In 2019, a group of engineers from the Canadian start-up Open Ocean Robotics were trying to test a robotic boat called Scooby. As they pushed it into a lake, the three-meter craft swerved into the bushes. The team knew that their work was not over yet.
Last year the company managed to secure funding that would help them rectify the shortcomings in the autonomous solar-powered vessel. An improved version cleared the first round of a challenge to build a robot that can police illegal fishing in marine protected areas.
Curbing illegal fishing activity in the open seas will be no mean feat. It might sound trivial, but it has serious implications, with illegal fishing accounting for 20 percent of all wild fish caught, earning poachers $10-23 billion a year. Read more here….