Blog

Posted on

CSIRO estimates millions of tons of microplastics on ocean floor

The CSIRO recently released a report estimating microplastic build-up on the ocean floor and the results are not good. Using an ROV to collect 51 deepwater samples from the Great Australian Bight in 2017, scientists determined that microplastics are sinking to the ocean beds, finding some areas of zero plastic particles but others with up to 13.6 particles per gram (an amount ~25 times larger than previous studies).

“We estimate there are up to 14 million tonnes of microplastics in the seafloor. It’s worse than we thought.”

https://blog.csiro.au/14-million-tonnes-of-microplastics/

More details at: https://www.csiro.au/en/News/News-releases/2020/14-million-tonnes-of-microplastics-on-seafloor

Posted on

ROV finds very rare squid in Great Australian Bight

Scientists at CSIRO and Museum Victoria were thrilled to find not just one but FIVE “super rare deep sea squid” in the Great Australian Bight. This large fin squid, Magnapinna, has extremely long, thin tentacles and what appear to be tightly coiled filaments. Scientists believe Magnapinna can quickly retract its filaments if needed. The only other cephalopod known to have retractable filaments is the vampire squid (Vampyroteuthis infernalis):

https://youtu.be/hRWd3oDlUrM

Here is a close-up of a 4 to 6m long Magnapinna spotted by MBARI off Hawaii:

More details at: Sciencex.com 12nov20 and Science Alert 11nov20

Posted on

ROVs Fixing Aquaculture Nets

Interesting technique to fix aquaculture nets with ROVs:

“Repairing a net is a skilled job requiring accuracy to undertake repairs and dexterity to ensure the repair provides net integrity and stock security. Underwater repairs to date have nearly always required the services of a diver. So why would you use an ROV system to inspect a net if you still need to get a diver to repair any issues? What if the ROV could undertake the net survey, affect a temporary repair and divers could then be used on a planned basis to permanently fix the net?”

Fishfarmermagazine 30sep20