Fisheries

After two years of successful missions in lakes Michigan, Huron, and Superior, a Saildrone Explorer will circumnavigate Lake Erie to improve fish stock assessments.

Given the economic and cultural value of the Lake Superior fishery, it’s more important than ever to provide fishery managers with accurate data to monitor native fish populations to sustainably manage the $7B Great Lakes fishery.

Two Saildrone Explorers will collect data in Lake Superior to improve fish counts, monitor environmental health, and help to protect native fish species.

Two Saildrone Explorers were deployed from Macatawa, MI, to collect fisheries data in Lake Michigan and Lake Huron on behalf of the USGS Great Lakes Science Center.

Saildrone is one of several innovative technologies that have allowed NOAA to continue its applied science mission during the COVID-19 pandemic—and will help to transform ocean exploration in the years to come.

Data collected by a fleet of Saildrone unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) will inform this year’s Alaska pollock fish stock assessment.

Week 4: Saildrone is demonstrating how USVs could be a cost-effective solution for monitoring illegal fishing activity in remote areas of the ocean.

Saildrone USVs enabled the Alaska Fisheries Science Center to perform the 2020 Alaska pollock survey during a time of considerable environmental and civic uncertainty.

Three Saildrone USVs have begun a 60-day acoustic survey on behalf of NOAA Fisheries after transiting more than 2,000 nautical miles from San Francisco to the Bering Sea.

With upcoming ship-based surveys in Alaska canceled due to the global health crisis, NOAA Fisheries has turned to Saildrone to collect data to support the sustainable management of America’s largest fishery.

To establish confidence in Saildrone fit for purpose data, we have sought out and developed relationships with recognized experts in the fields of meteorology and oceanography.

Saildrone USVs have proven to be a valuable tool in a multiplatform observation network, but they can also achieve a variety of mission objectives simultaneously, saving money and resources.

The Saildrone Data Explorer is designed to make Saildrone data easy to find, download, and use for scientific and educational purposes.

Two saildrones spent more than 200 days surveying sandeel, saithe, and herring off the coast of Bergen in partnership with Norway’s Institute of Marine Research.

The 5th annual Arctic mission, in partnership with NOAA and NASA, took a fleet of saildrones to a new frontier—the Arctic ice edge—to improve sea ice prediction and satellite algorithm development.

The 30-day mission supported by a Saildrone Award studies the behavior and environmental influencers of small fishes, squids, and crustaceans in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone.

The 60-day Saildrone effort to assess stocks of Pacific hake and five coastal pelagic species was carried out in two sub-missions extending the full length of the US west coast, from San Diego to Cape Flattery.

Two saildrones equipped with acoustic receivers located 34% of the Alaska red king crabs that were tagged by NOAA Fisheries in June.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute’s annual experiment to investigate the diurnal vertical migration included a Saildrone USV equipped with an echo sounder.

Saildrone USVs are operated on a mission-as-a-service model and monitored from Saildrone Mission Control in Alameda, CA.

Two Saildrone USVs participated in a multidisciplinary effort to understand why great white sharks swim more than 1,300 miles each year to an ocean desert in the North Pacific.

NOAA Fisheries and the Bering Sea Fisheries Research Foundation have teamed up to track seasonal movements of Alaska red king crab using a Saildrone USV equipped with an acoustic receiver.

Two concurrent missions will cover some 2,500 kilometers of coastline from San Diego to Vancouver Island.

Six saildrones were deployed from Dutch Harbor, AK, to survey ongoing changes in the Arctic ecosystem in partnership with NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Lab and Alaska Fisheries Science Center and NASA.

The 2019 Sandeel and Saithe Mission will be the first European test of Saildrone USVs in partnership with Norway’s Institute of Marine Research.

How innovative autonomous technology is helping scientists to solve the mystery of northern fur seals disappearing from the remote Pribilof Islands.

The 2018 West Coast Fisheries Survey combined the efforts of a NOAA research vessel and a fleet of saildrones to observe and collect data on fish and marine mammals from anchovy to humpback whales.

A flotilla of saildrones established a new northern record for an autonomous vehicle while measuring CO2 and Arctic cod abundance in the Chukchi Sea.

In the Summer of 2018, five saildrones embark on the first autonomous full West Coast fisheries survey, in collaboration with Northwest Fisheries Science Center, Southwest Fisheries Science Center, Oceans Canada, and the NOAA research vessel Reuben Lasker.

Saildrone and NOAA have been working closely to pioneer the use of autonomous technology for fisheries management and conservation.