Club Minutes 3/20

1. Lemelson-MIT grant. We looked over and edited a draft of the project summary for our initial submission to the grant; that will be sent in (or has been sent) today.
2. Group meetings. Material removal will meet at my place on Monday to discuss design ideas we've developed and to check on the experiment so that we'll have a more tangible idea of what we're working with. Structure group- keep on researching, communicate through the blog.
3. Anchor report. Adam has been gathering contacts and working on the problem of how to keep the structure we create in place. We decided to depart from the idea of setting pipes at the bottom of the lake for structural support because of unwanted expense, difficulty of installation, and the fact that our current design doesn't involve a lot of structure at the bottom. We'll now look into attaching from the top, researching the type of rope, knot, and stakes we can use to keep our structure in place.
4. Tej said his dad is working on a pricing algorithm. Post with explanation?

Meeting in Independence

The meeting in Independence went quite well yesterday. Over 60 students from 1-4 forms (Middle School through High School age) attended. The level of interest was high. We'll have a follow-up meeting in about 10 days to set up Google accounts and begin posting. I noticed a big uptick in the web site hits from Belize, so some students are obviously already checking out the site.

In addition to the meeting at Independence, I also was able to meet with local shrimp farmers and get their input on the project. The reception among the shrimp farmers to our project has been very positive here.

One of those farms is allowing us to use their AquaMats for the substrate experiments this spring. For anyone who is wondering, here is a shot of the AquMats we'll be using to test the substrate mitigations this spring. As you can see, there's no lack of material here. Your experiments are starting on a small scale (as is appropriate), but when they are fully developed you'll be dealing with quantities of material like this.

D-Day: The Experiment Begins

Today at 7:00 pm I threw these PVCs loaded with potential substrate into the catchment pond. The aluminum, fiberglass, and rubber squares are attached with picture wire. The vinyl and weed guard mat (which I attached at the last minute purely because it was sitting in my garage) are attached with duct tape since the wire cut too easily through those materials. The PVC pipes are held to the bank by fishing line and stakes.

Hardware Store

Club members ecrussel and e.allen paid a visit to Lowe's this evening, scouting any possible materials that could be used in place of aquamats in the designs below.
The initial plan is to attach all of these potential substrates to PVC with duct tape and submerge in a nasty pond to get a feel for the timeline, what works, and what doesn't. Daily (twice daily?) checks will be performed and I will record visible changes.
The material was chosen based on information from Lowe's personnel Jenny and Tim (we briefed them on our project and threw around material names).
We have:
91x213 cm fiberglass screening
91x213 cm aluminum screening
Dur-a-bull Indoor-outdoor mat 91x122 cm
Style selections premium vinyl shower curtain liner 183x183 cm
Rubber mat approx 15x15 cm
2 2.54cm x 1.52400m PVC and 4 caps to fit on the ends.
We will cut all materials into .5x.5m squares except for the small rubber mat, which was the only material of its kind available at Lowe's.
The screens will go into the water tomorrow at 6:00 pm, and will be checked at 6 am every day.
This is only the rough start of a series of experiments, and we will get more precise measurements in the future. Please comment with any modifications you would like to offer on this experiment, or any ideas for future experiments, or any other type of feedback.
Thanks for frequently checking into the blog!
-ecrussel and e.allen

More news from Belize

First of all, I should mention that I will be meeting with the Independence High School Environmental Club on Wednesday next week. They have over 50 members and are extremely active.

I have also had a chance to tour some of the area farms and check out our progress. In addition to the work with Aqua Mats, other mitigations are also ongoing in the effluent canals.

One of those projects is mangrove planting. Mangroves are a kind of tree that grow in salt water. They remove nutrient directly from effluent water and support colonies of organisms that also absorb nutrients. Recently I had a chance to check on some of those we've been doing for the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

Here's a picture at Aqua Mar shrimp farm showing Mauricio Mejia of WWF checking out some plantings we did with John Cheeseman of the University of Illinois. Survival is still over 95% at this site. We're happy with the progress here.



We also checked some plantings from Royal Maya. Some of these plantings were done in August of 2008. Some were done in November 2008. This picture shows Mauricio Mejia and Adrian Vernon (a community researcher in Placencia) checking out the November planting. The survival was very good there as well.

And the plantings from August at Royal Maya are growing to impressive sizes, with 4 internodes already in place and side-branching beginning. When these trees are fully grown, they will be an important part of the mitigation process in the farm effluent.

Placencia Lagoon Fisheries

I am in Belize now, and have had a chance to do some field work.

Specifically, I was able to help Eli Romero, a Belizean about to begin graduate school at Boston University. His study examines the movements of fish from the lagoon to sites offshore. This project is similar to one I did in the past, so we have been communicating and collaborating. In the picture above, we are surveying the catch of a local fisherman. Eli bought fish from this fisherman to sample the fish tissues for chemical tracers unique to the lagoon. Habitats like the lagoon are nursery areas for important commercial species like snapper.

By improving shrimp farm effluent quality, we are helping protect this fishery and the livelihood of fishers like this. We are also helping protect biodiversity. Unique fish like the trunk fish juvenile and adult below are common in the lagoon. By preserving seagrass habitat, we help protect their ability to survive.

Club Discussion - Friday, March 6, 2009

Today, in Inventor's Club, our sponsor, Mr. Bergandine, suggested that not only will we be encountering issues with our current design of the substrate, but that we also need to design a tool to use to remove the biomass from the substrate. The question is how we are going to scrape both sides of the netting/mesh that we currently have hanging down from the PVC pipes. We should try to make this a very automatic process. We would like to only have to go in one direction when harvesting. At the moment, our idea of scraping the biomass off into the boat with a scraper of some sort attached to the boat can only remove the biomass from one side at a time, requiring a second run through. Ideally, we would like to find a solution that requires little hands-on work.

In order to address the issue, we have split up into two groups, one focusing on the substrate design while the other would begin working on the harvesting tool design. Everybody should make sure they communicate with the other group members, preferably on the blog, in order to ensure that both groups are working in the same direction.

We also discussed possible testing plans. We have fish tanks available, but placing the testing materials in ponds would be preferable for two reasons:

1. In the fish tanks, a lot of the algae would probably grow on the glass instead of the substrate.
2. Ponds would create a better simulation of the natural enviroment and the light exposure.

E. Russell and E. Fritzsche mentioned easy access to ponds. We would probably want to begin testing soon. Mr. Smith mentioned that this time of year may be the best time to test due to the lack of tree leaves that would block out the sun, ensuring similar growing conditions as those in Belize. Also, there is little movement in the water and not too much rainfall. Our goal is to have some test results by the end of spring break.

InvenTeams is also an option. Applications submitted by March 20th will be given early feedback. The initial application deadline is April 24th. If we are to do this, we will have to work very quickly. More information is available at their website.