It's a 'Family Thing'

Science & Technology International®, STI, has begun a mission along the northeastern coastline of Florida to locate and study the behaviors of whales, under a U.S. Navy contract. STI is using its 200-foot long airship  outfitted with STI's hyperspectral imaging camera system, LASH (Littoral Airborne Sensor Hyperspectral), to conduct the whale searches. STI's LASH system detects submerged objects in real time. STI's camera systems also locate submarines and mines for the U.S. Navy. This Florida mission is focused on protecting the endangered North Atlantic Right Whale as well as identifying the migration patterns of other whales.

"We are honored to take part in this historic and important mission," said Charlie Hawkins, STI's LASH Airship deputy program manager. "To our knowledge, hyperspectral imaging has never been used before to detect whales in Florida. STI and the U.S. Navy will be providing Florida ocean resource managers valuable information as to the location and numbers of whales. This data will assist in protecting Florida's whale population particularly the endangered North Atlantic Right Whale."

"The Navy is very interested in the safety and welfare of marine mammals such as the North Atlantic right whale," said Don Statter, Jr., senior imagery scientist for the U.S. Navy Airship Program. "We see this as a great opportunity to test passive cameras from a benign platform to see whales. Our goal is to locate whales, capture their behavior, plot their location and transmit the information via digital data link to a ground site."

"STI's technology is promising," said Dr. Jim Hain, right whale biologist and associated scientist at Woods Hole, a non-profit organization. "Research has shown right whales can only be detected about 30 percent of the time at the surface. The goal is to avoid ship-strikes against whales. New technologies, like STI's LASH system combined with an airship, are part of the solution to protect this endangered species."

FMI: www.sti-industries.com