Coastal ecosystems such as seagrass meadows and oyster reefs play a critical role in maintaining water quality, supporting biodiversity, and sequestering carbon. However, restoring and monitoring these habitats has traditionally been labor-intensive, costly, and limited in spatial and temporal coverage. AquaTech Eco Consultants is advancing restoration efficiency through the integration of autonomous air and surface systems that enable high-resolution data collection and targeted restoration at scale.

AquaTech’s drone program plays a central role in oyster reef restoration, utilizing unmanned aerial systems (UAS) not only for environmental monitoring but also for direct restoration activities. Our drones are equipped to deploy both oyster seed and eyed larvae across restoration sites with precision and efficiency, allowing for uniform distribution and rapid coverage of intertidal and shallow subtidal zones that are often difficult to access by boat. Simultaneously, our drone-mounted multispectral camera captures high-resolution imagery to assess site conditions, substrate stability, and surrounding vegetation health, including seagrass density and chlorophyll content. This aerial system supports both the establishment and ongoing assessment of restored habitats.

In conjunction with these aerial operations, AquaTech has integrated BlueRobotics’ BlueBoat platform, a modular and fully autonomous surface vessel, into its monitoring workflow. The BlueBoat enables precise, repeatable mapping of coastal and estuarine environments, collecting data on bottom composition, vegetation coverage, and reef structure with centimeter-level accuracy. Following initial oyster seed and larvae deployments, the BlueBoat is used to monitor reef growth, density, and habitat development over time, providing valuable post-restoration metrics that complement aerial observations.

Together, these autonomous technologies provide a powerful dual-perspective approach.  Having aerial deployment and monitoring combined with high-precision surface mapping allows the AquaTech staff to evaluate restoration success with unprecedented accuracy and efficiency. This presentation will highlight the integrated system’s design, deployment methods, data analysis workflow, and results from ongoing pilot studies, demonstrating how autonomous marine platforms are reshaping the future of coastal restoration and environmental monitoring.