Underwater robots are key to understanding and protecting deep-water species

Abstract

A new study shows that the combined use of fixed acoustic reception stations and underwater robots for the study of deep-sea species allows for a better understanding of their ecology. These technological advances could improve the recovery of deep-sea demersal populations. Exploration of marine ecosystems requires the development of technologies that allow in-depth research for an unlimited time. Acoustic reception stations fixed to the seabed are a good option, as they offer great temporary resolution, but they have a high deployment cost and their use is limited to the anchorage area. Therefore, the possibility of combining their use with that of remotely operated and autonomous underwater vehicles, commonly known as ROVs and AUVs, is essential. This is the main conclusion of a study carried out by researchers from the Institut de Ciències del Mar (ICM-CSIC), the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya · BarcelonaTech (UPC) and the Universitat de Girona (UdG) and published in the journal Science Robotics. The authors claim that underwater robots act as the perfect complement to fixed stations since they have great flexibility, can move fast and are able to cover much larger study areas. This improvement in operational capacity allows biological and ecological information on the activity patterns of benthic marine organisms to be collected. This should in turn allow the recovery actions of their populations, many of which are suffering as a result of human exploitation, to be improved. "Through the installation of acoustic sensors on 33 Norway lobsters and the use of a network of robotic instruments, we have been able to see, for the first time, the species' patterns of movement at a depth of 400 meters," celebrate Joan Navarro and Joan Baptista, researchers at the ICM-CSIC and leaders of the RESNEP project, the framework for part of the experimental work done to carry out the study. The experimental work includes three oceanographic campaigns that took place from 2019 to 2020 in a pilot area of a fishing reserve in one of the main prawn fishing grounds in Spain: the marine zone between Roses and Palamós, on the Costa Brava. In addition, the team carried out technological validation tests beforehand at the Obsea underwater observatory, which is operated by the UPC and located 4 kilometers from the port of Vilanova i la Geltrú and 20 meters deep. [...]