BRUVS Deployed To Study Bermuda’s Ocean Life
Using a Baited Remote Underwater Video System [BRUVS] with dual mounted cameras, marine scientists have been capturing footage of the pelagic fish community in Bermuda.
A spokesperson said, “In efforts to evidence Bermuda’s ocean biodiversity and ecosystems, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources [DENR] hosted Dr Jason Meeuwig of Blue Abacus to enable the deployment of a number of BRUVS in areas of sensitive habitats.
Dr Jason Meeuwig of Blue Abacus said “Deploying BRUVS allows us to get a visual and scientific understanding of what is going on beneath the surface of the water, providing the people of Bermuda an opportunity to make informed decisions about their critical marine resources.”
The spokesperson added, “The Governor joined Dr Meeuwig and DENR marine scientists to observe and assist with the deployment of the BRUVS. The BRUVS are mostly made of carbon fibre, with special design and weighting to keep them in position. The cameras record marine life in their vicinity, attracted by bait held in a perforated container.
“Supported by the Coastguard, the group visited a number of locations where they launched the BRUVS from a boat. The BRUVS were then left in the ocean for 1-2 hours before being retrieved and the data from the cameras downloaded. Marine scientists then study the footage, identify the species and count how many of each species are seen. The use of dual mounted cameras means that fish can be sized as well as counted.
“On return to shore, the Governor was also able to view footage of species seen in the Bermuda waters, which included a juvenile tiger shark. Bermuda is one of ten Overseas Territories documenting the status of their open ocean wildlife through the Global Ocean Wildlife Analysis Network [GOWAN], to build ocean resilience. The data produced will provide DENR with the evidence needed to monitor and sustainably manage the marine environment around Bermuda.”
Governor Andrew Murdoch said: ‘The deployment of UK funds through the Blue Belt programme is designed to support the Overseas Territories in understanding their marine environment better. The strategic deployment of these innovative underwater devices can assist the Government of Bermuda in obtaining more accurate data on which to base their future policy decisions. This work by Blue Abacus will give DENR more data to build a fuller understanding of Bermuda’s marine ecosystems.’
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Category: All, Environment, News
Ya right lol..
Good stuff. Always a fan of using technology to cover a lot of the ocean and record what is seen.
However, I have an issue with the buzzword “biodiversity,” since no one can put metrics around it. There is no matrix for the optimal number of species by fish, plant, tree, bird, turtle, coral, Mollusca, humans, insects, etc., stating the optimal balance for each species by grid section/geographical coordinates, zip code/postal code, to obtain “biodiversity.”
Beautiful underwater photographs.
You can get some awesome underwater photos in these waters. I use a gopro knockoff set on video mode when snorkeling. With free software, I play the videos, extract the best frames, and save them individually.