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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Robots As Vectors For Marine Invasions: Best Practices For Minimizing Transmission Of Invasive Species Via Observation-Class Rovs., Andrew David Thaler, Amy Freitag, Erika Bergman, Dominik Fretz, William Saleu
Robots As Vectors For Marine Invasions: Best Practices For Minimizing Transmission Of Invasive Species Via Observation-Class Rovs., Andrew David Thaler, Amy Freitag, Erika Bergman, Dominik Fretz, William Saleu
VIMS Articles
Remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) present a potential risk for the transmission of invasive species. This is particularly the case for small, low-cost microROVs that can be easily transported among ecosystems and, if not properly cleaned and treated, may introduce novel species into new regions. Here we present a set of 5 best-practice guidelines to reduce the risk of marine invasive species introduction for microROV operators. These guidelines include: educating ROV users about the causes and potential harm of species invasion; visually inspecting ROVs prior to and at the conclusion of each dive; rinsing ROVs in sterile freshwater following each dive; …