Liquid Robotics Wave Glider for Fish Stock Assessment

In South Africa, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has used its expertise in oceanography and developing technology for maritime applications to create a solution to perform more fishery surveys per year while saving costs. CSIR proposed the Wave Glider platform, with ocean and weather sensors, and a SIMRAD echosounder for the task of gathering fish stock data over long durations for a fraction of the cost of ships.

The first successful mission took place in 2014 when the Wave Glider gathered data and detected schools of fish over a 121 km distance between Robben and Dassen Islands. A second larger mission in 2015, focused on a biomass survey and was coordinated to work in tandem with the Compass Challenger Ship, which was commissioned by DAFF to undertake the fisheries survey.

Using Wave Gliders to help the government and industry better track and manage fish stocks has real environmental and economic benefits. For further information please see the attached Case Study.

Fish Stock Assessment Case Study (562 KB)

Example of a SIMRAD echosounder integrated with the Wave Glider platform by Sea Technology Services (STS).