2 laboratories

Caring for the Berre lagoon

In 2023, we designed two research laboratories for the health of the lagoon.

These laboratories contain pumps, a seawater circulation system and seed maturation tanks, considerably improving our seagrass transplanting technique and output.

In 2024, the caravan became the Nautile. The laboratory was equipped with many devices, observation screens, a periscope for observing the underwater world, and a touch-screen digital aquarium. All this equipment allows us to observe the Berre lagoon floor around the reef and at our seagrass planting sites.

1 | THE NAUTILE

The Nautile is a caravan parked at the Saint-Chamas marina from May to October. It welcomes the public to discover our actions, raise awareness of the Berre lagoon's biodiversity, and participate in our activities.

This laboratory serves several roles: it acts as a hatchery for our seeds, allows collection and centralisation of seabed data and images, and facilitates public outreach. That's why we named it after Jules Verne's submarine: "The Nautile - Observatory of the Underwater World".

Seagrass seed maturation and data collection

From May to October, the Nautile serves as a hatchery for our sea eelgrass seeds. Flowering seagrass spikes are collected in May-June. In summer, the spikes open and release seeds which we preserve until year's end to sow when temperatures drop. The Nautile helps us collect temperature data and monitor seed germination, as well as centralise underwater videos and images.

Communicating about our actions

The Nautile is a public meeting place. Visitors enter as if boarding a submarine, to explore the seabed. It is possible to observe what happens underwater via an inverted periscope that can navigate 360° beneath the surface to discover seagrass beds and identify marine species. A digital aquarium allows groups of visitors to explore the seabed, moving through the ecosystems. Visitors can also see the seed maturation system with a seawater pump and real-time temperature sensors.

2 | BEAURIVAGE

We also have a waterside shed at the Beaurivage marina (in Saint-Chamas) where we can scale up our experiments. A first water circulation unit was quickly set up in 2023 to launch the experiment.

New seed transplanting methods

In 2023, we tested new innovative seed transplanting methods. Developed with many technical tools made in our Fablab, these led to considerable advances. In 2024, we created a double sieve to better separate seeds. In 2025, we are developing a temperature regulation system to better preserve collected seeds — maintaining temperatures above 15°C while avoiding bacterial and algae proliferation.