Oceaneering unveils marine mammal mitigation software for offshore, renewables industries

(WO) – Oceaneering International, Inc., announced the successful field trial of Ocean Perception, a patented marine mammal mitigation software solution for the offshore and renewables industry.

The field trial was conducted in August 2023 at the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary offshore the Northeastern United States to demonstrate Ocean Perception’s first-of-its-kind visualization of real-time mitigation operations, mammal detections, and locations.

Ocean Perception is a unique solution that provides accurate mammal location data to improve operational efficiencies for construction operations – thereby reducing downtime attributed to false positives experienced by traditional marine mammal monitoring methods.

Ocean Perception integrates equipment and sensor information to a vessel-based control center, streamlining operations and improving overall situational awareness. The software’s remote operations infrastructure allows offshore operations to be shared in real-time with key stakeholders onshore.

The trial tested the integration of data protocols, integration of the solution with buoy systems, various frequencies testing, and other capabilities including machine learning and thermal cameras for the potential for 24-hour operations. Ocean Perception’s navigational features enhance operational capacity and survey mode, ensuring compliance of support vessels with speed restrictions with minute-to-minute tracking.

The trial integrated SMRU Consulting’s battery-powered Cab Guardian Buoy System with Ocean Perception as part of a complete package for offshore wind construction operations. The buoy system can detect mammals at a range of up to 10 km (4 mi) and report those detections in real-time, allowing Passive Acoustic Monitoring (PAM) operators to approve the detections within Pamguard software, seamlessly delivering into Ocean Perception’s map visualization.

Blanca Montoya, Product Manager, Oceaneering, said, “We are thrilled with the data we gathered at the Marine Mammal Sanctuary field trial, our third for Ocean Perception. We proved that the system can provide novel marine mammal monitoring for wind and other renewable developers while meeting strong regulatory requirements. SMRU’s Cab Guardian Buoy system coupled with Ocean Perception provides disruptive, game changing capabilities that will improve regulatory compliance and increase mammal protection during operations.”