Photography exhibit about Monaco Explorations’ « Malpelo mission » has started at the oceanographic museum of Monaco.
A few months ago « Monaco Explorations » took to Malpelo (Colombia) an international group of scientists.
Malpelo is a volcanic island in the middle of nowhere in the Pacific Ocean. But this island is like an oasis with a very rich biodiversity which has to be understood to be protected. Go to the oceanographic museum of Monaco and discover the scientists work about eDNA and sharks in this beautiful area which has been declared in 2006, UNESCO’s world heritage site.
The teams from the Malpelo Mission have returned to Colombia but this time they are on the coast of the Caribbean Sea near Santa Marta, Colombia. This relatively unstudied area is an extension of the Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta National Natural Park.
The scientific teams on site are from UMR Marbec, which combines staff from IRD, Ifremer, UM and CNRS.
The research targets on this mission are to catch fish for species identification and eDNA (species identification through genetic coding), and record species and abundance via fixed cameras on the seafloor and baited cameras. The footage from the cameras is used to cross reference the data collected through water filtering for eDNA.
Our mission in Malpelo has come to an end. As we sailed away tonight toward Panama we were lucky to have a beautiful send off from mother nature.
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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Look who came to visit the baited cameras!
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The team from MARbec (Marine Biodiversity, Exploitation and Conservation) is here to set their camera rig on the sea floor between 10-20 meters for 36 hours at a time. The footage from these cameras will allow them to identify species that exist in both daytime and nighttime environments (the lights from their camera rig attract many species in the night), and to cross reference the footage with the results they get from filtering for EDNA.
The camera rig itself weight 12kg and the team stabilizes it with 20kg of additional weight. The team has 2 cameras that record for 12 hours each. After setting the camera, they must return every 12 hours to switch it out with the other one, which has been charged. The final task is reviewing the footage carefully and noting each finding – a long task for sure, but quite exciting when they find footage they were hoping for.
Left to Right: Jean Baptiste Juhel, Pierre Cordier, Giomar Borrero, X, Loïc Pellissier, Captain Mario Rubianogroot, Caludia Restrepo Ortiz, Thierry Apparu, Raymond Clerc, Liz Factor, Régis Hocdé, Florine Hadjadj, and Andrea Polanco.Today we said goodbye to the scientists from the Megafauna Consortium and welcomed their colleagues from MARbec and Zoological Society of London on board for a “part two” of this mission. We also said goodbye to Raymond Clerc, our Chief of Mission, and welcomed Léa Lippisch who will take over the role for this part of the mission.
Welcome Tom Letessier, Virginie Marques, Nicolas Loiseau, and Laure Velez!!
Malpelo is a beautiful place and every one of us feels honored to be here. Today I’m sharing a set of 80 photos, all of which include the island. As the English idiom goes; a picture is worth a thousand words.
Today is the final day of HSH Prince Albert’s visit to Malpelo with Monaco Explorations. He spent the morning hours on the Ferox and then diving with Sandra Bessudo and her team to tag sharks before departing to mainland Colombia.
During the morning hours HSH Prince Albert II joined the Fundación Malpelo team while they tagged sharks along with freedivers Pierre Frolla and Frederic Buyle.
Freedivers tag hammerhead sharks with acoustic transmitters which allow researchers to gather data about the sharks migratory patterns.
