The Smartfin Project aims to unite the surfing community and the research community in an effort to fill this gap in our oceanographic data.
The Project offers research-grade, data-collecting surfboard fins to its ocean-engaged members and encourages them to surf or SUP with the fins regularly to transfer useful nearshore data to the cloud for oceanographic scientists to use in their research.
The Project also encourages members to be vocal about their Smartfin participation, ocean health and climate change within their own communities and provides opportunities for members to engage others, learn and be heard, both online and offline. Members will be given tools to organize themselves into groups and manage the data that they collect.
In 2019 the Project will establish Smartfin Initiatives in locations that host active surfing communities, and also in areas that are high priorities for oceanographic research. These initiatives encourage ocean health awareness, increase Smartfin membership and participation and promote scientific research.
The Smartfin Project is partnered with researchers at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, one of the world’s leading institutions for oceanographic research.