Exotic marine pests to be caught on tape

SHARE THIS: 

An underwater video camera on wheels is the latest weapon in the war against the introduction of exotic marine species into New Zealand waters.

HullCam is a remote underwater video lens attached to a frame. The frame has wheels that allow it to roll along or across a yacht hull while being steered from the surface by a telescopic arm. The lens, aided by twin underwater lights, sends a moving image to a digital video camera at the surface. Still images are then captured to calculate the amount of fouling.

“There have been major advances over the past 50 years in the development of toxic antifouling paints to prevent the growth of marine species on ship and boat hulls, “ said Dr Floerl. But despite these efforts, hull fouling continues to be one of the main ways that exotic marine species are introduced into New Zealand and other countries.

NIWA’s National Centre of Aquatic Biodiversity & Biosecurity is developing better tools to identify and manage the marine biosecurity risks posed by international yachts visiting New Zealand. As part of this programme, NIWA and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) Quarantine Service have been working together to collect information on the recent travel history of yachts entering New Zealand waters, and the amount and diversity of fouling organisms found on them.

“So far we have used HullCam to sample fouling organisms on nearly 100 yachts,” said Dr Floerl. “HullCam is more efficient than scuba divers – at least three staff are needed for dive surveys, but HullCam can be operated by one person. Divers are also limited in the number of dives they can do in a day.”

NIWA plans to sample another 100 international yachts during the coming boating season.

Archived

This page has been marked as archived, and is here for historical reference only.

Information provided may be out of date, and you are advised to check for newer sources in this section.

This content may be removed at a later date.