Peruvian fishing company TASA has assumed ownership of a USV for cost-effective fish finding and oceanographic and marine resource monitoring. The Sounder USV from Kongsberg Maritime will be equipped with state-of-the-art acoustic technology, including two echosounders, a low-frequency sonar and a CTD sensor. Following the final sea trials in June in Norway, the vehicle enters Peruvian waters in September this year and will start its mission to improve efficiency of capture operations and strengthen data acquisition capabilities to improve management of the available biomass.

The vessel, Guardian del Mar, has a length of 8 m and can reach a speed of 12 kt. Operating costs will represent about 0.6 percent of an average vessel of the industrial fishing fleet. With a navigation autonomy of more than 400 hr., the USV completes its mission objectives autonomously under human supervision and will gradually be upgraded with developments on situational awareness and collision avoidance. The Sounder USV includes autonomous capabilities such as anti-grounding, automatic object detection, CTD casts and much more. 

During the initial phase of implementing this new technology in daily operations, TASA will gain valuable experience and training by supervising the USV from a nearby mothership.

Learn more here.