High tech equipment and
devices have been developed in different fields; lately it just went into deep
waters, through underwater vehicles split into two categories, Unmanned
underwater vehicles (UUV), which is a non human driven, also known as ROV´s (Remotely
Operated Vehicles) distance-controlled through an operator or pilot; the
vehicle is connected to an umbilical cord transferring data collected from
undersea to the peripherals, seen on displays on board of the survey ship or
boat; there is also the Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV´s), which do not
need to be necessarily operated by human, however it has to be programmed
accordingly to a determined survey range within the sweeping sea floor for
exploring purposes. And there is a third sort of device known as Side Scan
Sonar System (SSS), which is operated data cable-wired, as sonar is mostly used
in today´s scanning devices and systems, and some animals such as bats,
dolphins and sharks use sonar waves to hunt and path their ways; the SSSS is a
tow fish provided with a wide range of search capability and ultra high
resolution images for the detection of small object on the seafloor and even in
shallow fluff. All these high technological equipment and devices are well
known as Underwater
Drones.
Recently it has been
heard on the news words from UD´s (underwater drones) involving the U.S and
China in an international law issue related to a seized UD in the Philippines
coast by a Chinese warship, while it was collecting environmental data.
Perhaps, most of you
saw one of these drones in Titanic Movie; the
ROV is shown surveying the shipwreck in order to have a wider perspective.
Hereupon, many issues
may arise regarding underwater drones in any of its categories either in
in-water or overseas, as per domestic or international law governing such
incidents, notwithstanding there is neither regulations nor Acts into force a
legal regime ruling underwater drones around the world.
Speaking from the
experience mirror, I can tell, in Lake Maracaibo Venezuela, back in the early
twenty hundreds, there were plenty oilfield operations in which ROV´s and
SSSS´s had been implemented and used for surveying lakebed as part of gas &
oil pipe lay projects, Wells constructions, fixed platforms and stations
set-up, drilling and work-over rigs and barges decommissioning and positioning.
All these activities called for a specialized staff including skilled and
experienced operators and pilots capable of operating both types of underwater
drones, in which I took part of the project.
Lately, almost every
field, naval, marine research, underwater engineering, construction, petroleum
and gas to name a few, have developed a new key technological hurdle in the
integration of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles required to carry out operations
at depth in lakes, rivers, lagoons and open sea in any territorial water space.
Also offshore
operations in oilfield and gas platforms have indeed required ROV´s for
drilling support as the Subsea Blow-Out Preventer (SBOP) is at about a hundred
meters depth or even more; becoming part of the operations equipment, it’s strictly
necessary to have an ROV team on board monitoring the casing and BOP checking
for leakage.
Naming a few of the
activities and operations, which had been deployed and developed since a while
back, there is still a huge gap breaching law and facts regarding
underwater drones, as long as it does not happen so far, sooner o
later an underwater drone governing law will claim into force,
that´s why still remain adrift worldwide.
See you next time on a
newsletter post plunging a bit deeper into underwater drone law knowledge.
By Edwing Marval
Venezuelan Maritime
Lawyer.
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