Mary Island AIS Installation

Mary Island Light is housed in a white square tower 76 feet (23 meters) above the water on the NE side of Mary Island
in Southeast Alaska. Mary Island is located just off the southeast side of Metlakatla Island south of Ketchikan.
The island is comparatively low and densely wooded near the shores. The location was deemed perfect for another
AIS installation to allow the Marine Exchange of Alaska's vessel tracking system to have a clear look at Dixon
Entrance and into Canadian waters in the northern part of British Columbia's Inside Passage.

In early September 2011 the Marine Exchange's AIS installation team loaded their gear into the Marine Exchange's
AIS Maintenance Vessel CLEAT and prepared to travel to Mary Island more than 250 miles away from Juneau.

Arriving at the site the CLEAT's crew is able to deposit equipment needed for the installation directly into the shoreline.

The crew sets to work mixing concrete which will be poured into forms to set the footings for the solar panel installation.

After the base of the structure has been set in place the crew erects the mounting supports for the solar panels.

Steve Lanwermeyer pauses to admire the handiwork as the structure nears completion.

Steve and AIS Field Technician Clif Miller check electronic functions as final wiring connections are completed.

Steve and Clif pose by the completed solar panel, antenna structure and wind turbine installation.

The completed installation consists of the concrete footings, solar panel installation, wind turbine
installation, AIS radio antenna and cell phone antennas for data back haul. The AIS radio receivers are
housed in weatherproof boxes below the entirely self-contained installation. .

The installation crew from left to right: Captain Ed Page, Executive Director of the
Marine Exchange of Alaska, Steve Lanwermeyer, Ed Haney and Clif Miller.

The Marine Exchange's AIS installation and Mary Island Light . . .

The new AIS receiver installation at Mary Island allows the Marine Exchange to monitor vessel traffic in
Dixon Entrance and down into the major port of Prince Rupert in British Columbia.

The new AIS radio installation reception coverage extends hundreds of miles into
Hecate Strait and the northern Queen Charlotte Islands of British Columbia. . .

October 27, 2011, the Marine Exchange AIS maintenance team had to return to Mary Island by helicopter to perform an unscheduled repair on the installation . . . these flying repairs are costly and the main reason that the Marine Exchange has purchased and uses the landing craft CLEAT whenever weather permits its use for these purposes.