Overview
- Researchers are sea‑testing a roughly 10‑foot, solar‑powered semi‑autonomous vessel that carries a small aerial drone and streams 360‑degree video back to shore.
- The craft is being developed to listen for acoustically tagged great white sharks and to take water samples for environmental DNA (eDNA) analysis.
- The system depends on an active tagging program — the Shark Lab has already tagged hundreds of juvenile white sharks but must keep tagging to maintain detection coverage.
- State funding that paid for the prototype is set to expire this fall, and further field validation and sustained funding are required before the device can move from prototype to routine patrols.
- Lab leaders say the technology is intended to give lifeguards faster, more precise information for beach safety and to support monitoring at 2028 Los Angeles Olympic venues with help from partners such as the Seaver Institute, NYU Center for Robotics and MBARI.