The salmon farming company Egil Kristoffersen & Sønner lost contact with an underwater drone in Northern Norway.
Jørn Finvåg from Egil Kristoffersen & Sønner confirms this to SalmonBusiness. According to Finvåg, the incident happened two weeks ago while operating the drone in windy conditions.
“We tried to straighten the boat a little, but then there was too much slack in the cable to the drone, and we think it hit the propeller and was cut off. The screen suddenly turned black,” says Finvåg to SalmonBusiness.
The underwater drone, supplied by Blueye Robotics worth almost EUR 10,000, has not yet been found.
To Bladet Vesterålen, who first wrote about it, Finvåg says that it is not possible to say whether it was carried away by wind or the opposite way by the stream.
Finvåg tells SalmonBusiness that this is the first time something like this has happened in the company, which now has three underwater drones left for use.
“So far, three underwater drones are fine. We have one on each land base,” says Finvåg.
When asked if Finvåg thinks the underwater drone will reappear, he answers with humble optimism:
“Who knows, maybe it will show up.”
