Unmanned Vessell Returns From Great Lakes Fish Study

An extensive Great Lakes research on fish population has wrapped up for the season, using an entirely unmanned vessel.

The Saildrone Explorer, a bright orange 23-foot autonomous watercraft powered entirely by wind and sun, launched from Charlevoix in late July and sailed around parts of Lakes Michigan and Huron before recently being brought back to land.

A key benefit to using these drones to study fish is that they operate with virtually no noise, allowing them to collect data on fish populations without scaring the fish away.

This was a combined study with United States and Canadian groups.