Precision Aquaculture Spearhead update visual transcript
Visual
Two people in high vis coveralls are on an inflatable jet boat that travels across open water with hillsides and blue skies in the background. The shot goes overhead where we can now see long parallel signs of hundreds of black buoys ahead of them.
Underwater we see at least a dozen vertical tubes swaying slightly completely covered in mussels. Next, on top of an industrial barge, three men work with a large piece of equipment that hangs slightly over the side of the barge with another piece that hangs over a kneeling man’s head. Both pieces of the large metal structures are painted yellow. Behind them are large cube-shaped woven fabric bags, one with MACLAB 2020 printed on it. In another shot of the scene, we can see the piece of equipment that hangs overhead is shaped like a tripod with sensors on it. It is around 2 meters in height and hangs from a large crane attached to the boat.
We now see a man who speaks to the camera. He is in an office as he stands in front of a wall of large windows. The overlay on the bottom left reads Chris Cornelisen, Spearhead Project Leader and Chief Science Capability Officer, Cawthron Institute.
The jet boat now speeds between the lines of buoys. Next is a close-up video of a tray of cooked mussels as it is carried by a server through the dining room of a restaurant. The shot switches back to Chris and then to a bird’s eye view of Auckland’s waterfront.
Audio, Chris Cornelisen
Probably the biggest opportunity for New Zealand to grow their blue economy is aquaculture. We're sitting on a massive ocean estate. We have all the ingredients in terms of science expertise working closely with farmers.
We can do this, and the amount that we can add to that economy is tremendous. We're talking billions of dollars. But I feel that it's not just about the money. It's about feeling good about how we're generating that money.
And through aquaculture, I do feel we can do that sustainably. You can develop really high value products, products that are exported to the world, that feed our own people that in turn do not negatively impact on the environment.
Visual
A high-speed video of the Auckland waterfront at night. There is a small racing boat with the branding for Explore on it. On the walkway to the left, many people speed by as they walk through the frame. In the background are buildings, many with neon lights. The Sky Tower can be seen cut off to the right side of the screen.
A title screen using a semi-transparent overlay on top of an image reads: ‘Precision Farming Technologies for Aquaculture: A SFTI Spearhead Project’ in a turquoise font. Underneath is the National Science Challenges logo. As the overlay fades the image turns to a video. In a large industrial lab, a young man in a white t-shirt works on a machine. There is a large flat surface raised about a metre off the ground. It appears to be metal and is several metres wide and at least 50 metres long. One side appears unpainted, the other going off-screen is black, and in the middle where the man works is a yellow painted square of about two metres. Across the middle section is a metal frame. Attached to the bottom of the frame is a piece of equipment that moves along the bottom of the frame and appears to touch the flat surface below. There are warning signs and caution tape on the frame and along the edge of the platform.
Technicians who wear white hooded coveralls, gloves, earmuffs, and face masks work with tools on long objects in a large workshop. We switch to a close shot of a circuit board with various colored wires that connect to and from ports on the board. In the upper right corner of the equipment, it reads Campbell Scientific CR 1000X. Next, is an over-the-shoulder shot of a man who watches two monitors showing 3D models of a streamlined boat while he talks to another man next to him. Next, we see another shot of a screen that shows a wireframe 3D model of a structure of pipes. This switches to a large piece of equipment with buttons and a screen on the right side, and a large blue chamber on the left. In between, there is some machinery behind a glass door. There is water under where the machine moves which splashes drops of water onto the glass door. Next, is a close-up of a drill head that drills into a metal sheet, followed by a large robotic arm that moves from right to left. Back on the ocean, two men are on the now stationary inflatable jet boat. Paul holds a yellow device, tubular in shape, thick in the middle, and half the width at the bottom. There is a thin pole that comes out of the top. He moves the device off the side of the boat. We then get a close-up of the top of the device. Where the pole attaches to the base there is a black metal frame that holds a solar panel with wires that come out the sides. Written on top of the black frame is CAWTHRON with the logo on the left. Hands work behind the frame. Next, the men on the jet boat work on a different pyramid-shaped piece of equipment that has large sensors on the sides. There are three buoys attached by rope to the other side of the object.
In an office now, we get an over-the-shoulder shot of a computer monitor with a diagram in a separate window being dragged onto the screen. In the window appears to be a shaded area scan that shows the temperature of an area of water, with a colour-coded key to the right of it. It zooms in closer to confirm that it is a silhouette of the top of the South Island and bottom of the North Island of New Zealand and the temperature of the water around it during a specific time. Back on the barge, the pyramid-shaped piece of equipment is being lowered into the ocean by a crane as three men guide it, one of who holds ropes attached. A panned-out shot of the barge with the device now in the water as the camera sweeps around the barge. Four men stand on the barge as one talks, and the others listen. Another shot of the device now in the water with the boat and men in the background. Last, is a shot of the device in the open water.
Audio, Narrator
The Science for Technological Innovation, National Science Challenge or SFTI is one of 11 national science challenges that bring research teams together to tackle Aotearoa New Zealand's biggest science based challenges. SFTI's focus is on using physical sciences and engineering to grow New Zealand.
And a key part of its mission is bringing cutting edge tech to aquaculture. To do this, SFTI set up a spearhead project called Precision Farming Technologies for Aquaculture.
This project is developing sensors and communications technologies that enable marine farmers to monitor their crops remotely. The SFTI team, led by Nelson's Cawthron Institute, includes researchers from the Universities of Auckland and Canterbury Massey University, Victoria University of Wellington. GNS Science and NZ Product Accelerator.
These researchers are also working with industry and Maori to make sure that this project truly takes New Zealand's aquaculture industry to the next level.
Visual
A woman speaks to the camera. Behind her is what looks like a large wooden barn door and the pyramid-shaped device is off to the right. The overlay on the bottom left of the screen reads Heni Unwin, Lead Vision Mātauranga Researcher, Cawthron Institute. We switch to an overhead shot of the ocean with the lines of black buoys and the mountains in the background.
Audio, Heni Unwin
In the past the science sector hasn't worked well with Maori, so we've been developing te kainga framework which is to create research science that is equitable and just for Indigenous communities.
We've been working with several Maori communities across New Zealand, specifically with te awara and Te Whānau-ā-Apanui.
Visual
The jet boat approaches the buoys from the bottom of the screen. We switch back to Chris who talks to the camera in the office before a shot of a white UTE with Cawthorn written on the side door. The jet boat is attached to the back of the UTE. The UTE is parked on the ramp to the water and the boat is just on the water's edge. Now, at a different angle, the jet boat's motor is on and is turning the water behind it. We can see some of the rocky coastline with several small sailboats to the right. A panning shot of the jet boat in the open water as it speeds towards the buoys.
Inside a small wood-paneled workshop, a man with his back to the camera carries a laptop to a metal table and places it down, followed by a close-up of the screen, as he starts to open a program. An overhead shot to the lines of hundreds of buoys that reach across the open ocean with hills and sparse clouds behind.
Audio, Chris Cornelisen
So one of the biggest challenges for a marine farmer is that they're actually farming out of sight, out of mind almost because for a land farmer they can just walk out to their paddock and see their lamb or their sheep or their cow.
For a marine farmer, not so they actually have to get in a boat and go out to their farm and so forth. Now a big part of what we need to do for those farmers is essentially to bring the farm to the desk so they actually know what's going on remotely from land
Visual
A man sits on the side edge of the jet boat out in the ocean as he talks to the camera. The overlay on the bottom right of the screen reads, Paul Barter, Team Leader R&D Engineering, Cawthron Institute. He wears a high-vis jumpsuit, a black life jacket, sunglasses, and a wide-brimmed hat. Between him and the camera, a device floats. The nest float is a plastic ring, around the size of a large truck tire, with a buoy tied behind it. A new shot of Paul and another man on the jet boat as they put the yellow tube-shaped device into the hollow centre of the ring of the nest float. In an overhead shot, we can see the ring is attached between two long thin poles with buoys attached to each side. An underwater shot of the vertical columns of tubes covered in mussels. The camera points up and now we can see that the tubes curve at the top, like an upside-down U shape. The top is attached by rope to long poles sitting at the top of the water. A large buoy sits between the parallel poles. Back to Paul in the jetboat as he talks to the camera.
Audio, Paul Barter
We're out here on the Golden Bay Mussel Farm and I'm sitting next to a nest float nest, a short for novel environmental sensor technology, and it's a float conference designed under SFTI and it's made so that people and organizations can put different sensors and technology on mussel farms and help enable getting some data back to shore and letting the mussel farmers make more informed decisions about their crop.
And we're about to deploy one of our IOT strings, which is a temperature string, which will give the temperature of the water column down to a 20 meter depth.
Visual
Next are several shots of Paul and the other man as they work on the device in the nest float. The other man covers a white wire or thin rope with black electrical tape as Paul holds it up. The jet boat now pulls up alongside the barge. We can see MacLab written near the front of the barge.
Audio, narrator
The nest float and IOT temperature strings are examples of the innovative technologies produced through the Spearhead Project that are already in the water as part of an industry trial with one of our partners MacLab.
Visual
Chris again speaks to the camera in the office. Switch to a close-up of Paul in the wood-paneled workshop. He works on something inside of a metal box out of view. The box has a door open to the side like a locker. Next, two men in the workshop who wear high vis vests and shorts squat down to lift the metal box between them. It is as high as their thighs, around 30 cm wide, and half as deep. They lift it easily and each holds one side as they carry it across the room. As they turn, we see Cawthron Institute printed on the back of one of the vests. Back to Chris as he talks to the camera before it switches to a man in the workshop who tinkers with a pyramid-shaped device that comes to his chest height. He adjusts the wires that stick out of the top.
Audio, Chris Cornelisen
So Cawthron works very closely with marine farmers. They're actively engaged in our research programs. After all, we can go off as scientists and develop stuff. But whether or not a farmer is going to take that up, well, in order to maximize the likelihood of that it's imperative that they're right along that journey with us and how we develop our science and also that technology that they would then will use.
Visual
The man attaches a metal hook to a rope coming out of the top of the device. As the hook lifts by something off-screen, a circular inner component of the device emerges from the round opening. We can see it is a long yellow cylinder as it lifts out. Switch to a shot of the ocean with a man on the jet boat who leans off to the side and touches the nest float which is holding a device. Next, close-up of the men in the jet boat who work on the device in the nest float. Paul in the workshop talks to the camera. He wears a light blue polo with the words CAWTHRON Institute and logo in white on the upper left area of his chest. There are a couple of shots of him and the other man on a jet boat as they secure metal rings to the device. Back to a shot of inside the workshop as he talks to the camera before we see another shot as he works on the device again. A shot of the mussel-covered tubes which now dangle out of the water by something off-screen. Along with the mussels, there is also red seaweed and algae attached to the U-shaped structures. Next is a close-up of a man on the barge who scrapes the mussels and algae from a large buoy with a shovel.
Audio, Paul Barter
A lot of these instruments are very expensive and difficult to maintain. So we're looking at developing sort of less expensive, smaller, lighter, more efficient type things that are monitoring simple parameters like something like temperature.
As you know, technology is changing very rapidly at the moment. And some of the things that we're really outside the, you know, the realms of us being able to afford and use are becoming sort of routine tools in our toolbox.
In a marine situation, your biggest enemy tends to be the ocean because I have a phrase I like to use, which is the ocean likes to eat things. And it really does. And, you know, we spend most of our time trying to design and build stuff that gets past that.
Visual
We see shots of Paul and the other man who work on the device in the nest float from the jet boat. Chris speaks to the camera from the office before we see Paul in the workshop. He carries a small yellow and black device about 50 cm long and half as wide and places it on the wooden desk. On closeup, we can see the device has yellow plastic panels on two sides with four small propellers on each corner of the panels. There are wires between the side panels. Underwater, we see a blue and black device with four propellers on each corner that are spinning. The device appears quite flat and square, but we cannot tell its size. There is a clear plastic tube in the middle through which we can see some wires and circuitry. On the tube, we can see BlueRobotics and Bay Dynamics New Zealand written. There are two small headlights in the front.
Audio, Chris Cornelisen
So the challenge is to be able to measure things in a way that provides some useful information. And for aquaculture farmers, that often means developing the instruments or integrating them in a way that produces the data that's going to be of most use to them. So that may not be the traditional ways of doing ocean monitoring.
We actually have to tweak it and play with it a bit. And that's where Cawthron really excels in how we bring different technologies together, and actually deploy it in a way that provides meaningful information to a farmer.
Visual
An underwater shot of the columns of mussels, then a shot of the barge in the ocean, followed by a close-up of the barge. Five people stand on the deck facing each other. The person on the left shakes hands with two of the people in the middle.
Audio, Narrator
Ultimately, SFTI wants to put Kiwi precision aquaculture innovations on the map, helping them make their way offshore to aid the accelerating growth of sustainable aquaculture worldwide.
Visual
Paul talks to the camera in the workshop. A bird’s eye view of the jetboat as it travels between the lines of buoys.
Audio, Paul
And if you're working in a team, so to speak, with lots of industry ourselves, other research institutes, you know, you're going to come up with a much better result than if everyone was trying to reinvent the wheel.
Visual
The camera pans out and a grey overlay fades in with the National Science Challenges logo in the centre. The background gradually goes solid white. The logo disappears revealing a web address in a turquoise font that reads stfichallenge.govt.nz. Below, the phrase “He hiringa hangarau, he oranga tangata” is written in bold font, with “Innovation in technology for the benefit of people” written below that in plain font.