The International SeaKeepers Society is a non-profit organization that focuses on ocean conservation and research. They work to promote scientific research, raise awareness about marine issues, and support innovative solutions to address challenges facing the world’s oceans. One of their key initiatives involves engaging the yachting community in oceanographic research, using private vessels as platforms for scientific data collection. The Bangladesh chapter of the International SeaKeepers Society was recently launched, with Enayetullah Khan, editor-in-chief of United News of Bangladesh (UNB) and managing director of Cosmos Group, named as its president. Also read: International Seakeepers Society arrives in Bangladesh to work on ocean health Jay Wade, chairman of International SeaKeepers Society, and Julian Chang, president of SeaKeepers Asia, were in Dhaka to formally make the announcement of the launch of the Bangladesh chapter with Enayetullah Khan as its president on November 8, 2023. During a one-on-one conversation with UNB, Wade explained how the SeaKeepers Society is essentially harnessing the power of yachts for a good cause, facilitating scientist-led expeditions around the world to gather more knowledge, and making waves in ocean conservation. “I came into SeaKeepers right around 2003. I had a submersible, a two-person submersible, and we dove all over the world. I was in Monaco, for an event, and that’s where I met the SeaKeepers team. I’m a programmer by trade, and I had a software company. We did a lot of work with big data at the time,” Wade recalled how he joined the organization.  “The way SeaKeepers operate is: An owner would put a device we call the ‘SeaKeeper 1000’ on the yacht, and as they travel around the oceans, it would measure roughly 10 different items of the ocean and a handful of items from the air, package those up, collect that data, and then send it back via satellite to a database in the United States. Then from there, we shared it with scientists. So when I heard that and being somebody who loves the ocean, I thought, ‘wow, that’s a really good idea, and I want to be a part of it.’ That’s when I signed up to become a SeaKeeper,” he said.  Also read: International Seakeepers Society opens Bangladesh chapter with Enayetullah Khan as president “Over the years, we have changed what we do a little bit. We still enable protection and restoration of the world’s oceans, and we still collect data. But we’ve added several other things to that – education, community involvement, citizen science, and Discovery Yachts. As time has gone on, we’ve been able to grow our fleet and expand our operation,” he added. Talking about in how many countries they operate, the SeaKeepers Society chairman said, “Our main office is in Miami, Florida. We also have an office on the West Coast of the United States, in Newport Beach, California. Those two offices typically handle all of North and South America. Then we have an office in London, which right now handles Europe. There’s an office in Singapore for Asia, and one in New Zealand, which operates for South Pacific. We will probably add 6 to 10 more offices around the world to facilitate the science and restoration.” On the significance of the Bay of Bengal and Sundarbans, he said, “Preserving those areas is good for the earth, which ultimately is good for the people. However, you can’t preserve anything unless you take the local communities into account. So, one of the things we’re very cognizant of is that it’s really important to work with local communities for successful preservation. That’s the primary reason we’re here this week.” “Before this year, we had about 200 yachts involved in the SeaKeepers Society. This year, we’ve added quite a bit more. We’ve added roughly 10,000 boats that are part of owners’ groups for different brands that we work with. It’s going to take several years to get them all on board and get them trained. I’d say in the next three years, we should have 10,000,” Wade said about the size of the fleet.