Saab Seaeye to check out Maldives

A ‘baseline health check’ will be carried out for the first time on the status of the Maldives ocean and provide data to scientists and policy makers worldwide to enable the protection of critical nurseries, spawning habitats and related ecosystems.

UK-based Saab Seaeye will be donating its Falcon underwater robotic vehicle to join a fleet of submerisbles on the Nekton Maldives Mission, which is doing a systematic survey and sampling of the islands from the surface to depths of 1km.

The Maldives state is 99% ocean and 1% land, sitting on average 1.5 metres above sea level. It is thought to be facing a growing threat from rising seas.

The Nekton Maldives Mission will help create extensive new protected marine areas and ensure the ocean continues to provide for the Maldivian people.

Nekton is a not-for-profit UK-based research foundation working with the University of Oxford and a wide range of partners to accelerate the scientific exploration and protection of the ocean.

Saab Seaeye’s Falcon is a metre-sized, five-thruster vehicle equipped with the company’s iCON intelligent control system, and has been used for multiple operations, including inspecting dams and underwater structures, such as in France for inspection specialist IDCBPT.