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Due to how large of a threat Lionfish are to the region, there have been a large variety of methods to remove or limit their presence through strategies such as teaching and incentivizing local fishers to hunt Lionfish to training local predators to prey on Lionfish. These solutions have been unsuccessful in eliminating the problem however due to the large scope of the Lionfish invasion, the extreme rate at which they reproduce, and their general lack of natural predators in the Atlantic. The team believes that despite all of these factors that the problem could be mitigated through an autonomous robotic solution. Ultimately, the goal would be the creation of multiple submersible vehicles that could search for and harvest Lionfish completely on their own.

The scale of this project is quite large and as a result, it is expected to be completed of multiple successive years of multiple MQP teams. The previous MQP worked on developing solutions for physically harvesting lionfish. To this end, they developed a rotating geneva mechanism that uses spears to harvest lionfish. This year, the MQP team is focused on attaching this harvesting arm to a submersible underwater platform that will allow it to operate independently of a diver. Once the arm is attached, the team will work on navigation solutions to allow the platform to move about a coral reef without causing damage to the surrounding environment. In order to do this, the current team is in search of corporate sponsorship in order to obtain the underwater platform. Without this component, it becomes increasingly difficult to take the problems surrounding underwater navigation and safety.