The shipping industry has united in their support of pollution mapping initiative Eyesea which was officially launched on December 7.
Eyesea is a not-for-profit organisation, that uses technology and the support of seafarers, ship owners, managers and maritime professionals to collect and process oceanic pollution data.
The data is used to build detailed maps and charts available free of charge to governments, clean-up groups, researchers, local authorities and a range of other stakeholders, enabling them to take targeted clean-up action and make evidence-based policy decisions.
Everyone from shipping involved in this project wants to tackle marine pollution in a more systematic and qualitative way than is currently possible. That was our start point. The solution we settled on was to create the first-ever global database of oceanic pollution
said Eyesea founder, Graeme Somerville-Ryan.
Approximately 60 commercial ships and a number of superyachts are currently preparing for sea trials of the beta version of the Eyesea app.
The Eyesea reporting tool enalbles seafarers to collect and submit data on marine pollution by simply taking a photo and categorising the pollution type. Images are then automatically GPS-tagged, anonymised, and vetted before being incorporated into a comprehensive database of pollution to enable Eyesea to create detailed oceanic maps and charts.
In addition, as Somerville-Ryan explains, the support from the shipping industry has been overwhelming.
Once I explained what I wanted to achieve, the response from the maritime industry was fantastic. Now we want to build up our support network because, of course, the more ships and crew we have involved the better the data and the more actionable the maps will be
The development of the Eyesea reporting technology was funded by ChartWorld, a provider of digital navigation technology. CEO Steven Schootbrugge and Business Development Manager Oliver Schwarz have committed extensive resources to the initiative.
In addition, Ignace Van Meenen, Executive Board Member at MPC Capital AG and Eyesea’s inaugural Chairman, said that the industry has so much good to offer when it comes to environmental protection, but up until now, there have been few obvious shipping-backed initiatives to support.
