FIVE MANATEES SAVED, MANATEE PROTECTION SYSTEM PROVES ITSELF WHILE GOING ON-LINE FORT PIERCE, FL., MARCH 14 Ð A second-generation Manatee Protection System designed by Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution engineers has already proven itself, saving the lives of five manatees while being installed and tested at the Port Canaveral locks. The first save happened March 6 as sensors on the west gates registered a detection while closing, and immediately stopped moving. The operator then went to the other side of the lock where he observed four manatees swimming to the east. He opened the gates at that end, and the manatees continued on completely untouched. The most recent save occurred on March 12 as a single adult manatee began swimming through the locks as they were closing. It was also detected and the gates immediately stopped moving. The MPS, or "Manatee Protection System" being installed at Port Canaveral is a sophisticated, non-contact acoustic based sensor system that can react to the passage of a manatee in a tenth of a second. It's a much-advanced version of the system that has already proven itself at the St. Lucie locks. This system is unique in many ways, and Harbor Branch Oceanographic engineers have made it even more effective with the use of optical links and hard-wire communications between the sensors on the gates, the computers, and the operator's station. There are a total of 320 individual sensors installed in sensor "packages" of 10 sensors each, with eight such packages on each gate. Harbor Branch Engineers who designed the system wanted ultimate safety and redundancy, and any one sensor can go off-line without disabling the entire system. HBOI will be on-site for the next week conducting operator training and making final adjustments, and the Port Canaveral Authority plans to hold a news media conference to demonstrate the system on March 24th. At that time, Harbor Branch engineers plan an active demonstration of the system and will actually put a diver in the water or pull a decoy through the gates while they are closing, to prove the effectiveness of the system. Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution, Inc. is one of the world's leading nonprofit oceanographic research organizations dedicated to the exploration of the earth's oceans, estuaries and coastal regions for the benefit of mankind.