On the coastline of Dubai Marina now prowls a shark, but residents and tourists have nothing to worry about as it’s a friendly one.
This friendly sea pet called WasteShark, a brainchild of Dubai-based marine and coastal protection specialist Ecocast, is a device used to tackle marine pollution.
WasteShark is a 1.5 device that floats along the water surface to collect plastic, rubbish, algae, and other debris to reduce pollution in lakes, ponds, ports, and coastlines.
The marine drone will begin operations in Dubai Marina this November after a year of testing phase, as told by CNN.
Operated either manually or autonomously, WasteShark can carry up to 350 kilograms of sea waste, and take the rubbish to the shore before it restarts its cleaning operation.
As of 2016 there were approximately 150 million metric tons of plastic in the world’s oceans, according to the World Economic Forum.
WasteShark can also gather air and water quality data, filter chemicals out of the water such as oil, arsenic, and heavy metals through filtering pads.
“(The UAE) does have a large, significant problem with large-scale microplastic pollution. There is a need for some sort of remedial action to limit the waste that we have on our shoreline,” said John Burt, associate professor of biology at NYU Abu Dhabi.
