AUV incidents and outcomes

The remote and autonomous underwater vehicle community has been growing at a tremendous rate. The consequence of which is the increased contact of these vehicle systems with the general population who are using the ocean for legitimate business and recreation. Some of these encounters are humorous, some of them are stressful, and others cause us as operators to sigh with great relief that a potential situation didn´t occur. The Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) has operated remotely operated vehicles for over 20 years. In that time we´ve had a number of close calls and some closer than we´d like. To date the situations have never given us cause to engage a lawyer but neither have they always been a science success. Currently the majority of the US science community operates without regard to liability, with the possible exception of insurance against an expensive loss. The potential for liability and coverage for damages is a question usually asked after the fact. The purpose of this paper and panel discussion is to consider, with the ocean science users, if a proactive stance regarding potential liability is a pending topic of concern to science. I believe the discussion in this paper demonstrates without a doubt we are facing liability issues and we already have explicit and/or implied requirements to mitigate the potential for detrimental outcomes by our systems operating in the worlds oceans.