Engineering: Healing Life Under Water

Imagine the thriving ecosystem under the ocean: a school of clownfish darting through sea anemones, orange sea sponges poking out of robust seagrasses, and shellfish camouflaged on sandy seabed. The beauty itself is enough to justify the importance of conserving marine biodiversity.

But marine organisms play a pivotal role in our human lives as well. Bacteria found in the ocean are used in COVID-19 testing and omega-3 fatty acids extracted from coldwater fish strengthen human brains (Petsco, 2021). To conserve diverse marine organisms that directly correlate to human health, engineers around the world have created innovations to help ocean biodiversity thrive.

One example is SmartFish H2020, a multinational AI project that addresses dwindling fish populations. Every year, commercial fishing removes 77 billion kilograms of wildlife from the ocean. SmartFish H2020 addresses this problem with inventions inspired from cast-net fishing, a native Hawaiian fishing method that yields a small, controlled catch (National Geographic Society, 2019). One device called CatchScanner generates 3D images of fish so that fishermen can visualize the size and weight of the fish swimming beneath the net. Another innovation called SmartGear emits LED lights to only attract targeted species (Rooney, 2020). Local fishing communities who apply sustainable fishing practices with SmartFish technologies can stabilize shrinking fish populations and ensure that fish remains a stable source of protein for future generations.

Although projects like SmartFish contribute to fish conservation, the rapid decline of seagrass— a major habitat for underwater species—poses another threat to fish diversity. In response to this, two engineering students from University of Edinburgh proposed an efficient seagrass transplant method that uses a robot named ROBOCEAN to autonomously sow seagrass seeds. With a press of a button, ROBOCEAN crawls across the sea floor to plant seagrasses. The robot is equipped with sophisticated sensors to prevent collisions and specialized light bulbs to ensure fish sensitive to light remain unaffected. Moreover, seeds are coated with octopus gels, rather than synthetic chemicals, to safely repel crabs from seagrass seeds (Howard, 2020). Considering that a single blade of seagrass serves as a nourishment for thousands of microorganisms underwater, restoring seagrasses with this environmentally-friendly sowing robot is a big step toward reviving the diminishing marine life (Courage, 2020).

To restore another crucial ocean habitat, coral reefs, marine scientists and ceramic artists collaborated to engineer “coral reef seeding units,” a 3D printing technology that mass produces coral habitats at a low price. In this project, coral larvae are placed on ceramic structures that serve as a micro-shelter (Jantzen, 2018). The larvae and the structure, together called a “seeding unit,” is sown to the reef so that the larvae can safely mature. To enhance the quality of these seeding units, scientists and artists worked together to determine the optimal material and surface texture. Researchers from Shizuoka University, Japan, analyzed chemical compositions of various ceramic materials with x-rays to identify the most non-toxic and durable material (Kalam, Mieno, & Casareto, 2018). Institutions specializing in art, like Boston Ceramics, experimented with 3D printing techniques to design textures that would appeal to coral larvae (Jantzen, 2018). This collaboration between art and science created effective, sustainable habitats for corals that allow coral diversity to rebloom.

With inventions like coral seeding units accelerating efforts to restore coral populations, Hollie Putnam, a coral biologist at the University of Rhode Island, put forward a hopeful message on the future of corals. Pointing out that the world’s largest coral reef system, The Great Barrier Reef, survived for 500,000 years despite extreme fluctuations in temperature, she commented that human innovations can help corals flourish for another half million years (Bourzac, 2020). If we remember that the prosperity of marine life is intimately connected to our own wellbeing—and act accordingly—the ocean of the future can be a clean blue habitat to millions of thriving lives.

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