History Of The Project

Initial Work around using technology to detect fish bombs began in 2003 with the research of George Woodman and Simon Wilson. They published two papers (Paper 1 - Paper 2) showing that the sound of fish bombs travels long distances under water, and that it is easily distinguishable from other underwater sounds. They speculated that using multiple sensors could produce accurate and timely locations of bombs that could lead to interdiction and enforcement of the anti-fish bombing laws that were then already in place.

In 2012, a founding member of the ShotSpotter (now known as SoundThinking™) Board of Directors, Gary Lauder recognized that the technology issues associated with Woodman and Wilson’s paper had already been solved by the urban gunfire detection system that SoundThinking™ employs worldwide. Gary worked closely with the CEO and Chief Scientist Dr. Bob Showen around the idea of replacing the SoundThinking™ sensor’s microphones with hydrophones. This led to the hypothesis that the system would work with minimal modification, by simply adjusting the speed of sound from air to water.

Tests performed in 2015 affirmed this hypothesis, and the successful results of these tests were published in the Marine Pollution Bulletin in 2018. Subsequently, thanks to generous donations by Gary Lauder in 2019 and 2021, two operational arrays have been deployed in Sabah, Malaysia. The systems are working, they have detected bombs, and they have led to interdiction by law enforcement.

 

WATCH: Overview of the problem and our solution.

 

The hard part of the journey is still before us. The marine environment can be very unforgiving, both from an environmental and from a security standpoint. Success with the ‘Minimal Viable Product’ today must now give way to technology designed for the realm and the problem, and these things require both money and expertise.

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