Abstract
This report provides an overview of an investigation in marine animal monitoring technology on floating tidal turbine platforms. Two different 360 degree cameras (Go Pro Fusion and Insta 360 One X) were compared to an acoustic camera (Aris Explorer 3000) to determine which system would be most suitable for marine animal monitoring around Marine Renewable Energy Devices (MRED). The 360 degree cameras were self-contained units that were mounted on Sustainable Marine Energy’s PLAT-I. These deployments were conducted in Grand Passage, Nova Scotia, which is part of the Bay of Fundy. Data was collected away from the platform to compare and contrast the differences between the 360 degree and acoustic cameras. Due to a number of logistical challenges, data collection was limited and occurred mainly in the winter months. From the data collected, it is evident that marine life such as small fish and jellyfish are present around the platform but no larger marine fauna was observed during any of the data collection periods. The marine life was never observed to have interacted with the turbines or the platform itself. Successful deployments of the 360 degree cameras allowed simultaneous collection of upstream and downstream data, resulting in a more comprehensive assessment of marine animal interaction with the platform. There was not enough data to effectively compare the efficiency of the 360 degree camera compared to the acoustic camera in this environment, and the acoustic camera was not simultaneously deployed on the PLAT-I at the same time as the 360 degree cameras. Further field trials are recommended, that target deployments while the PLAT-I is fully operational, and with deployments taking place during each season. Technical limitations remain to stream live video data to the surface using these 360 degree cameras, posed by interfacing with off the shelf 360 degree camera models and transmission and storage of data volumes from the 360 degree video. Nonetheless, future modifications to these camera models, or alternative off-the-shelf camera models may make this feasible and cost effective. Logistics for transmission, storage and analysis of 360 degree video still require considerable effort to resolve to make this a routine method for renewable energy devices deployed in the marine environment to monitor marine animal/turbine interactions.