Biofouling: Producer's Diary

Reflections from Producer Andy Soth

I was skeptical at first, when In Wisconsin series producer Christine Sloan-Miller suggested I do a story on research at the University of Wisconsin to study how low-voltage electric fields might fight invasive species. I had browsed the press release from the University News Service and found it interesting, but probably not visual enough or groundbreaking enough to warrant a story.

Christine felt differently. Because so many of the stories in the Great Lakes series talked about the dire consequences of invasives, she felt that it would benefit the overall project to look at technology that held some promise for improving the present situation. Many invasives have entered the Great Lakes by hitching a ride on ships that travel world wide, and this research could potentially help improve that, as well as improve a ship's efficiency and maintenance costs.

So began my introduction to "biofouling" - the interfering with or contamination of devices and machinery by living material.

Fortunately, our location in Madison is not far from the UW Engineering campus, so I was able to do some informal scouting before we committed to shooting. I met the young PhD candidate Rodolfo Perez at his lab, and found him charming and enthusiastic as he explained the research he had done.

The published study describing Rodolfo's research involved comparing whether bacteria would grow better on an electrified field or a non-electrified field. He had done a classic comparative study, and perhaps not surprisingly found that bacteria grew better when not being pulsed by low voltage.

My skepticism returned. But, as Rodolfo's advisor, Professor Dan Noguera told me later, this first experiment was really just a proof of concept, an important first step in securing support for more experimentation. Our timing was good, as Rodolfo was just about to receive barnacle larvae to begin the same type of experiment as he had down with bacteria.

Barnacles, I knew could help tell this story. Even if viewers don't have a mental image of them, they at least relate them to ships, and from there can make the connection to a way to keep them and other living things from affixing to a ship's hull.

As it turns out, barnacles are kind of the classic example of biofouling, at least at the macro level. It was hard for me to imagine that something so relatively small could actually cause significant problems for a large and powerful vessel. I consulted by e-mail with my father-in-law, a retired Coast Guard captain and naval engineer who confirmed their significance. Ironically, some of the biofouling problems in harbor areas have worsened as water quality has improved. He recalled that the cost of keeping the piers of Long Beach harbor free of creatures increased three-fold after the water was cleaned up.

As we began production, I knew visualization would be a problem, as we were talking about experimenting being done in a Petri dish that perhaps would one day be applied to large ships. We were in Wisconsin, in winter, I didn't think we would be able to have a good example of barnacles attached to ship, so I started thinking metaphorically.

Almost immediately my thoughts turned to Garfield. Specifically, those suction-cup stuffed Garfields that were popular-way too popular-in the 1980's. My thinking was that by attaching one of these to the hull of a ship it would be a visual icon that would stay in viewers and help them picture how the attachment of something living to a ship's hull reduces efficiency. I also thought it would be kind of funny.

Finding a Garfield proved to be the largest production challenge. An e-mail request sent to all of the Wisconsin Public Radio and TV staff yielded only curious responses. Ultimately I turned to eBay, where I found a small one for twenty-five cents, plus shipping.

We were also helped in visualizing how an electrified ship's hull might work by our scenic designer, Shirwil. She has just gotten started in computer animation, and the fanciful depiction of steaming cargo ship with a hull like a bug zapper was another strong visual element. Again, not literal in any way, but a representation of concept.

The piece was really about concepts ultimately, as the science has a long way to go to catch up with the vision. But all great endeavors start with a vision, and I hope our little story captured that vision well and shared it with others.

And as I said to Christine, I think it's the best piece about biofouling In Wisconsin has ever done.