Hero dog ‘first in world’ to detect invasive sea vomit threatening UK | UK | News

A mountain search and rescue team has trained its hero dog to sniff out invasive “sea vomit” in what is believed to be a world first. Dr Texa Sim’s two-year-old labrador, Uisge, can detect Didemnum vexillum, an invasive marine organism found in UK waters.

The species commonly known as sea vomit originates from Japan and is often transported around the world on ship hulls. This rapidly spreading sea squirt can clone itself by forming thick, carpet-like colonies that cover the seafloor. If left unchecked, it can cover an entire area, destroying native species and damaging biodiversity. This also poses serious problems for the fishing industry, especially shellfish farms.

Dr Sim, 33, has also trained five-year-old search and rescue dog Sgiath to detect invasive marine species. Detection dogs are widely used on land to locate invasive plants and animals, but Dr. Sim saw the opportunity to bring this approach to the marine environment.

He said: “Detection dogs are very common in terrestrial invasive species studies, and I have a background in marine science. When I was thinking about what I wanted to train dogs on – something interesting, new and impactful – I realized that not many people were doing marine invasive species studies, despite it being such a huge global problem.”

“Ocean temperatures are changing. We’re creating conditions where some of these species can get a really tight grip on ecosystems that are not their origin. If they emerge, you need to report them as quickly as possible.”

The first record of sea vomit in England was in Wales in 2008. It has since spread to England and Scotland. Dr Sim, the first employee of the Lochs and Sounds Community Foundation supported by Fauna & Flora, transformed his garage into a training ground. He built a practice wall where he stored samples of invasive species so dogs could detect them by smell.

Sgiath continues to work alongside Dr Sim in the Glencoe mountain rescue team, which works around the clock to find missing people in the Scottish Highlands. Although he did not grow up with dogs, Dr Sim learned scent training through mountain rescue and began focusing on ecological detection work in 2022.

Part of his job includes verifying that invasive species are not present; Something he said is just as important as identifying them.

He added: “As far as I know, there are no dogs trained for this breed anywhere in the world.

“It was very experimental. I had to design methods to train and test the dogs to prove that they could recognize the scent and distinguish it from others in that environment.

“I was blown away by their abilities. Once they understand the scent you’re asking them to find, they can generalize it to different tasks and setups. It’s a remarkable thing they can do.”

He hopes more trainers will start training dogs to combat marine invasive species. Labradors are his “preferred breed” and he describes them as level-headed, adaptable and extremely determined.

“A lot of people think there are ‘lazy laborers,’ but they are anything but that,” he said. “They are absolutely open and will work for as long as you want them to, and they are great to live with.”

Biosecurity is at the heart of its business.

Dogs are trained to freeze when they find the highest concentration of sea vomit, avoiding contact and preventing further spread.

Dr Sim said: “You have exciting dogs doing what they were born to do, searching and hunting, and you are asking them to remain completely still at the most exciting moment.

“You have to make sure they understand that silence leads to reward.”