NOAA’s tech partnerships are working to solve big problems
![A Saildrone collects data beneath the Golden Gate Bridge alongside a NOAA research vessel. (Image credit: Courtesy of Saildrone Inc.) A Saildrone collects data beneath the Golden Gate Bridge alongside a NOAA research vessel.](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_width_1275/public/2021-06/DSC_7957%20%284%29_0.png?h=22ced3b9&itok=V6kF3v5e)
A Saildrone collects data beneath the Golden Gate Bridge alongside a NOAA research vessel. (Image credit: Courtesy of Saildrone Inc.)
Protecting and exploring our global ocean is a huge job: It covers more than 70 percent of Earth’s surface. Cutting-edge technologies help us dive deeper, gather more ocean data and solve some of its biggest challenges.
Here are 5 innovative high-tech tools borne from NOAA’s partnerships with the fishing industry and technology companies large and small:
1. Trap to control invasive fish
Lionfish may look beautiful, but rapidly increasing populations of this invasive, venomous predator in the western Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean Sea are threatening native species. NOAA’s recently patented lionfish trap could control populations offsite link and satisfy a demand for a new, delicious seafood option. Recreational and commercial fishers are currently helping to test and improve the traps.
![A lionfish lionfish purse trap sits on the ocean floor until it is retrieved by fishers (Image credit: Courtesy of Alex Fogg) A lionfish lionfish purse trap sits on the ocean floor until it is retrieved by fishers](/sites/default/files/2021-06/DSC01456%20%284%29.jpg)
2. Camera to monitor whale migration
Understanding whale behavior and migration patterns helps us protect them, but collecting this data is costly, time-consuming and limited to daytime hours. Toyon Research Corporation developed a way to track whale blows night and day using infrared cameras mounted on ships or on shore. NOAA uses the data to estimate whale population sizes based on the number, location and timing of blows.
![The infrared cameras that track whale blows can be positioned on a shoreline or mounted on a vessel. (Image credit: Courtesy of Toyon ) The infrared cameras that track whale blows can be positioned on a shoreline or mounted on a vessel.](/sites/default/files/2021-06/WhaleCam%20%287%29_resize_credit.png)
3. Probiotic for healthy oysters
Oyster farming boosts our seafood supply and helps restore wild oyster reefs, but some oysters grown in commercial aquaculture facilities are prone to fatal disease. NOAA scientists recently discovered a “good” bacteria, or probiotic, that helps keep the oysters healthy. NOAA has partnered with a biotechnology company, Prospective Research, Inc., and three oyster hatcheries to develop and test the probiotic for widespread, commercial use.
![Farmed oysters being brought in from a harvest. (Image credit: NOAA Sea Grant) Farmed oysters being brought in from a harvest.](/sites/default/files/2021-06/Oysters-Sea-Grant.jpg)
4. Drone that sails — and surfs! — in pursuit of ocean data
NOAA and Saildrone joined forces to create a fleet of uncrewed solar-powered vessels that collect real-time, high-quality data throughout the ocean. These shiny, orange drones are improving NOAA’s access to data that can help forecast hurricane intensity offsite link, informing sustainable fisheries management, detecting oil spills, conserve threatened species, mapping the seafloor and helping scientists more deeply understand how the climate is changing ocean ecosystems like coral reefs.
![Saildrone out on the ocean that was designed for hurricane data collection. (Image credit: Saildrone Inc.) Saildrone out on the ocean that was designed for hurricane data collection.](/sites/default/files/2021-06/60b662838cf986117e63544d_Saildrone_hurricane_wing_SD_1048_%286%29_resize_credit.png)
5. Fluorescent flashlights to study coral
Juvenile corals are really small — so tiny that scientists wanting to study them sometimes can’t see them on reefs. Understanding how they develop is important for protecting precious coral reef ecosystems that more than half a billion people depend on worldwide. NIGHTSEA created underwater flashlights and microscope attachments that use fluorescent light to help researchers detect and study tiny baby corals. This technology proved so useful, researchers are also using it to view microscopic communities, study microplastics and explore the seafloor.
![The NIGHTSEA fluorescence-based technology increases the visibility of these tiny coral polyps. (Image credit: Image by Wade Cooper with permission from NIGHTSEA.) The NIGHTSEA fluorescence-based technology increases the visibility of these tiny coral polyps.](/sites/default/files/2021-06/coral_micro15_%283%29_resize_credit_0.png)
For the latest technology news, glide over to the NOAA Technology Partnerships Office. You can also follow them on Twitter @NOAAinnovate.