The floating robot that saves birds from fishing nets

A scarecrow in the sea. This is the idea that scientists from the BirdLife International program and the Estonian Ornithological Society had to save seabirds that get entangled in fishing nets and end up drowning. The device – developed in collaboration with Fishtek Marine engineers and tested in Küdema bay, on the island of Saaremaa, in Estonia – consists of a buoy with googly eyes: in practice, panels that reproduce two stylized eyes are mounted on the float. and which, thanks to light signals and unpredictable movements, frighten the birds and induce them not to dive nearby.