Discovering Marine Worlds via Videography

“I grew up being really interested in Animal Planet and other [nature-oriented] media on TV,” says Seton, a rising junior undergraduate student majoring in biology at Salve Regina University. “Then, as I got older I realized this is something I could actually do, it wasn’t just on TV.” 

Seton and Owen, two 2024  Summer Undergraduate Research Fellows , worked alongside their mentors Dr. Andrew Davies, professor of biological sciences, Christine de Silva, a Ph.D student at the University of Rhode Island's Graduate School of Oceanography, and marine research associate Dr. Kristofer Gomes at URI’s Ocean Technology Center where they developed a baited remote underwater camera system (BRUVS) to capture media of deep sea fish.

BRUVSs are widely used to obtain images of deep sea fish, and the footage they capture can be used to observe animal behavior, identify species both native to and passing by an area, and provide media for educational purposes such as nature documentaries.  Although successful, the current BRUVS model de Silva has developed can be improved upon. For example, the arm which is meant to lure fish to the camera has a limited range of movement and therefore images will not always show the entirety of each fish. This summer, Seton and Owen upgraded the BRUVS to include an improved baited arm on the camera system which can be lowered and raised off the seafloor. Owen and Seton's research allowed them to improve this method for future use, observe animal behavior around the BRUVS and discover footage of deep sea fish.

“I love being a mentor,” says de Silva, who has immense experience developing BRUVS technology, even capturing footage with her systems in Japan which  has been featured  on Discovery Channel’s Shark Week this July. “It’s not just a summer project. [Owen and Seton are] doing work that’s likely going to be published, doing work that’s going to be beneficial to the scientific community, and hopefully to conservation as well."

Owen spent many hours analyzing footage from de Silva's BRUVS stationed in Japan where he took notes on the interactions between the machine and animals to gain insight into how the team can improve the model. When a fish passes by the screen, for example, he marks down the time and a description of the species. Through this method, he noticed that the fish like to sit below the bait bag, and the highest amount of species attracted to the bait occurs at the five-hour mark. The research team is unsure as to why exactly the majority of species are attracted to the bait at the five-hour mark but, Owen believes this is due to them gradually becoming more comfortable over time with this foreign object placed in their homes.

Owen’s observations were used to create a plan for improvements to guide Seton's work.

“The name of the project did not mention engineering at all,” says Owen, an undergraduate at URI. “We were just full blown into engineering. Seton liked [this engineering aspect] a little more than I did.” 

While Owen was thrilled to be identifying species as they came into focus, Seton discovered she had a knack for the mechanics. With Owen’s data, Seton developed an added feature to the BRUVS, an adjustable arm with the enhanced ability to move both up and down from the seafloor. The current BRUVS can be raised and lowered 20cm, 40cm, 60cm, and 80cm from the seafloor where it sits untethered before being brought up to the surface for retrieval. By increasing the upward and downward range of motion in the bait arm, the team hopes to develop standardized parameters for future designs which will allow for more reliable footage of the target species. Raising and lowering the bait arm with the camera may seem easy, but developing the tech to do so is not all that simple.

“You have to do that trial and error process with a lot of theoretical stuff,” says Seton. “It’s a lot of sketching stuff out, brainstorming and then going to the rest of the people in the lab and saying, 'What do you think about this? Do you predict there will be any problems?’ There are very limited trials that you can actually do.”  

The addition of a longer, baited arm introduces more weight on the overall camera system, which must be able to sink for up to six hours and also rise to the ocean's surface again.  This journey is accomplished via an acoustic release, or a signal sent to and from the camera system for when the machine is ready to be dropped and retrieved. Using an acoustic release allows the team to deploy the camera system untethered, leading to minimal disruption in the environment. 

However, this acoustic release must be able to support Seton’s new structure, or her design could be unretrievable when deployed in the open ocean. Testing of the BRUVS revolved around balancing the weight of added materials on the baited arm with making sure the acoustic releases would work. Despite these obstacles, Seton created a functioning BRUVS with an improved arm that an acoustic release system could handle, allowing the instrument to stay below water for up to six hours; the new BRUVS is anticipated to make its debut within the next few weeks at Cape Cod, Mass. 

“In the part of New England we’re at, we are kinda on a shelf and want to be specifically be looking at deep sea animals," says de Silva. “We have to get to at least 200 meters deep, and there's a couple spots within 60 miles of Cape Cod that have that depth."

Although new to research, Seton and Owen quickly became immersed in the world of underwater cinematics. Not only did this project meet the interests of two nature documentary-loving individuals, but the work may also lead to understanding larger changes in our ocean environments. Securing media of deep sea creatures in New England waters, specifically off Cape Cod, has never been done before. Owen and Seton hope this footage can be used to inspire generations of scientists to come, encourage conservation efforts, and shine a light into what lives below our waters.

“I got into marine biology by watching Shark Week," says Owen. "I became obsessed with it and now I’m here. That's why I’m into science.”

“I never really saw myself doing research long term but, now that I’ve been here I really like it," says Seton. “It involves a lot more than I expected, and I appreciate that.”