I'm not involved with this, but I just learned about Sea Shepherd today and their project to fight illegal octopus trapping. Sorry I can't help with an intro, but it would be a very cool story to share if you can get in touch! 

 

Amazing!

Found your instagram page and have been scrolling all morning ( most educative doomscrolling I've done so far😂). Love it, am seeing sea creatures I've never seen.

Wonderful work! Would you be interested in documenting a story about afforestation from the Pacific Ocean to the Himalayas (Indus River focus)? 

I’m interested in doing an expedition documentary bridging mythology and conservation with a YouTuber to help bring awareness towards forest conservation all along the river. The focus is water and water wildlife.

Hi Macayle

Are these two different forums; one in Mombasa and other in Nairobi? can you make me understand please?

Hi everyone,

This is such an interesting discussion! I believe one of the most significant opportunities lies in designing smarter fishing equipment that strikes a balance between efficiency and sustainability. For example, gear that uses sensors or lightweight materials could help reduce seabed contact while still being effective for catch. There’s also room for collaboration between fisheries and tech companies to test and refine prototypes, so innovations aren’t just theoretical but actually usable on a large scale. If industry and researchers collaborate, we can move toward solutions that not only protect marine habitats but also support sustainable fishing livelihoods in the long term.

Thanks for sharing this Rosita! I've just sent you an email about coming on Variety Hour to talk about CatchCam :) 

Hello Nadia,

A forensic genetic challenge  exists when DNA is destroyed by processes used in manufacturing of derivative animal products, preventing law enforcement in identification of protected species.  Alternative methods such as lipid profiles or isotope analysis unique to certain species may be possible but require voucher specimens that may or may not be available and methods that have not been tested or peer reviewed. Examples below:

1. derivative products made from endangered shark squalene (eg. Liver oil capsules).
2. derivative products made from lion bone and tiger bone (eg. lion bone cake and tiger wine).
   
   This is a law enforcement issue and would like to discuss possible solutions. 

Hi Sol,

I think your concern is well placed.  The pros typically tow an array of hydrophones, in its simpler configuration it looks like a long fat rubber hose containing maybe a dozen transducers feeding their electrical signals to a recording unit back on the ship.  All this is done to reduce noise from the ship, from waves crashing, and flow noise.  The multiple transducers can also be electronically tuned to be directional so that it can be "pointed" away from a noise source (like the ship).

In your position, I would just try the simplest thing that could work, then fix the problems as they arise.  It could be you may need to be dead in the water while recording.  To address surface noise (slapping waves, wind), you could mount the hydromoth low down on a spar buoy, which you tow into position.

Best of luck, it sounds like an interesting project (c:

Hydromoths are great for the price but they do not have the most streamlined housing and audio quality won't be as good as something like a SoundTrap or really any recorder with a proper hydrophone and 16-bit +DAQ system.

If you can afford it, this is an excellent SoundTrap based towed autonomous system NOAA have been using. It might work towed behind an autonomous vehicle

Alternatively, if you can have something inside the vehicle, a simple tape recorder (e.g. Tascam DR40X) and hydrophone on cable  will provide excellent sound quality. You could also use something like a Raspberry Pi with audio focussed ADC hat to record but that would require a bit more programming. Even consider a standard AudioMoth and plug a proper hydrophone into the audio jack - this would still have a 12-bit ADC but would provide better sound quality than a hydromoth (hydrophones are more omnidirectional and there's no air filled causing reflections and attenuation)