VideoRay
Pursues Arctic Sharks for Discovery Channel
Underwater Robot Captures Video
of Cold, Deep, Dangerous Waters to Document the Rare Greenland
Shark
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September 23, 2003 -- VideoRay announced today its third mission
with Discovery Channel Canada when it plunged into deep Northern
Quebec waters in Canada in an attempt to document the elusive Greenland
Shark. These exceedingly rare, two to five meter-long cold-water
sharks are ordinarily found in water several hundred to 2200 meters
deep. But in June 2003, Dr. Chris Harvey-Clark and Jeff Gallant
uncovered a unique location where sharks were found in dive-able
depths. The pair returned to the site with a VideoRay in August,
an 8-pound underwater robot equipped with a video eye that could
descend to depths of 500 feet. Here, they would try to document
the shark.
 “
The combination of extreme depth (60 meters plus) and very cold
seawater temperatures (2-6 degrees C) made the follow-up expedition
rely heavily on the versatility of the VideoRay to extend our underwater
range and bottom time,” said Harvey-Clark. “We were
very pleased with the performance of the VideoRay as a research
tool.”
According to Harvey-Clark, “the VideoRay is ideally suited
for this type of activity because it is small, light, easily deployed,
and highly maneuverable.” He used the VideoRay stationed
on deep baits set to document Greenland Sharks, instead of sending
divers into the cold waters. Harvey-Clark commented on the depth
hovering ability that kept the sub in control in current.
For filming the documentary, “The VideoRay gave us two things
that would have been difficult to achieve otherwise,” says
Harvey-Clark. “First, we can get a "fly on the wall" third
party underwater point of view of myself and associate Jeffrey
Gallant as we went about the business of underwater research and
filming. Perhaps almost as important when you are telling a story
to a mixed television audience, the VideoRay became an engaging
character itself in the show as the week of filming underwater
progressed. The Ray was like a quirky little underwater R2D2 following
us around, lighting subjects for us with its headlights, and generally
squirting around underwater on an interminable hunt for interesting
things to see -- sometimes getting up to a little mischief along
the way.
“
VideoRay has always performed flawlessly well and given us the
eyes we needed underwater in cold, dangerous and inhospitable circumstances,” says
Harvey-Clark. “In one memorable sequence Jeff filmed I took
a break from filming, set my camera on the bottom and basically
just horsed around with the VideoRay for a few minutes, sort of
like playing with a puppy. It added an element of fun and comic
relief to what was otherwise a very serious quest for a mysterious,
possibly dangerous animal.”
In 2000, Discovery Canada used the VideoRay on a production to
document salmon sharks in Alaska. Once again, sharks were part
of the mission. Harvey recalls, “In that case the stakes
were different, because nobody really wanted to get in the water
with 10 foot long, stoked up mini-great-whites charging around
under the boat at 30 knots shredding salmon.”
In 2001, the pair used a VideoRay to document the search for
Skalugsuak, the Greenland shark hunt in the Saguenay River near
LaBaie, Quebec.
The filming included diving at night under ice in minus 35-degree
temperatures.
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Contact VideoRay LLC • 400 Eagleview Blvd. • Exton,
PA 19341 USA • Phone: (610) 458-3000 • FAX: (610) 458-3010 • www.videoray.com
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