Marine debris: part 3
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| The bow model. Photo by Terry Wolkowicz. |
Friends, there has been a very exciting development in my marine debris project. One of our main objectives was development of an interactive museum exhibit that teaches the public about the importance of shipwrecks to the marine habitat and the damage done to them by entangled fishing gear. And we have done it! All parts of the exhibit are finished, and two sections of our exhibit have already gotten public exposure!
A key piece of our exhibit is a model of steamship Portland’s bow, which became entangled with a trawl net between 2009 and 2019. Sculpted models of key species living on Portland show how the shipwreck provides habitat for marine species. You might remember that a few years ago, my lab collaborated with Sound Explorations to tell the tale of Portland and its biological community through music. We extended that collaboration for the exhibit – visitors can build their own musical chords to represent the community by holding buttons next to each sculpted species. You’ll notice that the area of the port bow with entangled fishing gear has no organisms. This shows the dramatic effect that marine debris has on the biological community on a shipwreck. The bow model was shown to the public during the Woods Hole Science Stroll in August, and it went over very well!
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| The ghost gear removal exhibit! Photo by Terry Wolkowicz. |
The other section of our exhibit provides museum visitors the opportunity to remedy the problem of marine debris themselves. Our team is working to develop a remotely-operated vehicle that can safely and simply remove nets from shipwrecks. The idea is to make the vehicle intuitive and low-cost, to democratize ocean clean-ups. Through our exhibit, visitors get to plan their own recovery mission, making two key decisions: what point in the tidal cycle to do their operation, and whether to attach buoys or cut the net first. A sculpture represents current speed at every point in the tidal cycle, and once a visitor makes their choices, they get to watch an animation with the outcome of their mission. There are 6 possible scenarios – but only one of them leads to a successful mission! I’m not going to give away which one it is! The tidal sculpture and mission game were well-received at their premier in Wareham last week.
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