It is crucial that equipment be appropriately set up to ensure maximum consistency among surveys and to facilitate gear replacement where/when necessary. Key components for a pelagic BRUV are listed in Table 6.2.
Equipment configurations can vary among terrains, bathomes and as a function of study objectives (Figure 6.1). For instance, Santana-Garcon et al. (2014b)’s design is remarkably stable compared to Letessier et al. (2013b) but is constrained by the need to moor, which Bouchet & Meeuwig (2015)’s design bypasses. Likewise, bait arm length is usually variable, and may be reduced under turbid conditions to optimise species identification capacity.
Table 6.2: Example packing list. The list reflects the equipment needed to deploy pelagic BRUVs in an adaptation of Bouchet and Meeuwig (2015)’s protocol, whereby 3-5 camera units are tethered to each other on a longline (ca. 250 m) and drift with prevailing currents.
| Item description | Quantity |
| BRUV units | |
| Rig frames | As required |
| Rig uprights + lynch pins (stainless steel ~ 5cm) + shackles | 1 / rig + spares |
| Bait arms (stainless steel, 1.8m) | 1 / rig + spares |
| Dumbbells (rubberised 2.5kg) | 2 / rig + spares |
| Bait canisters (PVC tubes ~ 50cm) | 1 / rig + spares |
| Rope (8mm or thicker – silver rope preferable for hauling) | 1 / longline |
| Rubber rope bin | 10m / rig / flag buoy + 200m / longline + spare |
| Double action clips (stainless steel ~10cm) | 2 / rig + spares |
| Shark clips for bait arms (~10cm) + longlines (~7cm) | 2 / rig + 1 / longline + spares |
| Buoys (orange, soft plastic, approx. 300mm x 400mm) | 3 / rig |
| Sub-surface buoys | 1-2 / rig |
| Flag buoys | 1 / longline |
| Bait (pilchards/mulies/bonito whole fish frozen) | ~1kg / drop + spare |
| GPS loggers and VHF transmitter | 4 |
| CAMERA EQUIPMENT | |
| Cameras (e.g. GoPro Hero 3+ Silver) | 2 / rig / drop + spares |
| Camera battery extension packs (e.g. GoPro Battery BacPac) | 1 / camera + spares |
| Spare internal camera batteries | 10 |
| Memory cards (e.g. micro SD 64GB) | 1 / camera + spares |
| Camera housings | 2 / rig +spares |
| DATA RECORDING | |
| Laptops (HP Probook 450 G2 + power cable) | 2 |
| Hard drives (2TB Seagate portable hard drives) | ~1 / 100 hours of footage + spares |
| Magnadoodle / slate / white board and marker / pen and paper (metadata recording) | 1 |
| Power adapters + power boards | ~4 |
| USB hubs | 8 |
| USB2 cables | 50 |
| SD card adapters | 3 |
| Clipboard | 1 |
| Waterproof paper (for datasheets) + pencils | 1 ream + 1 box |
| Handheld GPS | 1 |
| GENERAL | |
| Toolbox | 1 |
| Socket set | 1 |
| Power drill and charger (battery operated) | 1 |
| Hot knife (for cutting and sealing rope) | 1 |
| Gloves (full fingered sailing gloves for hauling) | 1 pair / person |
| Safety boots | 1 pair / person |
| Air compressor hose and nozzle | 1 |
| Tupperware tubs (to store cameras in the field) | 2 boxes |
| Dry bag (to store cameras in wet conditions) | 1 |
| Nuts and bolts (Phillips head stainless steel bolts with nylon locking nuts 3/16” x 25mm) | 2 / rig + spares |
| Screwdriver set (assorted flathead and Phillips head) | 1 |
| Hex (Allen) key set | 1 |
| Wrench set (150mm, 200mm and 250mm adjustable) | 1 |
| Spanner set (14mm and 10mm for BRUVS) | 1 |
| Wire cutters | 1 |
| Cable ties (assorted, for repairs etc.) | 500 |
| Packing tape (e.g. duct tape) | 10 rolls |
| Plastic packing film | 1 large roll |
| Laminated packing labels (premade for shipping out and back) | 3 / item |