Baited Remote Underwater Video (BRUV) deployments and analysis

Written by Karen, Apr 5 2024

Baited Remote Underwater Video (BRUV) deployments and analysis

Baited Remote Underwater Video (BRUV) deployments and analysis

I first started as a volunteer at Marine Dynamics and later switched to an internship. As an intern, you get academic, practical and skill training in marine research. One of my favourite things that we did was Baited Remote Underwater Video (BRUV) deployments and analyzing the videos. Because the trips are weather-dependent, we were lucky to get two trips in two months.

We used the company’s own research boat, Lwazi. Unlike the cruise boats like Dream Catcher and Slashfin, Lwazi is much smaller. Always make sure to pack enough clothing and bring your jacket, even during hot and sunny days as the weather out at sea can switch within minutes. Also, pack some lunch and snacks to eat between deployments.

I am used to being out at sea since childhood and love staying long hours at sea.
During the deployments we had five different stations, and, on each station, we had four BRUVs that got deployed at different locations. After the deployments, we waited for about 40-60 minutes before pulling them up and moved to the next station to repeat it. The day starts around seven in the morning and usually finishes around four or five in the afternoon.

As the name describes, we used bait to attract the animals by using frozen sardines and mackerel we got from the African penguin and seabird sanctuary, located right next to our accommodation. Not using gloves to fill the bait canister with bloody and oily fish was quite disgusting but I got used to it after a while. When one was doing the bait, the other intern was responsible for capturing data. The data included the number of deployments, time, depth, temperature, latitude and longitude, wind direction and swell.

The days after our trips, we analyzed the videos. I am very fascinated by animal behavior so looking at the interactions between individuals of the same and different species was something I liked.
Another intern and I went through the videos together. We saw numerous common species like the Hottentot and Carpenter, then you had other species like the common octopus and different species of catsharks popping up. We searched for species by looking for patterns on the body, rather than specific individuals as you cannot see the difference from individuals. My friend and I pretended to play the puzzle book “Where is Wally?”. We got super excited when new species showed up.

Becoming an intern at Marine Dynamics was the best start for my education in biology. If you, like me, are planning on studying in the near future but want some work experience, then applying for an internship at Marine Dynamics is a great way to get your hands dirty in the field.

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Karen Scientific Internship

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