Ocean Camera installed in the Grand Cayman ocean
Grand Cayman has unveiled an “ocean frontiers” underwater webcam that will stream live videos from a shallow reef in the East End of Grand Cayman to the rest of the world. The dive resort advised that the “ocean-cam” is part of a monitoring project that has been launched in partnership with Teens4Ocean, which is a non-profit organisation that encourages young people to get involved with ocean research, ocean technology, and ocean education. This new equipment will allow young people to watch what is happening on the Cayman Islands reefs.
The ocean-cam is anchored in just 6 feet of water about 100 yards from the ocean frontiers dock. The ocean-cam has its “busiest time which is between 5:30am and 6:30pm” said Broadbelt. “There is a lot of fish activity as they come across from point A to point B. And this is just by day; we don’t know what they are doing at night.”
Lindsay, who is watching the same reef activity as Broadbelt, said he was picking up a pattern. “I tend to watch around 6am to 7am and 5pm to 6pm Mountain Time and during these times I have been noticing certain types of fish congregating on the coral head,” the high school junior said.
Executive Director of T4O, Trevor Mendelow, said the organisation operates six other ocean-monitoring sites in the Caribbean, Florida and California, but the Cayman site is by far the best and is generating the most excitement.
“Cayman has the best internet connection in the Caribbean so that webcam is providing three times the video quality of the other video locations. It is so phenomenal that we can stream out multiple cameras simultaneously,” he said.
Nate Newman, chair of his T4O high school chapter, explained why: “We use a top of the line self-cleaning camera and CleanSweep technology, manufactured by Wild Goose Imaging CleanSweep, which maintains the clarity of the gorgeous HD image.”
Streaming video is just one of a number of tools used by T4O to engage tech-savvy young people into ocean science and inspire them to get involved in protecting our seas. The ocean-cam turns 360° every 10 minutes to scan other areas of the reef, while probes record the water’s salinity, temperature and acidity. The information collected by Parker, Nate and the other T4O students will help establish critical baseline reef and fish data sets for Cayman, which can later be used for reference, archive video, still photos and other surveys.
Source: Cayman News Service