Ocean survey company launches $1.6M mission out of St. Petersburg

Saildrone, a California-based maritime defense and oceanographic survey company with operations in St. Pete, recently launched two Saildrone Voyager uncrewed surface vehicles off the coast with a mission to map the ocean and gulf floor along Florida’s coastline. The project is part of the organization's Florida Seafloor Mapping Initiative.

The company notes Florida has the second largest coastline in the country behind Alaska at 1,348.37 miles. The data to be collected by the two USVs will replace outdated and low-resolution data and also serve as the first of its kind for unsurveyed parts of the coast, according to a statement. 

The $1.6 million mission is touted by the organization as an initiative led by federal and Florida state agencies and other community stakeholders to promote the need for a comprehensive high-resolution seafloor data set of Florida’s coastal waters by 2028. It will take place in a region known as Middle Grounds, northwest of St. Petersburg.

“Saildrone is proud to support the Florida Seafloor Mapping Initiative with our unique and innovative Voyager USVs. As a member of the St. Petersburg community, we are excited to contribute to a project that seeks to improve our coastal resilience and enhance our ability to predict storm surge impacts by providing high-resolution bathymetry,” says Saildrone Vice President of Ocean Mapping Brian Connon in a statement from the company. 

Saildrone was founded by CEO Richard Jenkins in 2012. It focuses on maritime security, ocean mapping and ocean research products. The company has sailed more than 1,600,000 nautical miles from the High North to the Southern Ocean and spent over 46,000 days at sea in the harshest ocean conditions on the planet, according to a release.