Lost buoy from Canadian oilfield recovered off Shetland

A large oceanographic data buoy has ended up in Shetland a year after going missing from a Canadian oil field during Hurricane Igor.

The yellow buoy was discovered last week within the 500 metre exclusion zone which surrounds the Clair Platform west of the isles.

The eagle-eyed crew of the standby vessel Grampian Frontier spotted the one tonne buoy and quickly recovered it before taking it to Scalloway.

Watch officers from Shetland Coastguard forwarded the buoy’s serial numbers to the Maritime and Coastguard Agency’s Receiver of Wreck, who then contacted the owners, Oceans Limited of Canada. The company’s Newfoundland office features an in-house marine weather and sea state forecasting office.

Staff at Oceans Limited are now in touch with the master of the Grampian Frontier and arrangements have been put in place to return the device to its owner.

The buoy went missing almost exactly one year ago by the highly destructive cyclone.

Receiver of Wreck Alison Kentuck said: “Lost data buoys such as this one are actually considered to be lost property rather than wreck.

“However, even when they have been off station for such a long time, they might still contain valuable scientific data, and the Receiver of Wreck will always try to get them back to their owner.

“It seems that this one may have survived a hurricane and travelled a considerable distance, so it will be fascinating to see what oceanographic data it might have captured on its adventure.”