(St. Augustine, Florida) Science & Technology International®, STI, is pleased to announce the pilot-project to detect whales using various sensors on its airship has been successful and has relayed valuable information to marine biologists and scientists. STI has completed one week of a three week mission, under a U.S. Navy contract, to locate marine mammals using STI’s airship and STI’s world renowned LASH camera system, known as Littoral Airborne Sensor Hyperspectral and a long-distance camera. Since the mission began a dozen whales have been detected including calves estimated to be about two-weeks-old. The airship has primarily flown along the north-eastern coast of Florida between St. Augustine and Jacksonville.

"We are here to help protect the endangered North Atlantic Right Whale and are honored to take part in this important mission," said STI’s CEO & President Nick Susner. "We are pleased with the results thus far and look forward to assisting the community and Florida marine researchers any way we can. The Navy has done and outstanding job of communicating the data and recognizing the importance of preserving this endangered species."

The three-week mission is the first of its kind to detect whales and immediately relay the information back to a ground site and post the information within seconds for scientists and marine biologists to view. The U.S. Navy created the website, available to the public to access, to communicate to marine biologists, scientists, researchers, education institutions and government agencies. Whale images captured utilizing STI’s airship and the various sensors are being transmitted within seconds to a ground site and posted on www.lashwhalesearch.org

"STI’s technology and airship are impressive," said Dr. Jim Hain, Right Whale Biologist and Associated Scientist at Woods Hole. "I am seeing new ideas being introduced, new skills and new technologies that I’ve never seen applied before. For more than a decade, surveys have been conducted using primarily visual methods. Under the program being demonstrated today, we are imaging whales using automated detection techniques. This is very interesting and provides scientists and marine biologists immediate results.

We are rapidly able to assess a whale or a calf’s health thanks to the technology. It is definitely a complementary tool."

Dr. Hain said images captured on Monday, January 20th, showed a calf about 2-weeks-old or less. While the calf was on the back of its mother, scientists detected an unusual amount of sloughing which is being assessed to determine the calf’s health. Dr. Hain said it is important for ocean resource managers and various agencies to know the migration patterns of marine mammals to avoid ship-strikes against whales.

Due to the ability to display the data quickly, scientists have been able to determine the adult marine mammals located during the mission are right whales already cataloged and accounted for. Three mother whales and their calves have also been accounted for.

"The U.S. Navy is deeply concerned about the welfare of marine mammals," said Don Statter, Jr., Senior Imagery Scientist for the U.S. Navy Airship Program. "This is an important proof-of-concept project in terms of providing valuable information to ocean resource managers in near real time."

The Navy and STI are collaborating with the Florida Marine Research Institute and the New England Aquarium which are instrumental in the state’s search for right whales.

"We are airborne discussing the various locations of the marine mammals to scientists from the Florida Marine Research Institute and the New England Aquarium who are flying in other areas of Florida," explained Susner. "It has been a tremendous collaboration of talented experts married with new technologies."

This particular mission in Florida is scheduled to continue until January 28th. STI will be volunteering its LASH camera system to detect whales in Hawaii during the state’s annual whale count, February 22nd. This will mark STI’s third consecutive year taking part in the National Marine Humpback Whale Sanctuary count.

STI is a 22-year-old phontonics, hyperspectral and information processing company based in Honolulu, Hawaii. STI is a dual-use incubator using its technologies for various applications including determining the health of coral reef, and detecting submarines and mines for the U.S. Navy. Aviation Week & Space Technology (1/15/01) characterized STI’s anti-submarine warfare technology, LASH, as "perhaps being the farthest advanced hyperspectral imaging system worldwide." STI has also developed a cervical cancer instrument using fluorescent light to detect cervical cancer.