A new project named Smart Lobster has recently started at the EMSO SmartBay observatory. The project aims at monitoring the burrow emergence behaviour of the Norway lobster (Nephrops norvegicus) in Galway Bay with the use of a new autonomous long-term deployment imaging device on the EMSO SmartBay observatory, which is located in one of the North East Atlantic fishery grounds for this species. The collected video footage will allow for an in-depth analysis of the digging activity and maintenance of burrows by Nephrops and also the role of ecological and environmental factors that modulate burrow emergence. The results of this study will have implications for stock assessment of this species.
Access to the EMSO SmartBay observatory as well as coordination of the operational aspects of the project are currently being provided by the Marine Institute. Commenting on the facilities provided by the EMSO SmartBay observatory, Jacopo Aguzzi – researcher at ICM-CSIC and chief scientist of the project – said “coastal cabled observatories of this kind represent an excellent opportunity to provide pilot studies to technologically advance more classic stock assessment approaches, providing new ecological data in multidisciplinary and highly-integrated fashion”.
Find more details about the project in this document.
The Smart lobster project is one of four transnational access projects being funded by the EMSO-Link project.