We Don't Just Clean the Water.
We Find What the Water Hides.
Project Lagoon is envisioned as a technology-assisted conservation system that combines underwater survey, field observations, data, targeted recovery and verification to better understand and remove submerged debris from the Indian River Lagoon.
Instead of sending crews out to search blindly, the goal is to identify where problems are, document what is found, prioritize recovery and return afterward to verify the results.
Project Lagoon capabilities shown here represent the long-term operational vision and may include equipment, systems and facilities that are proposed, planned or dependent on future funding and partnerships.
SEE HOW IT WORKS
Find Your Next Conservation Mission.
A prominent large digital screen in an appropriate public or arrival area of the future Center will eventually be powered by the SCWS event and app system. It can show a filtered selection of events SCWS wants to highlight.
Visitors could eventually find their next conservation mission through QR or touchscreen registration and details. For now, the physical exhibit and display concept is established.
Look, don't touch active legal gear.
Legal active fishing and crabbing gear is not debris. Volunteers are trained to recognize and respect active legal gear.
Some of the Biggest Problems Are the Ones You Can't See.
Marine debris can settle below the surface, move with storms and currents, become entangled in habitat, create navigation hazards and remain hidden from normal shoreline cleanups.
Recovery decisions depend on authorization, safety, environmental impact, ownership/legal status, size, condition, access, and permitting or specialty requirements where applicable.
Hidden Waters Helps Turn the Unknown Into a Map.
Hidden Waters is the survey and observation layer supporting Project Lagoon. Survey crews document where they travel and where potential targets are observed.
This is a future operating vision. Not every technology is implied to be already deployed at full scale.
One Tool Doesn't See Everything.
Different tools can complement one another to build a more complete picture of what lies beneath the surface.
SONAR
Maps underwater structure and potential debris.
ROV
Provides close-up underwater visual inspection when conditions allow.
DRONE
Provides aerial context, shoreline observations and surface-area reconnaissance where appropriate.
FIELD OBSERVATION
Trained crews identify, photograph and document targets in real-world conditions.
GPS & MAPPING
Connects observations to exact survey coverage and repeatable locations.
AI & DATA ANALYSIS
Can help organize observations, recognize patterns and identify hotspots as the system grows.
If We Find It, We Want to Know What It Is, Where It Is and When We Saw It.
Potential observations may be documented with GPS coordinates, timestamps, survey tracks, photos or video, debris classification, estimated size, condition, environmental context, recovery priority and follow-up status. This allows the program to move beyond anecdotal cleanup.
Don't Send a Recovery Crew Every Time Someone Sees One Piece of Debris.
Survey teams can continue documenting an area until enough verified recoverable targets are identified to justify a focused recovery mission. Project Lagoon can then dispatch recovery crews to defined target areas rather than searching blindly.
Now the Crew Knows Where to Go.
Recovery teams can receive target locations and supporting information before launching. Different debris requires different recovery methods.
Some items may require law enforcement coordination, specialty contractor support, hazardous-material protocol, agency direction, or leaving the object in place.
Removing Debris Is Only Half the Job.
Recovered material must be documented, transported, sorted and handled appropriately. The future operations campus may support staging, weighing, photography, sorting, recycling, containerization, trailer loading, and specialty disposal coordination.
Removal Should Not Be the End of the Story.
After targeted recovery, the area can be surveyed again. Verification can help answer: Was the target removed? Were additional items discovered? Was the area adequately covered? Did debris return later? Is the site changing over time? Does the area need future monitoring?
Every Mission Can Teach Us Something About the Lagoon.
Over time, Project Lagoon data may help identify patterns and trends that improve conservation effectiveness.
As the system grows, data connections to Hidden Waters, Currents Through Time, the AI/Data Hub, research partners, university work and environmental reporting may create new opportunities for understanding the Lagoon.
After a Storm, Time Matters.
The system may also support post-storm or hurricane response. Project Lagoon is positioned as a supporting conservation capability — not a replacement for emergency management, law enforcement, FWC, Coast Guard, county government or other agencies.
From Finding It to Proving It's Gone.
This creates a repeatable conservation system rather than isolated cleanup events.
THEN WE DO IT AGAIN.
The Technology Helps. People Make the Mission Happen.
Technology does not replace trained crews, volunteers, partners and field judgment. The system depends on people. The future Center can create a place where all these capabilities connect.
See What Happens Around the Mission.
Each part of the vision connects to a larger mission.