Folks:

Very soon Brian Milburn, k6bpm, will be briefing everyone on a new venture for SBARC related to a very interesting environmental program off-shore. As you may be aware SBARC has a 35+ year relationship with Santa Cruz Island and the coastal channel. For the past dozen years Ric Wiles has been our point of contact at the TNC. He will now be reassigned to Palau with the TNC overseeing the Electronic Monitoring of the fishing boats. Ric will be still with us in-between trips. Meanwhile I thought you might be interested in his new assignment.

Bill Talanian

-------- Forwarded Message -------- Subject: Tuna Ric...what are you doing! Date: Mon, 15 Aug 2016 21:42:40 +0000 (UTC) From: Ric Wiles ricwiles@sbcglobal.net Reply-To: Ric Wiles ricwiles@sbcglobal.net To: Ric Wiles ricwiles@sbcglobal.net

Hi friends and family,

It looks like I'll be departing for Micronesia, specifically Palau, right after Labor day to start installing the EM systems on some of these long line fishing vessels. Some of you have shown an interest in what it is I will be doing. There is a short two part film accessed by the link below ("CNN's Great Big Story"). This should help explain it better than I can...and there is some cool scenery to look at too!

Cheers, Ric

As the world population reaches 8 billion, we must rise to the challenge of protecting biodiversity in a human-dominated world. That's where the Conservancy comes in. We are investing in new ways to use science and technology to catalyze change on a grand scale. Below you can read about how we are employing these skills to revolutionize endangered species recovery on Santa Cruz Island and sustainable fishing in the Pacific Ocean.

------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Keeping an Eye on Tuna: Electronic Monitoring Goes Live in Palau***

Sixty percent of the world's tuna is caught in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean--and when it comes to fishing, this is the Wild West. A handful of island nations have the difficult task of monitoring fishing across thousands of miles of open ocean. In many fisheries, human observers are the primary means of oversight. They sit on boats and log the catch as it comes in, but that's not always cost-effective, efficient or safe. In the longline tuna fishery, human observers cover only 2% of the fleet. Without observers, we don't have enough data on tuna catch, poaching, or the number of sharks, turtles and rays that are caught. But where observers don't work, electronic monitoring does. Electronic monitoring involves a combination of on-vessel video cameras, GPS systems and sensors to record all the catch on fishing boats. We've implemented these systems here in California with groundfish, and now we're beginning to scale them across the Pacific's longline tuna fleet. Our first wave of installations goes live this month on seven boats in Palau. At the same time, we are developing computer vision software to analyze the data as it streams in. With innovative technology like this, we are poised to revolutionize data collection and accountability in fisheries around the world. Watch the two-part video on *CNN's Great Big Story http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001geB18ent-UhiYbZ5XIBtOkmUgjJf9Rz6Smwr4sZ5G8boPyBPWiYUnxHiCHYcLEZSv4RsY5fsTGFKm6k9UvalY-CssVTbPRSt8EN-GF5wsRHDEvblngxoAoRaHuZt3B6F_sj_ED6fyE4-wm0NbwCkWDkUi5_m6A7rlTvTV2iDs4E-TUYOe9PGmgOAEADfGLhGYPRLvwa81bVvTq0KBR1Agi3YOJ8BozQnrk9aC0kPALg=&c=VqBgZtfBAmgkprgZROHK03LgkhDS53V6oLHSO7p0umTG1XXLWCZiXQ==&ch=w09W5UpCdbBRnWZtzEg_Doevg55i5MiEQYPVvg3KtRDPXoka4mdclw==* to learn more about our work with tuna fishermen in Palau.