Unmanned Submarine on Galiano and Mayne Islands. Exclusive Photos!

The Neocaligus, meaning 'new sea louse'. The carrier for the submarine doing research on the underwater electric cables and also on local swimming scallop populations. Crew of 6 or 7 and lots of cool gadgets. The boat is a converted salmon trawler and is still used for test fishing, mostly non-salmon species, such as prawns, groundfish, crabs, and whatever else they might want to bring up from the sea. Most test fishing is done on a catch and release basis, and with only enough for research purposes. However, some 'research' experiments do end up in the kitchen.

This is the unmanned submarine. It is mounted with two video cameras, and multiple still cameras. The newer video camera records at 1.5 gigabytes a second. There is a computer that compresses that down and another device that records data directly onto re-writable hard-drives. The submarine is also equipped with two lasers that self adjust to always appear 10cm apart on the images, in order to let them scale the pictures to match. There is lots of mapping that must be done and investigating not so exciting things like sunken power cables. This can also be fun though. The operator of the submarine was cruising today and saw a group of starfish creatures with their arms outstretched into the current filtering the flow for food and when the bottom bar of the sub brushed their arms they wrapped around and two held on for the rest of the ride. One is destined for a salt water aquarium in Nanaimo. This particular species has multiple small tentacle like protrusions along it's arms that act to grip onto things and grab the bottom in strong currents. The submarine has a long green 'umbilical' cord that has recently been upgraded with a fiber optic cable and the new video camera. It also has some bad-ass headlights and two forward thrusting engines, one horizontal engine, and one vertical trusting engine. All electric and controlled remotely from the ship. 

Controls for the Submarine.

Sea Sponge Picture.

The Control Station. This is where they set up the controls and mount screens for the multiple cameras and mapping images necessary for navigation. This is below decks, and there are three areas in communication at all times; this below deck command station, the deck crew who control the umbilical cord, and the captain who is driving the ship at just the right speed and course up high in his area. Lots of work and effort to get everything co-ordinated. This is more difficult in bad seas, or when the computers start acting like computers and stop working. 

Leap Year February 29, 2012: Sunset on Mayne Island