Malpelo: Baited Cameras

All photos in this post courtesy of César Peñaherrera-Palma.

Today the Megafauna team set baited cameras. These rest at 10 meters under the surface with a small cage of bait and 2 GoPro cameras attached. There are 5 sets of baited cameras strung together with line with 200 meters distance between each. The team chooses a location to set the cameras, works together to deploy them in the water and record the time and coordinates, and waits as the cameras collect footage for between 2 and 3 hours. After recovering the equipment, the team reviews the footage (that’s 10 cameras with 2-3 hours of footage each!) and records the findings. They take screen shots and video clips which help them identify which species exist here and their abundance and social interactions.