Ecology and Environment

Services to our Environment

Photo courtesy of Videoray ®

Our Micro ROV has been proven as an ideal tool for use in helping us manage and maintain our marine environment.

For Local Authorities, Marine Parks and Government Environmental agencies it is:

• Cost effective
• Quickly deployed and recovered
• Totally unobtrusive in the habitat
• Non-threatening
• Marine fauna simply ignores the ROV
• Real fish and fauna behaviour can be observed.

Our Micro ROV can provide:

• Environmental and ecological baseline studies
• Systematic surveys for full repeatability.
• Benthic studies
• Help meet requirements of marine environmental protection plans.
• Full regulatory compliance surveys
• Study and record marine diversity in all habitats
• Map populations densities
• Observe effects of pollution, dredging or onshore run-offs.

Micro ROV Services can provide high quality information for pre-construction Environmental Baseline studies, and ongoing environmental monitoring of marine flora and fauna recovery. The ROV can assist in the research and conservation of the unique marine environment, whether it be a tropical reef or Antarctic ice ecosystem. Because it is so small it is not seen as a threat to most marine animals, so it can provide vital management information to assist in protecting the marine environment, study the trends and interactions of local and global effects such as pollution or oceanic warming.

Photo courtesy of Videoray ®

Capable of reaching 305 metres (1000 ft) the Pro-4 can reach most coastal and lake habitats, and obtain TV quality video of the marine environment. The VideoRay micro-ROV has been used under the ice near McMurdo Station, Antarctica, sending images of undersea life few would expect in this extremely cold and seemingly desolate continent.

Dr. Chris Harvey-Clark, of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. “This is an ROV that is~ quiet enough to allow you to sneak up on big game underwater. It can dive all day in minus 2 degree water that has me frozen in 40 minutes in a dry suit, meanwhile sending back video feed that I can use for research and broadcast purposes. It is rugged enough to take the punishment of air travel and hard field use.”

The Videoray Micro ROV

Weighing in at only 4.8 kgs (10.6 lbs) and being only 36 cm (14.2") long and 27 cm (11") wide the Pro-4 is small, light and easily deployed. In fact it is literally "throw it in the water. At only 21cm (8.5") high it can fit easily into most submerged pipelines, intakes or outfalls and spaces which are unreachable by a diver.

Small but powerful the Videoray Pro-4 can travel at 4.2 knots, see with the high resolution TV quality camera under the bright illumination of two Halogen lights. If the water is murky, there is the Blue View sonar sweeping the area and showing in sharp relief what’s ahead.

Found something? if it's small enough the manipulator can pick it up, if not the smart tether allows us to position it for later recovery by divers.

Want to measure or test something? the range of accessories allows on the spot testing of cathodic protection, determine metal thickness, detect radiation, sample water quality, and take measurements with a laser.

The ROV is a boon to the underwater world – for photographers, scientists, environmentalists, search and rescue, law enforcement, customs and excise, dam inspections, tank inspections, commercial and offshore oil and gas installation and monitoring, fisheries, recreational divers, hull inspections for yachties and commercial shipping, inspection of wharves, piers, moorings and harbour facilities and many more uses which are being discovered daily.