LAKE FOREST, Calif. — It’s not all about helping protect people’s lives and properties for wholesale monitoring provider NMC. You can include ensuring the wellbeing of seafaring turtles too.
One of the Cayman Islands’ busiest turtle nesting beaches has been put under around-the-clock video surveillance using NMC’s Netwatch Proactive Video Monitoring advanced analytics to deter poaching and provide information aiding the Cayman Islands Department of Environment (DoE).
The project was the brainchild of Mike Ridley, a Caymanian based in Miami who used crowd-funding to raise $16,500 to fund the implementation of advanced analytic technologies to help tackle the problem of sea turtle poaching.
“Over the past decades, the Cayman Islands has seen unprecedented economic and development growth which has brought many benefits to the island and population. However, this development has meant that natural habitats for animals in the Cayman Islands have been compromised. This is especially disruptive for turtles as where they nest is prime beachfront property,” wrote Ridley on the effort’s GoFundMe page.
The DoE provided critically important technical advice, but was not involved in the fundraising effort. Ridley partnered with Stuart Bostock, president Security Centres Int’l, the developer of the Mobile Advanced Safety Tower (MAST) technology and the Security Centre Limited, which currently manages the units in the Cayman Islands.
The technology uses solar-powered mobile units that integrate with video surveillance and analytic technologies to provide a mobile surveillance solution.
The team further identified Netwatch Proactive Video Monitoring as the ideal technology for the operation. The Netwatch technology provides a sophisticated suite of security offerings including comprehensive monitoring, advanced analytics, live call-down intervention, as well as real-time alerts to the DoE when an intruder is detected on the beach, as proactive protection against poachers.
The system was implemented July 1 at “Turtle Beach” in West Bay, Grand Cayman, and will be in use for four months. If successful, the solution may be more widely implemented in other nesting beaches in the future, according to a press release.
The project has garnered worldwide attention and was nominated for the Central Caribbean Marine Institute People’s Choice Awards, recognizing “exceptional contributors to local marine conservation efforts,” the release states.
The People’s Choice Award is a full audience participation effort, nominated and voted on by members of the public. Those involved in the project invite the public to vote their support for this project and sea turtle conservation.
“We are encouraging security industry professionals to take a moment to vote for this project. Not only does it bring awareness to sea turtle conservation, but also shines a light on one of the highly valuable ways to use security technologies for the betterment of the environment,” says Grant Graham, NMC, vice president of Proactive Video Monitoring Services.
The post NMC’s Netwatch Proactive Video Monitoring Aids Sea Turtle Conservation appeared first on Security Sales & Integration.