PRE2022 3 Group7/interviews

Interviews carried out by group 7

Questions

The goal of the questions given are indicated in italics.

1. In your specific field of research, how is data collected? (Finding the state of the art of data collection)
2. What aspects do you prefer about this method of data collecting? (Look for the desires and preferences of researchers, the first party stake holders)
3. What aspects do you think could be improved about this method of data collecting? (Same as Q.2 :Look for the desires and preferences of researchers, the first party stake holders)
4. Do you feel there is a dimension of sorts which is missing from your data (for example the current depth, time or air temperature)? (Looking for possible technical challenges that engineers could improve)
5. Is the data you use for research obtained in real time? If so, is this beneficial for your research or is it unnecessary? If not, would it improve your research? (Would the most important aspect of the technical product be beneificial)
6. For how big of an area would one buoy be able to sense and gain representable/useful data? (To get an idea of how useful/representable our data would be and In which scales buoys need to be placed to get accurate data regarding costs)
7. Our idea now is a buoy which consists mainly of a base and a diver (where the sensors are connected to) which are connected via a wire. The base is mounted to an anchor on the ocean floor. The diver can dive down along the anchor chain to obtain the relevant data and send this to the base which can then send it to the researcher, data is thus sent in real time and the specific depth is known. What are your initial thoughts on our idea? (Looking for problems that we have overseen due to unknown issues regarding aspects of the ocean or in general)
8. Which aspects do you like about our idea and what do you think can be improved or added in a general sense? (Same as Q.7: Looking for problems that we have overseen due to unknown issues regarding aspects of the ocean or in general)
9. Now some more questions about coral reefs: Do you think that how data is obtained on coral reefs is incomplete? If so, what do you think is missing? (Looking for the state of the art regarding coral reef data)
10. How much money would you spend on using this type of buoy (without sensors)? If your research is subsidised by a government or university, how much would they invest in this? (Looking for the demands of the stakeholders)
11. Our design now includes an anchor which lays on the ocean floor. Is this a sufficient solution to stabilise the buoy, i.e. could the anchor damage the coral in any way as for the chain? (This are technical problems that we want to avoid as engineers but in cooperation with the researchers that know a lot about the ocean and issues that could arise)
12. Do you have any final comments or opinions you would like to mention about coral reefs, our idea or anything we may have missed? (Looking for additions that we did not come up with yet.

Answers

Person 1

Person 1 of this interview is a researcher from the university of Groningen. She works within the disciplines of Ecology, Marine biology and evolutionary biology. She has an expertise in the diversity of coral reefs. She does indicate on forehand of answering our questions that she is not sure that her type of research is relevant for this project of intelligent buoys.

1. Diving/snorkeling on reefs, down to ca. 30 meters. We collect faunal data by hand (measurements, counts), take photographs and collect specimens for further research.
2. We collect data on specific species/ taxa. Our approach minimise damage to the reefs, and is very focused in approach to optimise the data collection in the limited time we have.
3. I don't the data collecting can really be improved, most optimisation options are in the data processing steps (vouchers, genetics, photographs). The only think I am imagine is an easier way to connect the data points and photographs / specimens to each other to minimise human error with data entering.
4. Depth is added by means of a dive computer, time and air are not relevant for my work.
5. No, that is unnecessary for my work. Time scales that I am interested in are either evolutionary (>2 Mya) or seasonal.
6. I guess that will depend on the type of question. Probably smaller than you think.
7. You are assuming that data is only collected along a depth gradient, but normally (at least in my research) data is mostly collected along the reef (hence we swim horizontally, not vertically).
8. Your idea is rather static and will allow for data collection without a diver present. If you can add e.g. oxygen measurements, one could employ the buoy and let it collect data by itself?
9. In my specific field, no not really. For other research field this question is too general to answer I am afraid.
10. There is no real link to my research, hence I would not invest in it. A university also wouldn't, this would have to be funded by grants. A few thousand euros max (with sensors) I would say.
11. On many coral reefs you will absolutely not get permission to throw down anchors as they are very damaging for reefs. More and more sites have permanent buoys to anchor boats. Ideally I would use reef hooks or some kind of rope to attach it myself by diving.
12. Researcher have different needs, I think flexibility in sensor type will be important (pH, oxygen, water velocity) etc

Summary

According to here type of research, data collection is done by divers who work as efficient as possible to collect data that they need on forehand. Also by looking at photographs. Here she suggest that data processing of photographs could be more efficient. Time dependent data, an general aspect of the intelligent buoys isn't relevant for her type of research. Furthermore she suggest to not only use data on depth gradient but horizontally.

Q.8-Q.10 are hard to answer because it is not applicable for her type of research as mentioned on forehand. T

Then she mentions anchors can not be thrown down as this is very damaging reefs. She also suggests reef hooks or ropes.

Finally she mentions flexibility in the type of sensors for collecting data is useful for researchers.

The most important point of critic applicable to our project are:

1. Horizontal data measuring
2. Anchor problem

We will disregard the first problem as we will mostly be focussing on the concentrations of the water instead of pictures of coral. Additionally, for one autonomous system that is meausuring we will mostly focussing on the Y-axis but deploying more of this system will provide us information about the different places on the horizontal as well.

The second problem is something we want to further investigate and look at the possible solutions without damaging the coral reef.

Person 2

1. The data we collect from coral reefs consists of 1) data on specific species for ecomorphological work or molecular ecology work, 2) data on community compositions either via photography/videography or via DNA samples. The collection is then most often via sampling while diving (tissue samples, water samples, or underwater incubations for for example oxygen respiration), or via observational studies (when quantifying fish communities for example). So in short: data is collected by sampling or by observation. Most of our research depends on researchers here, although we do also have an automatic sampler.

2. By going there yourself as a research team, you have a lot of control. If in the field something turns out to be different than you expected on land, it’s easier to adjust your method when you’re actually there.

3. Diving is challenging and it needs to be safe and efficient. For this purpose, you need to train divers well in scientific methods which can be costly. Diving in general can be costly because there are a lot of protocols you need to adhere to to keep things safe. Plus, depending on what you want to measure you may need a lot of equipment, which can also be a challenge.

4. I don’t think there is a dimension which is missing in a consistent way. Depending on the research question one may have, there is just more equipment that needs to be brought to indeed measure things like depth, current speed and light influx or so.

5. The data is collected at the time of the dive, mostly. So divers go to a certain site, make their observations there or collect their samples, and then go back to the surface to analyze the data (or process it in the lab and then analyze it). I suppose there is no constant monitoring in this way, indeed, and our samples are snapshots of a certain time. The automatic sampler we have may at some point be able to send out data constantly.

6. I am not sure what the lay-out of such a buoy would be, so it is difficult for me to answer this question. It depends also on what it would measure: video image? Water temperature? DNA? Tissue samples?

7. Sounds really cool! I would be curious about what this ‘diver’ looks like, and what kind of data it can obtain (see also question 6). Those choices also determine the dimensions of the diver, I suppose, and how extensive it needs to be.

8. I like the thought of sampling in real-time, but it does limit the type of data which can be collected. Things like salinity, current speed and temperature will be easy, because it can be measured by a multimeter, and the data (the numbers) can be sent to the researcher via satellite. Perhaps the same goes for photo/video imaging (although it still also needs to be analyzed separately). However, if you want to sample tissues or water for DNA work, for example, you need to extract DNA and sequence it. This cannot happen (yet, there are innovations underway) on a buoy, so a researcher would have to go to the buoy and collect the samples. But it is very promising! It just needs to be more defined what you will want to measure/collect.

9. In any sampling strategy there is always something you miss from the environment that may be important. Maybe you didn’t measure the correct biotic or abiotic components which have a large role on the species of interest or the community. So having a data-collector which can measure all kinds of different things at once can perhaps alleviate that issue a little. The natural world is very complex, though. And you would need higher computational power to analyze the big data you want to collect.

10. This I cannot say for sure, depends on what it can measure. If the buoy is only the vessel to attach sensors to, I would expect it to be way cheaper than the costs of the sensors (which can be very costly).

11. If you want to put an anchor on the seafloor it will always damage it. It is possible to perhaps place it on a piece of rock where there is no coral growing yet but still close enough to the reef to make relevant measurements. But then depending on the location you may also have to deal with hurricanes/storms. So I would also think well about if you want this buoy-anchor to be at a certain site permanently or if it is only meant for certain times. (This may also have impacts on how large the battery needs to be to be able to send data and such..).

12. It’s a cool idea! But as a researcher I would have questions on the type of things the diver can measure, the size of the battery, and the durability. It is a promising start, though!

Summary

Currently in here type of research, research is done by observations, pictures by divers and sampling. What preferable is to here type of research is the adjustability. By going to the field with the research team it is easy to adjust the method. There are some challenges in the method of data collection. Safety of divers and the costs of the diving protocols are some of these challenges.

Furthermore, there is not data missing consistently. However there is more equipment needed for different measurements and this is adjustable for different thinks to research.

Currently there is no constant monitoring. However the automatic sampler they have may at some point be able to send out data constantly.

Additonalyy, she mentions that the type of sensors the diver obtains determine the dimensions of the diver and how extensive it needs to be.

Then she mentions that she likes the idea of sampling in real life and some measurements will be easy. However it has some limits. Sampling tissues which is important know cannot be done yet by buoys.

Furthermore, she adds that by the sampling strategy you can miss some environmental important aspects, and by having a data-collector which can measure multiple things is beneficial. However it is still nature and nature is very complex. It really depends on how much data the diver box can collect.

She also mentions about thinking well about the anchor, and be critical about not damaging coral

The most important aspect that we can deduce from this interview; The different measurements that can be done by the diver box and the development of the technique of automatic sampler will influence need of the buoys and how beneficial the buoy would be.

Person 3

Researcher Information

Ronald Osinga is a Marine biologist at the University of Wageningen. He and others are doing restoration work in the field. They repair broken coral pieces. They have to investigate and understand how the ecosystem in the specific area works and then they come up with a strategy to repair it. A big threat for the coral is the increasing temperature. They select the corals that are resistant to these temperatures so they will survive in the future.

Signaling problems

In his field of research other people signalate the problems in that area. Then Ronald and his research team investigate how they can fix it. Sometimes there is no coral left anymore. Then they put some corals back in that area. Sometimes there are still some natural corals left. Remarking problems is sometimes done by researchers, sometimes by recreational dives in that specific area. Finding where problems occur is never a problem as there is too much to restore. They can never restore everything. Political choices determine what will be restored.

Collecting data

Collecting data happens on forehand and after restoration. Abiotic and biological parameters are being measured. Currently on his research they had 1 buoy but it was failing as it broke down. Temperature is now one of the most needed data. Furthermore, nutrients and chlorophyll content are important information. Additionally, he said that turbidity was really interesting for him to measure. For example a light sensor. In his research there can be 4 meters of tidal difference and this has a huge impact on the coral and the light that the coral will receive. Currently, they don’t know the differences between the seasons as they don’t have all the data and this could be easier to measure with such a buoy. So real time data would be useful for his projects, however it is not being done right now.

How much buoys are needed

Currently, he works on an area in the sea which has a width of 1 km and a length of 6 km. It has a specific overall depth. The area has a clear overview. Only 1 buoy is needed for such an area. Outside this area you will need another buoy. So for 1 area 1 buoy, and the area is marked by its characteristics of depth. It would also be convenient to be able to remove it and replace it in a new area.

Installing the buoy

They buoy could be installed on a flat surface where there is no coral. Often buoys are placed by big pieces of cement. It would be bad if the buoys would be installed to rock that are already in the sea. If they break and the whole thing will be able to move, it will damage a lot of coral. This would be the worst case scenario. Overall the problem of installing the buoy will be easy to fix but it should be done differently for different places. This could be done perfectly fine by divers until certain depths. They mostly dive up to 30 meters. In really specific cases installing the buoy could be done by an ROV, however this can cost up to 10.000 euros.  

Costs

In his type of research they get funded from project budgets. Often projects cost up to 10.000 to 100.000. This is not funded by the government for their research in Kenya. To the government of Kenya, reef restoration is new. He does think this could be possible in the future. Indonesia does fund this kind of project but it is not efficient. Australia has some budgets but mostly for research in restoration. However this is the UN decade for restoration. Green deal says 30 percent of the ocean reefs should be protected and restored. This problem is getting more attention. Also there are companies that want to greenwash so fund these projects.  Additionally, the buoy should not look too expensive, in Kenya this would get stolen for example.