Unmanned boats to boost aquaculture
Unmanned boats deploying remote underwater vessels are part of a Nelson AI project designed to boost aquaculture businesses, such as mussel farms.
Nelson-based companies Marine AI (NZ) and Snap Information Technologies Ltd (SnapCore) have partnered to deliver the technology, which they say could help businesses like shellfish farms operate more efficiently – and expand into the open ocean.
Marine AI (NZ) said the technology was being developed to improve the way mussel farms monitored things like crop health and harvest readiness, but could be adapted for other aquaculture companies.
It said the boat it was trialling would use similar technology to that of an unmanned research vessel which crossed the Atlantic Ocean in 2022, with the help of separate company Marine AI in the UK.
The boat would operate autonomously, through a system using artificial intelligence and predetermined navigational programmes, chief executive Bob Cumming said. “We can set it off on a task, so we might programme in what the task is, and if it has to make decisions while it’s out there, like do I go this way or do I go that way, it will make the decision.”
The company’s navigational and AI technology meant the boat would make its navigational adjustments to avoid collisions, managing director Sean Doggett said.
But a suitably qualified person would oversee the boat, as required under maritime rules, he said.
A remotely operated vessel (ROV) with a SnapCore camera was due to be operated by the boat to collect and analyse data underwater.
Doggett said mussel farmers currently sent out manned boats to check infrastructure, with crews pulling up ropes to inspect crops, and divers occasionally used.
“We can have a computer visions system that’s actually recording the state of the farm above [the water], and we can also have an ROV which at certain points during the daily inspection can dive down and it can inspect the mussels ... and infrastructure underneath.
“Applying an AI to analyse the data, we can actually analyse any issues, any problems ... far quicker than any humans can.”
The technology would create jobs rather than taking them away, and make sea operations safer, the pair said.
Removing the “mundane” operations at existing farms freed up crews to double-check the findings or undertake any repairs, and allowed more regular and less invasive underwater monitoring, they said.
Shellfish farmers couldn’t expand offshore into deep water farms because they didn’t have enough boats or staff to do so, and crews faced weather-related hazards going out into the open ocean, they said.
The project was expected to create 150 extra skilled jobs, through building the analytics, operating the vessels and providing the data.
One unmanned electric catamaran equipped with an underwater vessel is due to be available for use next year.
Marine AI (NZ) is trialling the technology on a 6m boat at Port Nelson.
The project – developed under the guidance of Nelson’s blue economy cluster, Moananui – aligns with the Government’s vision to expand the aquaculture sector to $3 billion in annual sales by 2035.
SnapCore chief executive Chris Rodley said the collaboration “showed the power of collective action in shaping our
industry’s future”.
They hoped it would attract other companies into the Nelson area, helping grow it as a hub for high-tech industries.
The Moananui blue economy cluster is a partnership between more than 20 diverse ocean-based companies, the Nelson Regional Development Agency (NRDA), councils, and central government.
It was given $500,000 over two years by the Government in March last year, and opened a headquarters in central Nelson in October.
The blue economy refers to the sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth and social, cultural and ecological wellbeing.