Monitoring and Surveying from an Underwater Vehicle in SUSHI DROP Project

The availability of accurate, reliable and up-to-date information concerning the state of marine resources is essential to create a decision support system for sustainable fishing to protect ecosystems. Within the Interreg Italy-Croatia SUSHI DROP Project (SUstainable fiSHeries wIth DROnes data Processing) a prototype of an Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (UUV) was developed as a detection system capable of surveying the benthic zone in deep waters of the Adriatic Sea. Traditional survey methods based on the capture of living organisms, for example through the use of trawl nets, are invasive, extremely expensive and at the same time prohibited in protected marine areas. The need to develop accurate and non-invasive methods to map and study marine ecosystems is highlighted in the EU Strategy for the Adriatic-Ionian Region (EUSAIR) action plan. To meet these objectives, a UUV system equipped with various scientific instruments has been implemented and in this work we present the first surveys carried out.