Casey McNutt and members of Teens 4 Oceans install an underwater camera at St. Thomas Bay, Virgin Gorda last month. Photo: JESSICA RICKARD

These days it is not unusual to catch Casey McNutt sitting in her Virgin Gorda Yacht Harbour office watching fish swim among an assortment of corals.

Casey McNutt and members of Teens 4 Oceans install an underwater camera at St. Thomas Bay, Virgin Gorda last month. Photo: JESSICA RICKARD
What is unusual is that the Dive BVI general manager is being captivated by her computer and not an aquarium.

“Look: a trumpet fish,” she said, as she pointed to the top right corner of her laptop screen on a recent Monday. She was watching a live video feed from St. Thomas Bay, a short walk from her office.

She is not the only one who can now watch what is happening underwater off the coast of VG from an office or home. Thanks to a web camera that Ms. McNutt and several members of Teens 4 Oceans recently installed in St. Thomas Bay, anyone can now get a glimpse of the territory’s marine environment in real time by logging on to the Internet.

The camera is located near VG’s Colison Point in about 10 feet of water. It has the ability to pan, tilt and zoom — thus its acronym, PTZ — and it is programmed to pause at 15 different positions.

Aside from taking video 24 hours a day, the setup also has a science node that is recording salinity, temperature and pH levels of the surrounding water. The project has been in the works for about two years, but it wasn’t until November that it started progressing at a faster pace.

Teens 4 Oceans — a Colorado-based youth environmental organisation with several chapters throughout the United States — did fundraisers to help purchase the $50,000 camera, a science node, online streaming,and 350 feet of cable.

As soon as the money was raised, Ms. McNutt wasted no time in purchasing the camera, and 13 members of Teens 4 Oceans helped install it at St. Thomas Bay.

The camera is not the first of its kind in the territory.

For the past two years, Cooper Island Beach Club Resort has had two underwater cameras — one PTZ and one static — recording 24 hours a dayat Machioneel Bay. The live feed is shown on a 48-inch television behind the resort’s bar.

The static camera focuses on a sea grass bed, while the PTZ camera records the surrounding coral.

“Most people think it is a video,” said Andy Murrant, the resort’s general manager. “Once they realise it is a live feed they start to ask questions.”

See the July 10, 2014 edition for full coverage.

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