Drones patrolling marine reserve

ADAMSTOWN – Ocean-going drones are being used to help to spot illegal fishing in the world’s largest, continuous marine reserve.

The UK government is utilising drones to patrol the 834,000-sq-km zone around the Pitcairn Islands EEZ it designated as a marine reserve in March last year.

The drones, called Wave Glider units, which began patrolling in Pitcairn waters late February, are equipped with a camera allowing them to record images of suspicious vessels and are capable of interacting with satellites.

The drones are already used for observation and surveillance purposes in the defence, oil and gas and science industries worldwide, according to their developers, Liquid Robotics.

The units rely on solar and wave power, meaning they can stay at sea for months at a time. Liquid Robotics said recently that its fleet of Wave Riders has recorded a total of one million nautical miles at sea, or about 46 times around the globe.

Data gathered by the drones in the Pitcairn EEZ is being beamed back to a satellite watch room in the UK to help prosecute unauthorised trawling.

The drones are each equipped with a camera that can take snaps of fishing vessels that are in restricted areas, and satellite technology that can pinpoint the vessels’ locations, sending all the data back to a dedicated watch room in England.

The Wave Glider is a two-part craft made up of an instrument-bearing boat that floats on the ocean surface that is tethered to a submersible. It uses the ocean’s waves for propulsion energy. The self-propelling propulsion system means the Wave Glider can stay at sea for months at a time.

Missions have been conducted in all five major oceans collecting and communicating environmental, security, weather and seismic data.

The drones are the first to complete missions from the Arctic to the Southern Ocean, have operated through 17 hurricanes and have won a Guinness World Record for “longest journey by an autonomous, unmanned surface vehicle on the planet”, according to Liquid Robotics.

The UK said it would established the marine-protected area in the Pitcairns in 2015 and, at the same time, created a watchdog organisation that would try to protect its abundant sea life from fishing.

Conservationists had argued that modern satellite monitoring meant that costly boat patrols to stop overfishing made such a protected zone feasible and affordable.

The seas around the Pitcairns are believed to be home to more than 1200 species of fish, marine mammals and birds – some of which are unique to the region.

It also supports the world’s deepest and most well-developed coral reef.

The watch room to oversee the region has been created in the Harwell science park in Oxfordshire with funding from the UK government and the Swiss Bertarelli Foundation and the Pew Charitable Trusts.

The Eyes on the Seas virtual watch room monitors all vessel activity in the protected area, and creates automatic alerts when vessels exhibit suspicious behaviour. The alerts can then be investigated by trained analysts. - PNC sources