Aquaculture Canada and WAS North America 2022

August 15 - 18, 2022

St Johns, Newfoundland, Canada

ESTABLISHING A STAKEHOLDER GROUP TO COMBAT VANDALISM OF DATA BUOYS AND MARINE SCIENTIFIC EQUIPMENT IN CANADIAN WATERS

Kiersten Watson*, Leah Lewis-McCrea, Gregor K. Reid

 

Centre for Marine Applied Research

Dartmouth, NS B2Y 4T5

Canada

kwatson@perennia.ca

 



Advanced data collection buoys for marine environments are becoming common to inform a variety of marine users, including aquaculture producers. Despite improving access and ease of environmental data collection, there are a number of buoy deployment and maintenance challenges that require resolution. Vandalism of deployed marine equipment is a serious issue affecting multiple stakeholders. Vandalism may be intentional, such as theft, or removal from moorings, or unintentional, such as through fishing gear entanglement or wildlife interactions. Regardless of cause, this consequence can be devastating for research programs or decision support. Vandalism can result in the loss of expensive equipment, data, or interruptions in the continuity of time series. Recovering equipment often requires the use of contractors to find the gear, repair damages, and redeploy, all of which requires additional resources. To help resolve some of these issues the Centre for Marine Applied Research has implemented a stakeholder group which includes government, industry, and academia stakeholders to examine successes and failures in marine equipment deployment, with an aim to resolve vandalism mitigation strategies. This presentation explores challenges and solutions to address vandalism of marine equipment with a focus on data buoys.