2018 Unmanned Surface Vehicle (Saildrone) acoustic survey off the west coasts of the United States and Canada

Five Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USVs) were deployed off the west coasts of the U.S. and Canada in summer 2018 as a first step toward evaluating the effectiveness and efficacy of USVs as survey/research platforms. The Saildrone USVs (Saildrone, Inc.) surveyed a total of 5,400 nmi along 124 transects between Vancouver Island, BC and the Southern California Bight, CA, mirroring the transect design of the Coastal Pelagic Species Survey conducted with the NOAA Fisheries Survey Vessel (FSV) Reuben Lasker. Such a survey design allowed the comparison of USV and FSV acoustic data while also evaluating the operational feasibility and navigational performance of the USVs. Acoustic data were analyzed and their quality evaluated. The potential applications of using USVs to conduct quantitative ecosystem acoustic surveys will also be discussed.