Design and development of a towfish to monitor marine pollution

Monitoring of marine pollution is currently being given a lot of importance as an aid to legislators for when it comes to protecting the environment. A clean marine environment is very important in order to sustain healthy life for all creatures and plants that live in the sea and beyond. The work presented in this paper includes work done within the project BIODIVALUE (Biodiversity and Sustainable Development in the Straits of Sicily) funded through the European Union Regional Development funds (ERDF) Italia-Malta 2007-2013. One of the project aims was to support the monitoring of pollution at sea in the Straits of Sicily, hence contributing to drawing future legislation at the national and European level. The project involved the study and analysis of maritime traffic in the Straits of Sicily and the water pollution produced by it. In particular, this paper presents the design, fabrication, and preliminary functionality testing of an underwater vehicle known as a towfish that can be used to monitor seaborne pollutants such as hydrocarbonsand nitrates. The towfish can also be used to measure seawater temperatures and conductivity at different depths and also to monitor jellyfish populations in the open sea.