For the first episode of 2025 Seabed 2030 Head of Partnerships Steve Hall interviews Matthew Zimmerman, CEO and co-founder of FarSounder, based in Rhode Island USA, & one of our industry partners since Year 4 of the Project.
FarSounder specialise in products such as 3D forward-looking sonars that don't only look down to map the seabed, but also scan forwards to enable users to avoid whales snoozing near the surface, or collisions with objects such as containers.
FarSounder are very active in supporting Crowdsourced Bathymetry, and in outreach about the importance of seabed mapping for public benefit.
Find out more about FarSounder at https://www.farsounder.com and you can contact Matthew via info@farsounder.com
Find out more about Seabed 2030 at www.seabed2030.org and contact podcast host & producer Steve Hall here. You can find on us Social Media as Seabed 2030.
With thanks to Matthew for the interview, and to Emily Boddy for Podcast music and voiceover.
We'll be back throughout 2025 with a range of interview, check our webpage for forthcoming events.

Revealing Hidden Depths - the Seabed 2030 Podcast
Find out more about our project at www.seabed2030.org
Brought to you by the Nippon Foundation and GEBCO

Episode 13 is our longest episode to date and features interviews recorded during the 6th Pacific Ocean Mapping Meeting that took place in Fiji in November 2024. With some 90 participants from 27 nations, the meeting was a rare opportunity for mappers, marine managers, industry representatives and members of Seabed 2030's supporting organisations to meet face to face, and learn first hand from citizens of Pacific island nations about the issues and challenges they face, and why seabed mapping matters so much to them.

For this podcast, Steve Hall our Head of Partnerships conducts 4 interviews:
Apenisa Cavuilati of the Fiji Hydrographic Service
Evert Flier - Chair of the GEBCO (General Bathymetric Chart of the Ocean) Guiding Committee
Kyle Goodrich - President and Founder of TCarta
Emma Oliver of the Papua New Guinea University of Natural Resources and Environment and ENB Sea Keepers

Apenisa gives a welcome to Fiji and gives some background about the meeting; Evert expands on the value of holding the meeting in person and learning from the local community - and describes just how vast the Pacific Ocean is.
Kyle gives us an industry perspective, TCarta was one of the original Seabed 2030 industry partners and brings satellite-based observations into the field of ocean mapping, with customers including the UK Hydrographic Office.
Lastly, and with the longest interview recorded by Zoom after the Fiji meeting from her home in Papua New Guinea, Steve speaks to Emma about the particular challenges faced by her community, and why ocean mapping and growing the New Blue Economy can provide a better future for the next generation.

Please send any questions for the interviewees or feedback on this episode to Steve Hall. Find out more about Seabed 2030 see www.seabed2030.org, and listen out for our next episode early in 2025.

Have a peaceful holiday season, and Merry Christmas to all who celebrate!

Revealing Hidden Depths - the Seabed 2030 Podcast
Find out more about our project at www.seabed2030.org
Brought to you by the Nippon Foundation and GEBCO

For episode 12 of the Seabed 2030 podcast, Head of Partnerships Steve Hall interviews Denis Hains (see LinkedIn profile) Hydrospatial Global Influencer, President and CEO of H2i.
Denis is a long-standing champion for ocean mapping, having served in a series of international influential roles including as Hydrographer General of Canada & Director General of the Canadian Hydrographic Service.
He is a member of the Seabed 2030 Strategic Advisory Group, and although he retired from Canadian government service in 2018, he has remained a prolific & visible contributor to the ocean mapping community with many pro-bono professional advisory activities.
Denis was the recipient of the 2024 Sam Masry Award issued by the Canadian Hydrographic Association and is author or co-author of numerous papers and popular technical policy articles.
In this interview Denis talks about his career, about why he is passionate in his advocacy for 'Hydrospatial' as a term describing the work of this domain sector. Link here to an article explaining that 'Hydrospatial' is not about replacing 'hydrography', and here to find the LinkedIn Hydrospatial group.
Denis goes on to explain why Seabed 2030 matters as a mechanism for delivering the first global map of the ocean, and about the importance and enthusiasm of the next generation of ocean mappers in the Hydrospatial domain, and why education, experience, continuous learning - and most importantly professional networking, are vital for early career professionals to build their career.

Revealing Hidden Depths - the Seabed 2030 Podcast
Find out more about our project at www.seabed2030.org
Brought to you by the Nippon Foundation and GEBCO