Fairhaven is the first community on the East Coast to deploy the Jellyfishbot, an autonomous aquatic robot designed to remove trash, microplastics and oil from local waterways.

The Jellyfishbot, described as a “water Roomba,” pulls specialized nets that can target different kinds of debris, from floating plastic cups to microscopic pollutants, according to a community announcement. The robot can also deploy absorbent spaghetti, giving Fairhaven a first-response tool for accidental oil spills in the harbor. As it moves, it conducts water quality monitoring and is capable of bathymetric surveys.

“Two years ago, we had a commercial fishing vessel suffer a large diesel fuel spill in the harbor that needed to be contained and cleaned,” Bruce Webb, Fairhaven’s director of Land Use and Planning

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