Trials of the football-sized units, originally developed by the Ministry of Defence to mark channels cleared of mines, could be carried out soon by the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL).
As with other technologies in the past, including the concept of acoustic net 'pingers', a key question will be to establish whether whales and dolphins deflect away from the units, or whether they are actually drawn to the devices, thereby increasing their risk of being caught as fishing bicatch.
With the MoD-derived sonar reflectors, the challenge will therefore be to devise a signal unpleasant enough to convince the animals that it is something to be avoided, but which does not cause them any harm.
A company, CESALT, has been set up by DSTL to find new uses for MoD technology. The sonar reflectors are also being considered for use by oil firms in marking pipelines. |
