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• Robot helps to clean up Monterey Bay

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  Bernd Laeschke

  (not a XING member)

  Robot helps to clean up Monterey Bay

  Monterey (Global Adventures): An underwater robot called Phantom HD2 (more details here) has begun policing the floor of Monterey Bay in a new cleanup effort that comes two years after the California created a network of marine reserves along the central coast. Phantom HD2 will help to search for old fishing equipment and whatever else is lingering hundreds of feet below the surface.
  
  "We know there's a significant amount of gear down there," said Karen Grimmer, deputy superintendent for the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary and head of the Phantom HD2 project. "Fish and whales have been known to get trapped in marine debris. If you think about it, fishing nets are very strong. They can entangle wildlife for decades. We want to try to revert these reserves back to their original condition."
  
  Ocean litter is a growing problem all over the world, from the giant plastic garbage patch in the Pacific to runoff from coastal communities to the equipment cast overboard from ships. Phantom HD2 and its supporting 59-foot boat and seven-member crew already visited the southern edge of the Monterey Bay Submarine Canyon, a conservation area known as Portuguese Ledge. The team was able to remove discarded fishing gear after it was spotted on video. "It worked pretty well," Grimmer said. "We weren't sure that it would."
  
  The team plans to continue its trips and clean up many of the 28 other reserves along the Central Coast.
  
  • 30 Oct 2009, 5:36 pm
  Bernd Laeschke wrote: > Monterey (Global Adventures): An underwater robot called Phantom HD2 > (more details here) has begun policing the floor of Monterey Bay in a > new cleanup effort that comes two years after the California created > a network of marine reserves along the central coast. Phantom HD2 > will help to search for old fishing equipment and whatever else is > lingering hundreds of feet below the surface. > > "We know there's a significant amount of gear down there," said Karen > Grimmer, deputy superintendent for the Monterey Bay National Marine > Sanctuary and head of the Phantom HD2 project. "Fish and whales have > been known to get trapped in marine debris. If you think about it, > fishing nets are very strong. They can entangle wildlife for decades. > We want to try to revert these reserves back to their original > condition." > > Ocean litter is a growing problem all over the world, from the giant > plastic garbage patch in the Pacific to runoff from coastal > communities to the equipment cast overboard from ships. Phantom HD2 > and its supporting 59-foot boat and seven-member crew already visited > the southern edge of the Monterey Bay Submarine Canyon, a > conservation area known as Portuguese Ledge. The team was able to > remove discarded fishing gear after it was spotted on video. "It > worked pretty well," Grimmer said. "We weren't sure that it would." > > The team plans to continue its trips and clean up many of the 28 > other reserves along the Central Coast.