Some ultra HD footage (recorded in 4K) from a recent biosecurity project we were involved with. The pylons we were looking at had an abundance of marine life on them. Being able to record in ultra HD allowed the Invasive Marine Species specialists the confidence to make decisions based on the footage.
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#biodiversity #conservation #environmental #nature #inspection #survey #underwaterinspection #ultrahidef #rovinnovations #rov #underwater #asset #4k #species #marinelife #scienceandenvironment #environment #marine #invasive #biosecurity

The AMSA contracted Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) assessment of the containers lost from the YM Efficiency recommenced on the 12 of January. 

Since the previous update an additional nine containers have been located and imaged by the ROV bringing the total targets imaged to 12.

The below video shows some highlights from the ROV operations in December. Some of the containers found appear to be severely damaged with large sections of container and their contents spread around the sites.

AMSA will assess the imagery collected by the ROV to determine whether the containers can be recovered.

AMSA will be seeking to recover all costs associated with the search and any recovery operations from the ship owners Yang Ming.
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The ROV assessments will continue over the coming weeks as weather conditions permit.

One of our latest ongoing projects has hit the newspapers...

https://www.portstephensexaminer.com.au/story/5785778/fresh-search-for-submerged-ym-efficiency-containers/?cs=2763#slide=2 
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#survey #underwater #shipsandshipping #inspection #surveying #rov #sonar #underwaterinspection #rovinnovations #subsea #underwatersurvey

ROV Innovations were contracted to complete the internal inspection of 2 pipelines, as well as the cleaning and inspection of the seaward assets, for the Desalination Plant situated on the Gold Coast. For the project, we utilised a long range Seamor Chinook ROV, outfitted with 2000m fibre optic tether, pipe profiling sonar, and 2 additional Hi-Def cameras. This allowed us to visually inspect all aspects of the internal pipeline with one pass. The pipe profiling sonar also allowed us to accurately measure the buildup of debris within the pipelines (if any) and report on the total cubic meterage within the pipe length.

The desalination plant had 2 pipelines that were required to be internally inspected. The intake pipe (2200m in length) and the outfall pipe (2050m). The oceanic intake dome, as well as the outfall diffusers were also inspected to ensure that no damage had occurred, the cathodic protection was operating as anticipated, and to also ensure that there was no environmental concerns from the running of the plant.

The external intake and outfall proved to be a veritable oasis for both tropical reef fish, sharks, rays and invertebrates, in an otherwise featureless underwater sandy desert. Corals (both hard and soft), ascidians, sponges, feather stars, brittle stars, anemones, and thousands of fish have all colonised the desalination plants oceanic structures creating a thriving underwater community. 

Thanks to the great guys at Veolia for all their assistance throughout the project, specifically Alf Cosgrove, Terry Casey, and Filippo Vico. We look forward to working with you all again in the near future.

ROV Innovations and Buckleys International have just signed an agreement that allows us to bring the subsea range of Buckleys specialised underwater test equipment to Australia.

ROV Innovations will be providing the Subsea Range of Buckleys equipment, as well as providing a comprehensive range of testing, repairs and calibration for existing Buckleys product owners.

Feel free to contact us on enquiries@rovinnovations.com.au to find out more info on the range of Buckleys products and services we can provide.

ROV Innovations has been called upon to intensively map local swimming areas for potential underwater hazards coming up to Summer in South East Queensland. Our team used our high resolution scanning sonar from our custom designed commercial vessel to map the first area in Wivenhoe Dam.

We were able to quickly and efficiently identify 3 immediate hazards in the yet to be opened swimming area with the sonar, and with swift action by our client, arranged our commercial dive team to enter and remove them. In this instance, the hazards proved to be red Cedar tree stumps standing a meter tall and approximately a meter in diameter, and a 5m long log on the dam bed. Using an underwater hydraulic chainsaw, we were able to remove the potential hazards to ensure that swimmers in the area would not injure themselves.

Due to the low visibility around the bed of the dam, the sonar proved to be the only reliable method to identify any potential hazards to swimmers. Using either Divers or ROVs in this instance would not be viable as they could easily have missed these hazards by a meter and not seen them. Only the high resolution scanning sonar allowed us to have 100% confidence that we had covered the entire area of concern.

By combining our multiple resources (in this instance - Sonar, Commercial Vessel and Dive Team) we were able to provide the client with an optimal solution with minimal downtime.

ROV Innovations sonar staff were called out early Thursday morning to assist with the search and recovery of an Audi Q5 that had mistakenly used a boat ramp on the northern end of The Gold Coast to launch itself into the water.

A manual search was attempted on Wednesday evening, however due to the failing light and high currents it was decided to utilise the MS1000 hi resolution scanning sonar technology to assist with finding the vehicle.

Within 5 minutes of setting up, we had located the "probable location" of the car, triangulated the precise position from the sonar screen, and directed one of our recovery divers to the area. On confirmation that we had found the vehicle, the Heavy Duty Tow Truck used its winch to pull the Q5 back to the shore.

Thanks to Allcoast Towing and Knights Heavy Towing for bringing us down to assist in their recovery of the vehicle. We hope to be able to assist with any future search and recovery jobs.

Hydro Tasmania contacted us for a project on one of their dams. Due to the recent flooding events that have hit all of the eastern and southern coast of Australia (a 1 in 200 year event), a significant volume of water was flowing into the northern lakes, discharging over several spillways Hydro Tasmania own and operate.

Due to the high resolution scanning ability of the Kongsberg MS1000, we were able to show extremely clear images of the dam structure that hadn't been seen in almost 60 years since the dam construction. Due to the water being almost Zero Visibility, prior commercial dives in the dam plunge pool only hinted at various issues underwater, the sonar imagery we collected allowed the Engineers and Hydrographers to see everything that was occurring.

Despite the environmental conditions, we completed the project without getting too wet and cold, and were able to provide a mosaic of the scans (as above) by the end of the day. The sonar scans gave Hydro Tasmania's engineers very useful information to assess the condition of the dam plunge pool..

We have recently conducted underwater and aerial condition assessments for 5 SEQWater potable reservoirs in Alexandra Hills, Narangba, and Ferntree in South East Queensland for GHD. The 5 potable water tanks were inspected over the course of three days, with strict sterilisation procedures being followed for all equipment entering the reservoirs.

As per our standard operating procedure whenever operating with potable water, all equipment was sterilised with 200ppm active chlorine and left to soak for a minimum of 30 minutes, including the ROV, all tether, ropes and tarps that were used to keep the ROV and equipment clean on the base as well as the roof of the reservoirs.

Our High Definition Seamor ROV enabled the GHD Engineers to confidently assess the underwater internal structures of the reservoir, including ladders, wall and floor joins, scours, probes, mixers, columns, and also any buildup of debris or sediment.

All of the inspections were completed on time and within budget, thanks to the organisation and planning from Rhett and Danny from GHD, as well as Russell from SEQWater. We look forward to conducting more inspections for them in the upcoming months.