Bluebottles monitor protected ‘green zones’ in Australian Marine Parks off the New South Wales and Western Australia coasts, delivering continuous, around-the-clock persistent surveillance, which cannot currently be achieved by other technologies.
Managed by Parks Australia, Australian Marine Parks help conserve marine habitats and the marine species that live within and rely on them. Illegal fishing in marine parks damages the sensitive marine ecosystem and prevents parks from providing economic and recreational benefits for fishers and other users.
Parks Australia has used Bluebottle USVs to monitor and deter illegal fishing activities across a total area of approximately 30.5 km².
They are part of a suite of tools helping Australian Marine Parks conserve delicate marine habitats and the species that rely on them. Marine parks are important to Australia’s tourism sector, providing places for people to watch wildlife, dive and go boating, snorkelling and fishing.
Delivering equivalent coverage with a traditional patrol vessel would typically require continuous operations and consume thousands of litres of diesel, meaning the deployment of two Bluebottles avoided an estimated 120–160 tonnes of CO₂ emissions over a month.
