It is so hard to appreciate the magnitude of “an infestation” until you can see for yourself. One of our pilots was doing a quick ballast check off Constitution dock in Hobart, Tasmania a few weeks ago and saw this:
The Northern Pacific Seastar (Asterias amurensis), a voracious predator, was first spotted in Tasman waters in 1989 and declared a noxious species of national priority in 2019. This species is threatening native seastar and other marine species and, because of its prolific rate of reproduction, is now impossible to eradicate and difficult to control.
UnderseaROV spent an amazing few days doing ROV support work off the Tasmanian East Coast and Flinders Island. We enjoyed working off this wild and rugged coastline with it’s suitably challenging wild weather and seas. We hope to return soon. Exciting experiences like these are what drew our staff to ROV service work.
Did you know that kelp don’t have roots? They use branching, root-like, gnarled structures called holdfasts to anchor themselves to rocks. Holdfasts don’t carry nutrients or water – they are only for securing the kelp to a rock where it will grow.
Here is a photo of a (yellowish) holdfast that we saw recently on a dive with our modified BlueROV2: