Jubilee Park pool gives help to international conservationists

The Jubilee Park team were helping an international conservation company by letting them test their submarine in the waters of the pool.

Operation Wallacea is based in Old Bolingbroke, but runs research projects all over the world in developing countries.

Researchers were in need of a body of clear water in which to test and calibrate their small submarine.

The submarine, which is entirely remotely controlled, is being deployed to Lake Malawi where it will be used to gather underwater data on fish and other wildlife.

However, before sending it out there, the Operation Wallacea team needed to make sure that it works in the water and make some final adjustments to the weight of the machine, so that it is neutrally buoyant.

Thankfully, Jubilee Park were willing to lend the team of researchers the use of their pool for a couple of hours.

A spokesman for Operation Wallacea said: “The clear water of the pool - with even better visibility than in Lake Malawi or most other natural settings - provided the perfect opportunity to make sure that the machine was in good working order.”

The trial run (or swim) was a huge success, and the submarine will be heading to Africa in a couple of weeks, where it should be able to gather video data on the wildlife of Lake Malawi down to depths of up to 100m.

A spokesman for Operation Wallacea said: “Thanks again to the management team at Jubilee for being so open to supporting a local good cause.”

Operation Wallacea is a network of academics from European and North American universities, who design and implement biodiversity and conservation management research expeditions.

Research is supported by students who join the programme, to strengthen their CV or resume or collect data for a dissertation or thesis.

Academics benefit from funding for high quality fieldwork enabling them to publish papers in peer reviewed journals.

The Wallacea Trust empowers communities in developing nations to grow commercial enterprises specifically linked to biodiversity conservation.