Major updates for ORKAs restorative mariculture pilot tests! On Friday, May 16th, Carl and Sara went out to check on the moorings and went down on SCUBA to see how the rope is behaving under the surface.
From the surface, it’s evident that the Manila rope has taken on water and is sinking down from the buoy. But what about the connection between the top and bottom sections of rope? How is the rope behaving at the bottom? After reaching to the bottom, we now know the top section of rope is heavy enough to sink directly to the bottom, and the bottom section of rope is resting flat on the bottom and untangled.
This is very telling as to how future moorings should be designed. It’s a good thing that the top section of rope sinks directly down – that minimizes line on the surface and risks of entanglement with boats and wildlife. The bottom section of rope needs to be shortened, and possibly have a float added partway up to help keep it off the bottom to avoid tangling and knotting. More rope pilot tests to come!
The mycobuoys appear to have reached the end of their useful lifespan for this project – with at least half the buoy underwater, they are close to going from a buoy to an anchor.
Next up, it’s time to haul up the moorings to see how the rope handles being put through the crab block, the pulley system used to haul up crab pots. Stay tuned!