A shelfish-powered ocean health monitor to preserve culture in a changing world.
Seeshell is a biocentric ocean health monitor that reinforces the human connection to the marine environment. Seeshell demonstrates the ability of clams and mussels to purify the ocean, but reminds us that human cooperation is required. Seeshell tracks the motion of clams and mussels to measure water contamination in realtime: in the presence of high levels of contaminants bivalves close their shells. Seeshell's glass enclosure introduces a new point of exchange with aquatic life; as commercial fishing fades to tourism and climate change threatens fisheries Seeshell expresses the tangible value of native species if cultivated and helped to flourish.
Seeshell hosts a colony of shellfish (bivalves) in a transparent enclosure, installed at intertidal zones. Each installation is raised a meter from the ground, supported by a tower tailored to provide habitat for local species. A pile of stones offers crabs shelter from seabirds or a textured pillar lends mussels a perch to bite. Hidden pipes draw fresh seawater into the enclosure, circulating the colony with nutrients and particulate. The device observes the level of local seawater pollution through the technique of valvometry: the monitoring of clam and mussel shell motion as they open or close to provide cover from water contaminants.Through a computer-vision system Seeshell observes changes to water quality, such as presence of harmful chemicals like excess fertilizers. A network of sensors along a coastline provides real-time and historic information about local conditions, serving as an early warning for sewage or agricultural contamination. This information is charted to an online map, and made accessible to the public. Seeshell can be used to track changing water conditions remotely, or verify in person if the water at a beach is safe for swimming, fishing, or wading.
The town of Poole, England was the inspiration for this project and basis for ethnographic field work and literature analysis. This proposal comes in response to several large seawater contamination events along the Southeast Coast of England, and the observation that as Poole’s economy drifts away from the seafood industry an important cultural history fades from daily life. This project was the outcome of a collaboration between the Royal College of Art and the RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution), seeking new futures for coastal communities.