Halifax students create winning micro-ecosystem for global ocean innovation challenge

A team of students from Halifax West High School who are passionate about science have created an award-winning micro-ecosystem that highlights the importance of maintaining our ocean species.

Grade 12 students Emma Creelman, Mayar Ibrabah and Sophia Mulak created "The Sea Hive" as a way to examine how one species can feed off the waste of another.

Creelman said their project consisted of a box with two compartments, one of which held only blue mussels and the other held blue mussels with different kinds of kelp and seaweed, which was then placed in the water at the Armdale Yacht Club for about a month.

"We really wanted to test the idea that if growing two things in concert with each other would basically allow for healthy water quality and healthy seaweed and mussels overall," she told CBC Radio's Information Morning Halifax on Wednesday.

The team created the project for the Brilliant Blue Challenge, a new, global science and innovation competition that encourages youth to put forward creative ideas to protect the health and wealth of our oceans.

The competition was held online last Saturday, with 38 teams from 17 different countries taking part. Nineteen of the teams were from Atlantic Canada, including the Halifax West team.

Ibrabah said after leaving the tank in the water for about a month, they discovered their hypothesis was correct.

"We saw overall the health of our mussels was way better when it was on side with the seaweed in it and as well as the water quality, too," she told Information Morning.

"We saw that the side with the blue mussels and the different types of kelp was way cleaner and less acidic than the side with the mussels."

Information Morning - NS8:58Halifax high schoolers take part in global ocean innovation challenge

On Saturday, a science competition called The Brilliant Blue Challenge took place pitting students from Atlantic Canada against each other and students from around the world. Meet the director and a couple of competing students from Halifax West.

That's because mussels produce carbon dioxide, which is absorbed by the kelp and filtered out, she said.

This discovery, and their hard work, is what won them the Productive Ocean Award, one of 10 awards given out at the Brilliant Blue Challenge.

"All three of us are really passionate about science and all really want to be future scientists," Ibrabah said.

"I think taking part in a project like this really opened our eyes a bit more, maybe even making a shift towards more of a marine science, marine biology type of science."

Creelman said the competition was a great opportunity to get hands-on experience in the field and learn more about doing research.

"We really learned that it's not all good and it's not all bad. There's ups and downs and there's also a collaborative element that's hard to grasp if you've never done it before."

And she said there's still more work to be done. They want to run more tests to see how the conservation of heavy metals and micro bacteria is altered in each box.

Omar Hussein, the director of the Brilliant Blue Challenge, said those experiences are what the competition is all about.

"This is exactly what we were looking for and we need talents like the [Halifax West] team here to join our program," he said.

"But also we're working very hard with different stakeholders to avail opportunities for them, including scholarship opportunities, internships and support for startups and incubation. While we're not there yet, we're working hard to get those opportunities for those amazing talents."

Hussein said although this year's inaugural competition was virtual, he's hoping to have an in-person event in Atlantic Canada next summer.