– Webinar on Blue Economy in the Indian Ocean region towards United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainability (2021-2030)- held on May 6, 2021
Dr. M. A. Atmanand, Chair, IOCINDIO IOC, UNESCO & Senior IEEE Member
Oceans play a very significant role and that has a direct bearing on the human life with wide socio-economic implications. Due to increased anthropogenic activities and effect of climate change, there are many inherent challenges and issues being faced today such as marine pollution, global warming, ocean acidification, overfishing etc., that is leading to rapid decline in the health of oceans and its ecosystems. Keeping this in view, the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainability (2021-2030) recognizes the importance of sustainable development in order to improve the overall ocean health and also create awareness for the sustainable development of oceans, seas, and the coast.
Keeping this in view, the ‘Indian Ocean Blue Economy Summit’ – a live webinar on Blue Economy in the Indian Ocean region towards United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainability (2021 2030) was held on May 6, 2021 (Thursday) from 08:30 AM – 12:30 PM UTC. This event was jointly organized by the IOC Regional Committee for the Central Indian Ocean (IOCINDIO), IEEE Oceanic Engineering Society, Marine Technology Society (MTS), Ocean Society of India (OSI), Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR), Kuwait, Ministry of foreign Affairs, Bangladesh, South Asia Cooperative Environment Programme (SACEP), Department of Oceanography, University of Chittagong, Bangladesh, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, India, Basrah Marine Science Centre, Iraq, Iranian National Institute for Oceanography and Atmospheric Science, Iran, Ministry of Municipality and Environment, State of Qatar, National Institute of Oceanography, Pakistan, University of Portsmouth, UK and King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Saudi Arabia.
This important event was chaired by Mr. Rear Admiral (Retd.) Khurshid Alam, Bangladesh, and co-chaired by Dr. M. A. Atmanand, Chair, IOCINDIO, India. The other distinguished members in the Organizing Committee were from Indian Ocean Rim countries.
At the Opening, Dr. M. A. Atmanand, Chair, IOCINDIO IOC, UNESCO & Senior IEEE Member, delivered the welcome address to all participants. He mentioned that the Indian Ocean region, owing to its complexity and amazing diversity with complementary strengths, is the place where regional and international cooperation is more needed to demonstrate the added value of the IOC of UNESCO. He indicated that the IOCINDIO, the regional body of IOC is precisely attempting to bring all the Indian Ocean rim States together so that the gap areas could be filled up effectively and all the countries in the region reap the benefits of Blue economy. He mentioned about the IEEE/MTS OCEANS 2022 International conference, which will be held at Chennai, India, in February 2022, and invited all to actively participate in the conference.
This was followed by Mr. Rear Admiral (Retd.) Khurshid Alam, Chairman, Organizing Committee. He briefed on the ambitious plan of Bangladesh in the area of Blue Economy like fishing, port, marine aquaculture, ship building, hydrocarbons, bio technology etc. He reiterated the importance of IOCINDIO and the need to revitalize it into a sub commission.
Thereafter, the opening address for this event was addressed by Dr. Ariel Troisi, Chair, IOC, UNESCO. He explained about the multiple stressors for the ocean and the need to bring in multiple stake holders like political leaders, policy makers, private sector, financial institutions, academia, researchers and local community. He gave the importance of the Indian Ocean region and the commencement of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable development, from 1 January this year, indicating that science included all areas like natural sciences, human sciences etc.
Dr. Vladimir Ryabinin, Secretary, IOC, UNESCO, said that oceans are the 7th economy of the world with output of 1.5 trillion dollars. Developing countries have high percentage of Ocean economy of their GDP. Also, ocean economy in developing countries is moving in a riskier direction due to stronger environmental degradation. Thus, developing countries need more science to have a sustainable ocean economy. Hence the UN Decade is necessary for all in the region.
Mr. Justin Ahanhanzo, Programme Officer, IOC, UNESCO, mentioned that study of the Indian Ocean was one of the ambitions of IOC during its formation in the 1960s. It was necessary to know scientifically the ocean, which was least known at that time.
The inaugural talk was delivered by Prof. Peter Haugen, Former Chair, IOC, Programme Director at Institute of Marine Research, Norway, and Professor at University of Bergen, Norway. This talk on ‘Towards sustainable ocean economy and ecosystem-based ocean management in Norway’ covered the vision for clean and rich oceans and coastal regions. Three oceanic areas viz; the North Sea, the Norwegian Sea, and the Barents Sea off Lofoten were chosen for integrated ocean management and marine spatial planning in Norway that involves countries and municipalities. Interesting examples on Salmon farming highlighting on the crucial role of environmental regulation and management were discussed. Importance of traffic light system in regulating the level of salmon lice induced mortality on wild salmonids at production areas with risk levels of mortality was demonstrated. The talk also highlighted on the role of ocean panel in climate based solutions, along with ocean based climate mitigation measures prone to have more benefits than trade-offs.
The Session-1 was chaired by Dr. Venugopalan, Senior Member, IEEE, National University of Singapore and Session-2 was chaired by Dr. M. Ravichandran, President Ocean Society of India and Director, National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR), India.
Martine Hippolyte (COI, Mauritius) and Dr. Marie-Alexandrine Sicre, Sorbonne Université, France, talked on ‘Multifaceted blue economy actions in the Indian Ocean’ covering aspects on two categories of projects under the upcoming presidency of France of the Commission de I’Ocean Indien (May 2021-April 2022) that had two components. The first component involved engagement with civil society and local communities having a total of 22 projects, and the second category has 11 projects based on research and innovation from various research institutions. Three themes were discussed covering aspects on protection of biodiversity and ecosystems, waste recycling and water treatment, and coastal resilience and risk prevention. Different countries involved for this study are Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, and South Africa. Martine Hippolyte highlighted on the Indian Ocean Plastic Expedition with a mission to increase the living standard of human population emphasizing on the value of marine and coastal resources, promotion of socio-economic development conserving the environment. Primarily, the study focused on the problems with plastic pollution supporting behavioral development and commitment of stakeholders, in particular the companies involved.
Dr. Ali Bassal Mahmood, Iraq, presented the activities related to Blue Economy being pursued by Iraq in the Arabian Gulf – Indian Ocean region. This talk highlighted on the activities related to blue economy, sustaining marine resources, and managing the blue economy file. Importance of marine and river fishing and associated food processing industries involved in this activity have been discussed. The importance in sustaining marine resources such as preserving the safety of environment and ocean health of waters in the Gulf, rivers and marshes were also discussed. Finally, the talk also highlighted the potential to create enormous job opportunities and continuous food security aspects.
Dr. Arulananthan, Sri Lanka, delivered the talk on ‘Potential contribution of the blue economy to Sri Lanka’s growth’ covering different aspects on the opportunities, challenges, initiatives, and the way forward. In terms of opportunities, the talk covered the role of small island developing state to large ocean state highlighting on the expansion of outer limit of the exclusive economic zone. Factors that contribute to economic activities, such as marine fisheries, aquaculture, extraction of minerals, oil & natural gas, desalination, renewable energy, eco-tourism, and shipping aspects, were also discussed. Challenges such as the impact of climate change and its effects on habitat and livelihood aspects were elaborated. Also, the major challenges involved with environmental drivers such as acidification, rising sea water temperature, circulation patterns, extreme weather events, sea level rise, coastal stability, and mixing were discussed. Finally, the talk also highlighted some of the recent initiatives such as: ocean observation network, fisheries policy, artificial reefs, ban on bottom trawling, marine protected areas, oil spill contingency plans, offshore sand mining regulations, commitment to adhere to regional/global conventions and agreements. Importance of technical, institutional, technological, and financial capacity building for innovative use of ocean resources for economic development and good governance of ocean health management were highlighted in this talk.
Dr. Yasser Abualnaja, KAUST, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, delivered a talk on ‘The Blue Economy: An Essential Pillar for Building a Development Model for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.’ The role of Red Sea and Arabian Gulf in contributing to strategic, economic and social values to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and surrounding nations were covered in detail. Under Vision 2030, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has placed different plans to enhance the non-oil revenues by diversifying the economy. The Red Sea and Arabian Gulf resources can provide huge opportunities for increasing Saudi economic growth – especially the tourism and aquaculture sectors, and tackle unemployment rates, poverty and food security. Blue economy approach in Saudi Arabia is aimed to improve the overall human wellbeing, as well as significantly reduce environmental and ecological degradation. The talk covered a detailed elaboration and importance of six sectorial areas such as: Fisheries, Maritime transport, Climate Change, Marine tourism, Renewable energy, and Waste management. Challenges in climate change such as dust storms in Saudi Arabia has been discussed.
Dr. Saja Fakhraldeen, KISR, Kuwait presented a talk on ‘Research Activities Related to the Blue Economy in Kuwait.’ The talk highlighted on the measures required to mainstream Blue economy into future sustainable development goals. It includes various aspects such as: Development of access and benefit sharing rules for marine bio-prospecting, Investment in R&D, infrastructure, capacity, and use of marine and other renewable energy sources, investment in sustainable coastal and maritime tourism and infrastructure, reducing marine pollution from land-based sources, sustainable management and protection of marine and coastal ecosystems, mitigation efforts for ocean acidification, regulating fish harvesting, and restoration of fish stocks to safe levels. Different research activities carried at KISR, Kuwait were highlighted. Some of the environmental challenges on desalination technologies, keeping in view increased salinity in waters off Kuwait, attributed due to damming of upstream rivers and reduction in flow, were highlighted in this talk.
Dr. Samina Kidwai, National Institute of Oceanography, Government of Pakistan, made a presentation on the topic ‘A step forward for Pakistan – Advancing Blue Growth through Cooperation and Innovation.’ This talk highlighted on the Pakistan perspective of blue growth, and national focus on preparedness and international cooperation. The importance of blue economy, its multi-sectoral and long-term benefits have been discussed. The ocean energy and seabed mining sector and joint cruises in collaboration with the Geological Survey of China for gas hydrates in the Makran coast, along with natural hazard studies, were highlighted. Blue partnership by opening CPEC regional office for environmental protection has also been discussed.
In the 2nd session, Dr. G. A. Ramadass, NIOT, India, delivered a talk on ‘Blue economy – Indian way.’ The talk started with an introduction and Ocean policy for Blue Economy in India. The role of different working groups under the Indian Government has been discussed. Different components of Blue Economy, such as extraction of non-living resources, harvesting of living resources, and ocean commerce and estimated blue resource potential in India, were highlighted. Further, the talk also highlighted different energy sources from the ocean such as waves, ocean currents, thermal gradient, and offshore wind as well as concentrated research efforts on wave devices and hydro-kinetic approaches for extraction of tidal energy. Efforts made on desalination from oceans and its implementation in Lakshadweep Island were highlighted in the talk. Involvement of India in exploration and technology development for harvesting deep ocean minerals such as polymetallic nodules was also covered in the presentation. In addition, the different technologies available for mapping ocean resources were also discussed. Research activities on coastal areas, such as the shoreline protection and management, marine and coastal pollution, and coastal vulnerability, coastal monitoring and protection measures, were highlighted.
Dr. Pierre Failler, University of Portsmouth, U.K., made a presentation on the topic ‘Blue Economy Strategies: African perspectives.’ The presentation covered aspects on Blue Economy and key principles for development covering strategies for Africa and Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD). Value added in Blue Economy sectors and the value of Blue Economy components covering aspects, such as ecosystem services, education, research, etc., from 2018 to 2063, were discussed. Study signifies that Blue Economy sectors and components for Africa generate today 49 million jobs. It is projected that by 2030, the figures rise to 57 million, while in 2063 the estimates would be 78 million. Importance of Circular Economy, Good Governance, Environmental and social sustainability, Empowerment and inclusive decision-making were presented. Finally, the challenges such as insufficient structuring of the implementation of Blue Economy, lack of knowledge of blue potential, nutritional deficit, absence of accounting for Blue Economy activities and components, and the absence of an integrated and prospective approach to marine ecosystems and spatio-temporal management tools and strategic axes of intervention were discussed in the talk.
Dr Hussain Almuscati, Oman, presented on the topic ‘Fisheries sector in the Sultanate of Oman Blue Economy Review.’ The presentation covered aspects on: Overview of the Fisheries sector in Oman, Fleet Structure 2020, Evolution of Fisheries Landings, Long Term Strategy 2020, objective of the 2040 Oman vision, Objectives and Policies of the Eighth Five-Year Plan, Fisheries Sector Actions to meet Blue Growth Objectives, and Investment opportunities. Also, the ongoing projects, such as small & large pelagic resources, modernizing fishing fleet aquaculture development, artificial reef farms, and promotion of coastal women, were discussed.
The topic on ‘Marine aquaculture in Iran’ was presented by Dr. Abtahi, INIOAS, Iran. He stressed on the importance in reducing the pressure from fishing on living resources of the sea, and in turn reducing the impact of fish farming on limited freshwater resources in water-stressed countries like Iran. The presentation covered major cage culture producing countries and cage aquaculture production based on fish family around the world. Dr. Abtahi also discussed the various possibilities and advantages such as native species cultivated in all coastal waters for the southern and northern portions of Iran, environmental conditions and suitable ecological facilities available in the territorial waters, possibility of modern marine fish breeding system in cages, suitable sheltered areas in Persian Gulf for setting up marine fish farms in cages, increased production of marine farmed fishes to reduce the fishing pressure, and investment opportunities for the private sector.
Dr. P. Vethamony, UNESCO Chair, Qatar, presented on ‘Management and protection of marine resources within the EEZ of Qatar.’ A brief overview on the Arabian Gulf and Qatar EEZ was discussed, highlighting on the Blue Economy resources in the EEZ of Qatar. It involves sectors such as Oil and gas, seafood products, desalinated water, mangrove forests, intertidal mudflats, seagrass meadows, coral reefs, aquaculture, sea turtles, dugongs, and eco-tourism. The status of desalination, mangrove swamps within the EEZ, seagrass beds, distribution of coral reefs and associated ecosystems in Qatar was presented. Interesting points were made on the mushroom forest artificial reef, a new patented design made at ESC, Qatar University. Discussions were made on the impact of fisheries when sea turtles disappear. The importance of dugongs (sea cows), eco-tourism, land reclamation for Pearl, Airport and Seaport in Qatar waters were highlighted. Aspects on seasonal hypoxia events and marine debris and associated biota, microplastics and tarmat distribution for Qatar waters were covered in the presentation.
The concluding session had a panel discussion moderated by Dr. M. A. Atmanand, Chair, IOCINDIO. The panel-list participants were Mr. Rear Admiral (retd.) Khurshid Alam, Bangladesh, Chairman, Organising Committee, Dr. SSC Shenoi, Vice Chair, IOC, Mr. Christopher Whitt, President, IEEE Oceanic Engineering Society, and Dr. Pierre Failler, University of Portsmouth, U.K. The Question that was asked to the panel-list participants was the following: ‘Indian Ocean is least studied and its coasts are prone to many natural hazards. The Indian Ocean rim countries have lot of untapped resources as far as Blue economy is concerned. Where do you see the Indian Ocean region after the conclusion of the UN decade of Ocean science for sustainability taken up by IOC in 2030?’
The panelists from varied backgrounds gave their inputs. The final outcome and recommendations from this webinar based on discussions are: (i) cooperation and collaboration is the key to success, (ii) mariculture is the best option to meet fisheries demand, (iii) special focus is required on natural hazards in the Indian Ocean region, (iv) studies on pollution, micro-pollution, ship related pollution needs to be emphasized by researchers from IOC, (v) it is envisaged that the next generation should see more productive ocean health. It is also recommended to tap Blue Economy, keeping in view to increase the economy of people. More attention is required on climate change aspects. Also, the Indian Ocean is warming at a higher rate. Its relation to natural hazards like tropical cyclones, frequency, and duration etc., needs a thorough understanding in relation to ocean warming. Another aspect is sea level rise implications on climate change. Impacts on fisheries sector for sustainable developed needs to be focused. In line with the International Indian Ocean Expedition (IIOE-2), aspects of climate change affecting Indian Ocean region is required with collaborative efforts of IOC, SCOR, IOGOOS. It is important to transfer research to applications for sustainable development and governance for societal benefit.
Overall, the Blue Economy Summit was a successful event. The contents of lecture from distinguished experts was quite intense and provided valuable insight on various activities in the Indian Ocean rim countries. There was an overwhelming response from the large number of participants with about 125 participants in WebEx and more than 400 views in the YouTube as of now. Youtube link is available for viewing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzEARMitNzk.
Suleman Mazhar has been working as a professor in Information & Communication Engineering at Harbin Engineering University (China) since July 2019. He did PhD from Tokyo University (Japan) and postdoctorate from Georgetown University (Washington DC, USA). He had BS-CS from FAST-NUCES (Lahore) and MS from GIK Institute (Pakistan). He is TYSP young scientist fellow (Ministry of Science & Technology China) and have won several research grants from international organizations such as DAAD (Germany), ICIMOD (Nepal), NRPU (Higher Education Commission Pakistan), WWF (Worldwide Fund for Nature) Pakistan. His research focus is deep learning and signal processing applications for environmental monitoring, with particular focus on underwater acoustics, and marine mammal conservation. He is a reviewer for professional journals such as Journal of Acoustical Society (America), IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering, IEEE Sensors Journal, Applied Acoustics, IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems.
Peng Ren is a full professor with the College of Oceanography and Space Informatics, China University of Petroleum (East China). He is the director of Qingdao International Research Center for Intelligent Forecast and Detection of Oceanic Catastrophes. He received the K. M. Scott Prize from the University of York, the Natural Science award (first rank) from China Institute of Electronics, and the Eduardo Caianiello Best Student Paper Award from 18th International Conference on Image Analysis and Processing as one co-author. He has served as an associate editor of IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.
Mohd Rizal Arshad is a full professor at the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Malaysia, where he specializes in ocean robotics technology and intelligent system. He received his B.Eng. in Medical Electronics & Instrumentation and PhD in Electronic Engineering from University of Liverpool, UK in 1994 and 1999, respectively. He completed his MSc. in Electronic Control Engineering from the University of Salford, UK in Dec 1995. He has supervised many postgraduate students and published extensively in local and international publications. He is a senior member of the IEEE, and was awarded IEEE OES Presidential Award in 2019.
Itzik Klein is an Assistant Professor, heading the Autonomous Navigation and Sensor Fusion Lab, at the Charney School of Marine Sciences, Hatter Department of Marine Technologies, University of Haifa. He is an IEEE Senior Member and a member of the IEEE Journal of Indoor and Seamless Positioning and Navigation (J-ISPIN) Editorial Board. Prior to joining the University of Haifa, he worked at leading companies in Israel on navigation topics for more than 15 years. He has a wide range of experience in navigation systems and sensor fusion from both industry and academic perspectives. His research interests lie in the intersection of artificial intelligence with inertial sensing, sensor fusion, and autonomous underwater vehicles.
John R. Potter (IEEE M’94, SM’02, F’18) graduated in the previous century with a joint honours Mathematics and Physics Degree from Bristol and a PhD. in Glaciology and Oceanography from Cambridge, UK studying Antarctic ice mass balance, where he spent four consecutive summers. This work helped underscore the non-linear fragility of polar ice to climate change and led to him receiving the Polar Medal from Queen Elizabeth II in 1988.
Nick is a Visiting Fellow at the UK National Oceanographic Center, Southampton His nomination was endorsed by the Underwater Acoustics Technology Committee. He had worked as a Research Associate and Lecturer at University of Birmingham and has been working as a Research Scientist at the Applied Research Laboratory, University of Texas, Austin. He has also served as a Program Officer at the Office of Naval Research Global. He is a senior member of IEEE (OES) and a Fellow of Acoustical Society of America (ASA). Nick has also been serving as Assoc. Editor for IEEE JoE and JASA. He is widely acknowledged for his expertise are seabed acoustics, parametric array modeling, sonar beamformer, underwater signal processing.
Maurizio Migliaccio (M’91-SM’00-F’17) is Full professor of Electromagnetics at Università di Napoli Parthenope (Italy) and was Affiliated Full Professor at NOVA Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, FL (USA). He has been teaching Microwave Remote Sensing since 1994. He was visiting scientist at Deutsche Forschungsanstalt fur Lüft und Raumfahrt (DLR), Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany. He was member of the Italian Space Agency (ASI) scientific committee. He was member of the ASI CosmoSkyMed second generation panel. He was e-geos AdCom member. He was Italian delegate of the ESA PB-EO board. He was Member of South Africa Expert Review Panel for Space Exploration. He serves as reviewer for the UE, Italian Research Ministry (MIUR), NCST, Kazakhstan and Hong Kong Research board. He lectured in USA, Canada, Brazil, China, Hong Kong, Germany, Spain, Czech Republic, Switzerland and Italy. He was Italian delegate at UE COST SMOS Mode Action. He is listed in the Italian Top Scientists. He is an IEEE Trans. Geoscience and Remote Sensing AE, International Journal of Remote Sensing AE, and was IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering AE Special Issue on Radar for Marine and Maritime Remote Sensing, IEEE JSTARS AE of the Special Issue on CosmoSKyMed, Member of the Indian Journal of Radio & Space Physics Editorial board. His main current scientific interests cover SAR sea oil slick and man-made target monitoring, remote sensing for marine and coastal applications, remote sensing for agriculture monitoring, polarimetry, inverse problems for resolution enhancement, reverberating chambers. He published about 160 peer-reviewed journal papers on remote sensing and applied electromagnetics.
He has developed various types of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) and related application technologies including navigation methods, a new sensing method using a chemical sensor, precise seafloor mapping methods, a precise seabed positioning system with a resolution of a few centimeters, a new sensing system of the thickness of cobalt-rich crust; and more. He has shown, by using these technologies that AUVs are practicable and valuable tools for deep-sea exploration.
Donna Kocak has had an outstanding career in defense and scientific projects developing and applying solutions in subsea optics, imaging and robotics. She graduated with an M.Sc in Computer Science in 1997 from the University of Central Florida; an MBA in 2008 from the University of Florida; and M.Sc in Industrial Engineering in 2011 from the University of Central Florida. She is currently a Senior Scientist, Advanced Concepts Engineering, and Fellow at the Harris Corporation in Melbourne, Florida, where she has developed novel optical imaging and communication solutions for under-sea defense and scientific projects. Prior to 2008 Donna Kocak was Founder and President of Green Sky Imaging, LLC (GSI) who developed laser/video photogrammetry software for underwater inspection and survey. Her earlier career positions were with Naval Training Systems Center, Florida; Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution, Florida; eMerge Interactive; and the Advanced Technologies Group in Florida.
John Potter has a Joint Honours degree in Mathematics and Physics from Bristol University in the UK and a PhD in Glaciology and Oceanography from the University of Cambridge on research in the Antarctic, for which he was awarded the Polar Medal in 1988. John has worked on polar oceanography, underwater acoustics, ambient noise (including imaging), marine mammals, communications, IoUT, autonomous vehicles and strategic development. He has 40 years’ international experience working at the British Antarctic Survey in the UK, NATO in Italy, SIO in California, NUS in Singapore and most recently at NTNU in Norway. John is a Fellow of the IEEE and MTS, an Associate Editor for the IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering, IEEE OES Distinguished Lecturer, PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer & an International Fellow of the Explorer’s Club.
Dr. James V. Candy is the Chief Scientist for Engineering and former Director of the Center for Advanced Signal & Image Sciences at the University of California, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Dr. Candy received a commission in the USAF in 1967 and was a Systems Engineer/Test Director from 1967 to 1971. He has been a Researcher at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory since 1976 holding various positions including that of Project Engineer for Signal Processing and Thrust Area Leader for Signal and Control Engineering. Educationally, he received his B.S.E.E. degree from the University of Cincinnati and his M.S.E. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Florida, Gainesville. He is a registered Control System Engineer in the state of California. He has been an Adjunct Professor at San Francisco State University, University of Santa Clara, and UC Berkeley, Extension teaching graduate courses in signal and image processing. He is an Adjunct Full-Professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Dr. Candy is a Fellow of the IEEE and a Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA) and elected as a Life Member (Fellow) at the University of Cambridge (Clare Hall College). He is a member of Eta Kappa Nu and Phi Kappa Phi honorary societies. He was elected as a Distinguished Alumnus by the University of Cincinnati. Dr. Candy received the IEEE Distinguished Technical Achievement Award for the “development of model-based signal processing in ocean acoustics.” Dr. Candy was selected as a IEEE Distinguished Lecturer for oceanic signal processing as well as presenting an IEEE tutorial on advanced signal processing available through their video website courses. He was nominated for the prestigious Edward Teller Fellowship at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Dr. Candy was awarded the Interdisciplinary Helmholtz-Rayleigh Silver Medal in Signal Processing/Underwater Acoustics by the Acoustical Society of America for his technical contributions. He has published over 225 journal articles, book chapters, and technical reports as well as written three texts in signal processing, “Signal Processing: the Model-Based Approach,” (McGraw-Hill, 1986), “Signal Processing: the Modern Approach,” (McGraw-Hill, 1988), “Model-Based Signal Processing,” (Wiley/IEEE Press, 2006) and “Bayesian Signal Processing: Classical, Modern and Particle Filtering” (Wiley/IEEE Press, 2009). He was the General Chairman of the inaugural 2006 IEEE Nonlinear Statistical Signal Processing Workshop held at the Corpus Christi College, University of Cambridge. He has presented a variety of short courses and tutorials sponsored by the IEEE and ASA in Applied Signal Processing, Spectral Estimation, Advanced Digital Signal Processing, Applied Model-Based Signal Processing, Applied Acoustical Signal Processing, Model-Based Ocean Acoustic Signal Processing and Bayesian Signal Processing for IEEE Oceanic Engineering Society/ASA. He has also presented short courses in Applied Model-Based Signal Processing for the SPIE Optical Society. He is currently the IEEE Chair of the Technical Committee on “Sonar Signal and Image Processing” and was the Chair of the ASA Technical Committee on “Signal Processing in Acoustics” as well as being an Associate Editor for Signal Processing of ASA (on-line JASAXL). He was recently nominated for the Vice Presidency of the ASA and elected as a member of the Administrative Committee of IEEE OES. His research interests include Bayesian estimation, identification, spatial estimation, signal and image processing, array signal processing, nonlinear signal processing, tomography, sonar/radar processing and biomedical applications.
Kenneth Foote is a Senior Scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. He received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from The George Washington University in 1968, and a Ph.D. in Physics from Brown University in 1973. He was an engineer at Raytheon Company, 1968-1974; postdoctoral scholar at Loughborough University of Technology, 1974-1975; research fellow and substitute lecturer at the University of Bergen, 1975-1981. He began working at the Institute of Marine Research, Bergen, in 1979; joined the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in 1999. His general area of expertise is in underwater sound scattering, with applications to the quantification of fish, other aquatic organisms, and physical scatterers in the water column and on the seafloor. In developing and transitioning acoustic methods and instruments to operations at sea, he has worked from 77°N to 55°S.
René Garello, professor at Télécom Bretagne, Fellow IEEE, co-leader of the TOMS (Traitements, Observations et Méthodes Statistiques) research team, in Pôle CID of the UMR CNRS 3192 Lab-STICC.
Professor Mal Heron is Adjunct Professor in the Marine Geophysical Laboratory at James Cook University in Townsville, Australia, and is CEO of Portmap Remote Ocean Sensing Pty Ltd. His PhD work in Auckland, New Zealand, was on radio-wave probing of the ionosphere, and that is reflected in his early ionospheric papers. He changed research fields to the scattering of HF radio waves from the ocean surface during the 1980s. Through the 1990s his research has broadened into oceanographic phenomena which can be studied by remote sensing, including HF radar and salinity mapping from airborne microwave radiometers . Throughout, there have been one-off papers where he has been involved in solving a problem in a cognate area like medical physics, and paleobiogeography. Occasionally, he has diverted into side-tracks like a burst of papers on the effect of bushfires on radio communications. His present project of the Australian Coastal Ocean Radar Network (ACORN) is about the development of new processing methods and applications of HF radar data to address oceanography problems. He is currently promoting the use of high resolution VHF ocean radars, based on the PortMap high resolution radar.
Hanu Singh graduated B.S. ECE and Computer Science (1989) from George Mason University and Ph.D. (1995) from MIT/Woods Hole.He led the development and commercialization of the Seabed AUV, nine of which are in operation at other universities and government laboratories around the world. He was technical lead for development and operations for Polar AUVs (Jaguar and Puma) and towed vehicles(Camper and Seasled), and the development and commercialization of the Jetyak ASVs, 18 of which are currently in use. He was involved in the development of UAS for polar and oceanographic applications, and high resolution multi-sensor acoustic and optical mapping with underwater vehicles on over 55 oceanographic cruises in support of physical oceanography, marine archaeology, biology, fisheries, coral reef studies, geology and geophysics and sea-ice studies. He is an accomplished Research Student advisor and has made strong collaborations across the US (including at MIT, SIO, Stanford, Columbia LDEO) and internationally including in the UK, Australia, Canada, Korea, Taiwan, China, Japan, India, Sweden and Norway. Hanu Singh is currently Chair of the IEEE Ocean Engineering Technology Committee on Autonomous Marine Systems with responsibilities that include organizing the biennial IEEE AUV Conference, 2008 onwards. Associate Editor, IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering, 2007-2011. Associate editor, Journal of Field Robotics 2012 onwards.
Milica Stojanovic graduated from the University of Belgrade, Serbia, in 1988, and received the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from Northeastern University in Boston, in 1991 and 1993. She was a Principal Scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and in 2008 joined Northeastern University, where she is currently a Professor of electrical and computer engineering. She is also a Guest Investigator at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Milica’s research interests include digital communications theory, statistical signal processing and wireless networks, and their applications to underwater acoustic systems. She has made pioneering contributions to underwater acoustic communications, and her work has been widely cited. She is a Fellow of the IEEE, and serves as an Associate Editor for its Journal of Oceanic Engineering (and in the past for Transactions on Signal Processing and Transactions on Vehicular Technology). She also serves on the Advisory Board of the IEEE Communication Letters, and chairs the IEEE Ocean Engineering Society’s Technical Committee for Underwater Communication, Navigation and Positioning. Milica is the recipient of the 2015 IEEE/OES Distinguished Technical Achievement Award.
Dr. Paul C. Hines was born and raised in Glace Bay, Cape Breton. From 1977-1981 he attended Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, graduating with a B.Sc. (Hon) in Engineering-Physics.