device (ADD) and marine mammal observers / ADD operators. Extensive reporting was carried out throughout the project.
Project Manager at Seiche, Jennifer Shearing comments: “It was exciting working with Ørsted on such an important and well-organised project. Ørsted’s enthusiasm towards protecting the marine environment was a pleasure to see. The project was such a success, it finished ahead of time, and Seiche is thankful to the fantastic marine mammal mitigation team we had in the field. Their commitment and hard work ensured the project ran smoothly. Communications with DEME, the installation contractor, were excellent, resulting in efficient, well organised crew changes.”
Jennifer Brack, Consent Manager for Ørsted’s Hornsea Two Offshore Wind Farm said: “As experts in their field, Seiche were a pleasure to work with. Their work was well-organised, well-communicated, and fulfilled all our requirements in terms of protecting mammals in the marine environment while construction took place”.
About Hornsea Two:
Located approximately 89 km off the Yorkshire coast, Hornsea Two is the world’s largest offshore wind farm and will generate up to 1.4GW of clean energy for UK households when fully operational in 2022.
Image: © Steven Atkinson, Lead Marine Mammal Consultant, 2021
Seiche Ltd Undertakes Underwater Acoustic Field Verification Survey and Marine Mammal Mitigation in Northern Spain for ACSM
Seiche Ltd were selected by ACSM earlier this year to provide pre-survey modelling, underwater acoustic verification for two pieces of equipment (Sparker and SBP) to verify how they would affect marine mammals in the area along with continuous Acoustic and Visual Marine Mammal Mitigation services.
Seiche Ltd is a global leader in passive acoustic monitoring technology and marine mitigation and boasts significant expertise in the field of maritime environmental monitoring. Their experience of providing environmental support for offshore surveys combined with their monitoring, mitigation and technological development credentials made them the ideal project partner for this work.
ACSM is a global leading provider of subsea services with 20 years of expertise within the offshore energy industry. They deliver a whole range of offshore services, from fleet and personnel management to ROV Inspections and Surveys throughout the life-cycle of a subsea asset: from pre-engineering assessment, through construction and installation, IMR to decommissioning. A key speciality is the provision of subsea services and solutions to the Oil & Gas, submarine cables and renewables markets.
This project represented a full cycle of environmental support for an offshore survey – from the pre-survey modelling done in-house with the team of our acoustic scientists, through acoustic field verification with Seiche bespoke equipment, survey design by our BioScience’s team to full marine mammal mitigation scope with our consultant MMOs and PAM operators and in-house build PAM system designed to acoustically detect various species of resident marine mammals.
“This was a great project for us. We showcased our extensive range of capabilities including a pre-survey modelling including estimation of the marine mammal impact ranges for the specific equipment used, the in-field measurements to verify this model
Amanda Hyam, Associate Director Environmental Services
model predictions with our bespoke PAM buoy equipment and the full marine mammal mitigation support during the survey with our consultant MMOs and PAM operators and effective PAM system .”
Image Credit: © 2021 OSV Nautilus at sea. Courtesy of ASCM.
Seiche Ltd and Deep Vision Inc. Announce Collaboration to Develop Real-time Camera System for Automated Detection, Geo-location and Quantification of Marine Mammals
Seiche Ltd and Deep Vision Inc. have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to establish a collaborative relationship in support of their respective business interests.
Seiche has expertise in the field of maritime environmental monitoring; in particular, Seiche has developed a unique camera system, as implemented in their Mini Dual Camera, that has been specifically designed to aid the observation and monitoring of marine mammals (and other surface, and near surface objects).
Deep Vision has expertise in the field of computer vision and unsupervised machine learning; in particular, Deep Vision has developed a highly advanced, unique, passive EO/IR technology that provides robust, real-time detection and tracking of marine mammals, vessels and other maritime assets on, or near, the surface of the water.
Under this MoU, the two companies will advance collaborative efforts to develop a real-time camera-based system that can automatically detect, geo-locate, and quantify the presence of marine mammals and other maritime assets. The system will be resilient under all weather conditions and operable at both surface level and above, e.g. mast mounted for ships. By leveraging state-of-the-art unsupervised machine learning techniques, the system will be truly autonomous.
Both Seiche and Deep Vision have strongly aligned environmentally focused business goals and feel that this partnership will be mutually beneficial both for their respective organisations and for their key stakeholders.
Mark Burnett, CEO of Seiche Ltd, comments: “We are excited to be working with Deep Vision and their cutting-edge technologies, particularly their software capabilities that can rapidly assess changes in the environment and automatically tune detection algorithms to optimise performance. Our Seiche camera systems are currently providing environmental monitoring to clients around the world and this is an important next step in the provision of this technology to further protect marine life.”
Alan Parslow, CEO, Deep Vision, adds: “We are thrilled to be working with Seiche, one of the most respected and forward-looking environmental monitoring companies on the planet. We are confident that the proposed system, once realised, will become a significant tool in protecting marine life. We are certain that such a tool is crucial for the ultimate survival of the North Atlantic right whale.”
Image: North Atlantic Right Whale – Courtesy of NOAA Photo Library.