The National Geographic Society Deep-Sea Camera System: A Low-Cost Remote Video Survey Instrument to Advance Biodiversity Observation in the Deep Ocean

Abstract

There is a growing need for marine biodiversity baseline and monitoring data to assess ocean ecosystem health, especially in the deep sea, where data are notoriously sparse. Baited cameras are a biological observing method especially useful in the deep ocean to estimate relative abundances of scavenging fishes and invertebrates. The National Geographic Society Exploration Technology Lab developed an autonomous benthic lander platform with a baited camera system to conduct stationary video surveys of deep-sea megafauna. The first-generation landers were capable of sampling to full ocean depth, however, the form factor, power requirements, and cost of the system limited deployment opportunities. Therefore, a miniaturized version (76 cm × 76 cm × 36 cm, 18 kg in air) was developed to provide a cost-effective method to observe ocean life to 6000 m depth. Here, we detail this next-generation deep-sea camera system, including the structural design, scientific payload, and the procedures for deployment. We provide an overview of NGS deep-sea camera system deployments over the past decade with a focus on the performance improvements of the next-generation system, which began field operations in 2017 and have performed 264 deployments. We present example imagery and discuss the strengths and limitations of the instrument in the context of existing complementary survey methods, and for use in down-stream data products. The key operational advantages of this new instrument are spatial flexibility and cost-efficiency. The instrument can be hand-deployed by a single operator from a small craft concurrent with other shipboard operations. The main limitation of the system is battery power, which allows for 6 h of continuous recording, and takes up to 8 h to recharge between deployments. Like many baited-camera methods, this instrument is specialized to measure the relative abundance of mobile megafauna that are attracted to bait, which results in a stochastic snapshot of the species at the deployment location and time. The small size and ease of deployment of this next-generation camera system allows for increased sample replication on expeditions, and presents a path forward to advance cost-effective biological observing and sustained monitoring in the deep ocean.

Deep-sea biodiversity at the extremes of the Salas y Gómez and Nazca ridges with implications for conservation

“…Our study is based on opportunistic sampling to provide baseline observations at two remote and underexplored locations. Like all baited-camera methods, our deep-sea camera system is specialized to measure the relative abundance of mobile megafauna that are attracted to bait [ 61 , 120 , 121 ]. However, species’ absences may be less reliably measured by opportunistic point video surveys [ 122 ].…”

“…Data collection. Remote autonomous benthic landers with baited camera systems [55,61] were used to conduct stationary video surveys at RN/SyG and the Desventuradas (Fig 1). These systems include high-definition cameras (Sony Handycam HDR-XR520V 12 megapixel) encased in a borosilicate glass sphere that are rated to 11,000 m depth.…”

A cost‐effective video system for a rapid appraisal of deep‐sea benthic habitats: The Azor drift‐cam

“…Sheehan et al, 2016), and also other lowcost deep remote baited camera systems (e.g. Giddens et al, 2021).…”

“…Sheehan et al., 2016), and also other low‐cost deep remote baited camera systems (e.g. Giddens et al., 2021). Keeping the Azor drift‐cam affordable implied that some useful add‐ons were left out (e.g.…”

“…Therefore, there is a need for sampling tools that can generate new deep‐sea scientific data at a reasonable cost, making deep‐sea exploration easier, simpler, cheaper and accessible to many. In recent years, a number of low‐cost deep‐sea camera systems (Giddens et al., 2021; Phillips et al., 2019), sensors (Jiang et al., 2020) and video landers (Hannah & Blume, 2012) have been prototyped. However, we are not aware of any technological development that allows deep‐sea exploration using relatively cheap off‐the‐shelf products.…”