Norwegian inventor builds rocket-drone to dispatch 400-kilo tuna.
It is not easy to dispatch a 400-kilo bluefin tuna. At least, not if you want to preserve the quality of the meat.
That is the challenge Alf Holmaas Helland has set out to solve from his workshop in Masfjorden. An inventor with a taste for unlikely solutions, Helland has built a prototype drone fitted with a laser sight and a harpoon tipped with an explosive charge. One precise strike to the head should kill the fish instantly, without stress or lactic acid in the muscle.
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The project builds on experiments begun in 2023, when researchers and the fishing vessel Vestbris managed to capture more than 20 live bluefin tuna and tow them ashore in a special transport pen. This year, the team – including the Institute of Marine Research, the Directorate of Fisheries and Firda Seafood – will attempt controlled, precision slaughter.
The potential uses extend beyond bluefin farming. Increasingly, tuna enter salmon cages along the Norwegian coast, drawn by feed and shoals of smaller fish. Once inside, they can injure or kill farmed salmon, tear nets and create major disruption. Farmers usually have to raise the nets part-way to remove them, a stressful exercise for stock already in the cage. Helland believes a drone could allow farmers to target and remove the intruders quickly, with less impact on the salmon.
In the Mediterranean, divers have traditionally carried out the same job with a lupara – an explosive-tipped harpoon mounted on a long pole. But swimming with a live charge among giant tuna is risky for divers as well as fish. A drone, Helland argues, is safer and more precise.
The prototype is undergoing final adjustments before being tested at sea later this month. If successful, it could offer aquaculture a new tool for handling tuna – whether in dedicated bluefin trials or as unexpected visitors in salmon pens.
