The experience with the transmission of data from the Pacific Ocean reached its culmination in 2000 when on the occasion of the World Expo in Hanover, Germany, it was decided to hold a life concert in the ZERI Pavilion at the Expo bring live songs from whales whose music was captured by one of the 7 bouyies strategically placed around the island of Gorgona (Colombia) which connected per satellite directly to the largest bamboo structure of modern days. This concert was repeated a dozen times.

The research has permitted to identify the two major challenges to the survival of turtle: human predation and microplastics. The situation is devastating: while statistics show that several turtles families are not under threat, experience on the ground permits us to have first hand data that offers different facts.

The demise of tourism and the closure of hotels in the area caused a full unemployment, this translated into newfound poverty and even hunger. The turtles, which returned to their birthplace after a 15 year journey to Asia, crossing the Atlantic were awaited by hungry communities that hunted the turtles down as source of protein. During field visits we realized the hard reality and offered to replace the eggs with chickens, which would lay eggs as a source nutrition all year around, instead of these seasonal turtle eggs. The program is only bearing its early fruits. However, the goal is to have (1) eradicated hunger and poverty in the region (2) thus securing the livelihood for the turtles.

During field visits we realized the hard reality and offered to replace the eggs with chickens, which would lay eggs as a source nutrition all year around, instead of these seasonal turtle eggs. The program is only bearing its early fruits. However, the goal is to have (1) eradicated hunger and poverty in the region (2) thus securing the livelihood for the turtles.

In order to monitor the performance of the turtles a special tracking devise has been developed. This was necessary since the turtle, unlike dolphins and whales, one come to the surface to breath through their nose, and the body remains submerged. This implies that a radio transmitted cannot send data since radio waves cannot penetrate the water to enter into air space.

A novel system was designed based on ultrasound. A small transmitter attached to the turtle sends a sound to a receiver which can be located up to 8 km from the turtle. While it is technically feasible to radio sound through the water over thousands of kilometers, this is not advisable since it would add to sound pollution.

Porrima throughout its strategic partnership with WISeKey, the Swiss based cyber security, IoT and AI platform market leader, Porrima access cutting edge and secure communication technologies enabled through the WISeSAT constellation of satellites. Porrima, the experimental ship that sailed nearly 100,000 nautical miles which equals 4 times around the world, will release turtles with ultrasound tags acting as IoT devices strongly authenticated.

The sound will be captured by receivers on Porrima (and other vessels patrolling the region). This information will be sent through separate WISeSAT antennas to the Pico satellites constellation placed in orbit by WiseKey and FOSSA Systems to one of the WISeSAT Earth Stations directly to the ZERI Laboratory in Bogota. We are already planning future extension from such IoT tags to enhance the capabilities to analyze further parameters such as water density, pH and temperature this between other important elements.

However, the health of turtles can be accurately monitored through regular recording of heartbeats. Dr. Reynolds has designed a monitoring system that records the very first heartbeat of a turtle still in its eggshell. That same heartbeat is tracked by an electrocardiogram system that provides a very accurate diagnosis of the turtles’ health. This is the first time in history that the heartbeat of an unborn turtle can be heard.

This combination of ultrasound, authentication of the source, radio signals to satellite and analysis of data by the laboratory of Dr. Reynolds. This technology set-up is strengthened by a unique sound filtration that can isolate the heartbeat of the turtle from all other “noises” around.

The second major challenge turtles face are nanoplastics. Turtles mistake plastic particles as food, but worse, when the recently born turtles finally crossed the stretch of the beach to reach the sea, the first gulp of water they take in is full of microplastics. It is not only the stomach, but also the lungs and the brain are full of nanoparticles that no one notices.

Since plastics found in the sea include old varieties like Bakelite (prohibited for over 4 decades) and old types of PVC (with levels of mercury forbidden today) we knew that something had to be done urgently. This motivated us to accelerate our research on the removal of nano plastics which we finally cracked in November 2020.

This brings us to the Atoll of Aldabra in the Indian Ocean, part of the Seychelles. This is one of the most pristine site of the world. The Government of the Seychelles has decided to make this natural marvel off limits. One of the reasons is to convert the site into an exceptional breeding region for green turtles which are under stress anywhere in the world.

While the visionary work of the Seychelles is having a positive impact, the one element that cannot be controlled are the micro and nanoplastics. These particles arrive from as far as India and Tanzania and create dangerous levels of contamination, not just because of the plastics, but also the arrival of plastics with additives which represent multiple risks to marine wildlife.

However, since the Atoll Aldabra has just two entrances to the laguna, the settling of plastics will be limited and slow. However, the reverse side is that the plastics ones settled in the laguna are difficult to remove. This is why Porrima has decided to engage in the cleaning of the laguna as the very first initiative to liberate turtles especially during their first years of life from the risk of nanoplastics.

The Seychelles is the first country to adopt the identification authentication by Wis@Key, using the pico satellites to track the behaviour and the travels of the turtles. Thus, we plan to use the same communication infrastructure to ensure that not only people are identified, but also marine life.

It is against this background that we very much welcome the cooperation between Porrima and Burj Al Arab Hotel. The Burj Al Arab invested greatly in the design and construction of a large aquarium. This has led to the propagation of endangered turtles and their regular release, including the endangered green turtles.

On May 30, 2022, Porrima will set sail from the Burj Al Arab to the open sea, power by solar and an intelligent kite, and set free turtles. The reality of the event is that already 2,500 turtles have been carefully released into the Gulf of Arabia, and the commitment of the owners is to continue the procreation and expand the program over the years with the integration of ultrasound monitoring equipment and the removal of micro and nano-plastics from its exceptional sites.

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