The document proposes modifications to the Sparsity-aware energy efficient clustering protocol (SEEC) to improve its energy efficiency and ability to handle failures in underwater sensor networks. Key alterations to SEEC include transmission range management, separate reclustering for each group, and sensor sleeping modes. A new simulator called USNeT was developed to test the modified SEEC protocol. Simulation results indicate the modified SEEC provides better performance than the original SEEC in terms of energy efficiency and network survivability during cluster head failures or disrupted sensor connectivity.