Africa-Press – Namibia. THE chief legal officer of Saildrone Inc, Karen Dacres, says the American company’s unscrewed surface vehicle (USV), which has recently been confiscated by the Namibian Navy in Namibian waters, is only doing research.
This was said in recent correspondence with Lüderitz town councillor Phillips Balhao.
Dacres said the vehicle was performing concurrent marine scientific research missions in support of the University of Gothenberg in Sweden, the University of South Florida, and the United States National Science Foundation in the Southern Ocean.
The Southern Ocean Carbon and Heat Impact on Climate Mission is a four-year European Union-funded project which began in November 2019, she said.
The overall objective of the mission is to understand and quantify the variability of heat and carbon budgets in the Southern Ocean.
“Unfortunately, the USV became disabled and began drifting towards the Namibian exclusive economic zone (EEZ). The pilots successfully navigated the USV to a safe harbour in accordance with Saildrone’s standard operating procedures,” Dacres said.
In anticipation of its incursion into the Namibian EEZ, the US state department was informed earlier in January, which then notified the appropriate Namibian authorities, she said.
Dacres explained that, as per standard procedures, the vehicle’s sensors are turned off, and no ocean, atmospheric or photographic data is collected as it transits through the EEZ.
Sebastiaan Swart, a professor at the marine sciences department at the University of Gothenburg also corresponded with Balhao, confirming that the University of Gothenburg entered into a contract with Saildrone to supply an autonomous ocean platform to collect scientific data in the Southern Ocean south of Africa.
Swart said Saildrone, however, completed its scientific objectives with a drone mission in the Southern Ocean while heading towards the south-west of Cape Town.
“On 22 November 2022, our mission was completed, and since then we have had no interactions in piloting activities related to the Saildrone. Saildrone are the owners, operators and pilots of their drones. The university has no liability in relation to the saildrone’s activities and location.
“Saildrone has informed us that there was a steering rudder malfunction in November, which meant they had little control of this drone. Since then it has drifted into Namibian waters, which was not intentional,” he said.
“I can emphasise that this saildrone is for ocean scientific observations only, as part of academic environmental research.”
Balhao yesterday confirmed the correspondence to The Namibian, and said he feels responsible for clearing up misconceptions.
“I am happy with their explanations,” he said.
Last week, the US embassy in Namibia issued a response to media reports about the confiscation of the saildrone found near Lüderitz, strongly refuting any claims that the US government was involved with, or has interfered with the confiscated drone.
“Any reports, articles, or social media postings saying otherwise are incorrect and based on groundless accusations. We call on all actors to stop the spread of misinformation and to seek the facts before sharing incorrect information,” the embassy’s statement read.
Namibian Defence Force spokesperson colonel Petrus Shilumbu declined to provide further details, saying information would be shared during a media conference.
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