From to two to five: growing strong and ahead

It's been some months since our last update. We have been really active working in our network and socializing the project, having secured three more sites, increasing our network from 2 to 5 sites!

 

Firstly, we are incredibly happy because RETO is growing in numbers! More organizations and people are becoming interested in collaborating with us. This is great news for the team and our overall goals, since this translates to more opportunities and impact, but also more responsibilities and challenges. We stand together, and this is what RETO is all about.

The network welcomed Wildlife Conservation Association - Nosara, a partnership that brings a new site to the network, in Playa Guiones. Also, we have been joined by CC-MAR, a community based network of citizen science that we are connecting with the system in Bahía Tomas. We also have been joined by Bristtlemouth, a company working closely with Sofar to standardize marine communication protocols and integrate sensors with the smart mooring systems. We are looking forward to collaborating with colleagues from the network to organize several workshops on how to integrate acoustic, salinity and oxygen sensors.

 

Among many good news, there's been several challenges encountered. In the last couple of months our partners from WCA-Nosara experienced acts of vandalism in the smart mooring system located in the Pacific coast in a beach called San Juanillo. We think that the cable was cut out and the buoy was found in the shoreline a few months ago. Unfortunately these activities are more common than we think, that’s why we’re currently evaluating to select a more adequate zone in terms of security, which can be watched by some locals and coastguards. But most importantly, we believe that the solution of this problem is to work together with the community, involving local leaders and ocean users, as we have attempted in other locations.

 

 

 

The system located in Cahuita National Park experienced failures with the surface and bottom temperature sensor, so our next step is to retrieve the buoy and conduct a diagnostics process to identify the required solutions and spare parts. The system in Cocos Island has been retrieved, after almost a year of not functioning, we agreed with Blue Endeavors and Aqualink to “adopt” this buoy, file all the permits that are required and get the system functional again in Pájara Island, its previous location. 

This is all exciting news as we expect to deploy these two systems back in the water safe and sound very soon. 

More recently, we conducted maintenance to the system in Bahia Tomas and also participated in the Citizen Science Symposium organized by CC-MAR, where we had the opportunity to connect with local stakeholders, share some of the results and data visualizations we’ve obtained from our system located in Bahia Tomas.

 

 

Finally, we’re currently organizing our next field trip to Playa Guiones in partnership with WCA Nosara, to evaluate the conditions of possible sites to deploy the upcoming smart mooring system and also get involved with the local community in order to prevent other acts of vandalism and create awareness of the importance of this marine technological network.

PELAGOS TEAM!