Anemones and not so much marine debris off a tall ship in the Port of LA

Rozalia Project picked up its first piece of Pacific marine debris (the first of many!) with the VideoRay ROV Tuesday! Thanks to Nancy Richardson and the crew of the tall ship Exy Johnson, we had a very cool launch pad as well. The Exy Johnson is docked along the main channel of the Port of Los Angeles and we went aboard to show off the VideoRay Pro 4 and our trash-hunting capabilities to some great people from ReGreen, the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium, and the LA Maritime Museum.

The tall ship Exy Johnson through the eyes of the VideoRay.

We had the VideoRay in 25-35 feet of water with HUGE container and car carrier ships cruising in and out 50 yards away right after sunset. And we saw some very cool creatures: tube anemones and sea pens as well as crabs and one big fish (not sure what it was). Surprisingly, we did not find a lot of trash in the this part of the river. Some of the locals said that the lack of trash is likely thanks to a local woman who has spent considerable energy instituting an adopt-a-storm-drain program (so clever) and there are surface trash-catching devices up river. Yeah for LA making a good effort.

Exy Johnson's propellor. Looking good and clean.

Next up, tomorrow I will have the VideoRay in another location nearby but this time in a marina. We'll see what we find - hopefully more creatures than trash again, but my bet is we recover more marine debris. Until, then here are some photos from that night and stay tuned for what we find tomorrow!

Tube anemone at the bottom of the main shipping channel in the Port of LA. (there were a lot of these).

A crab who was very unhappy to see us, I think we disturbed his dinner as it was around 6pm . We left him in peace.

Yipppee. Our first (of many) pieces of pacific marine debris coming up to the surface!