Marine Laboratory News

The UK-based Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult has said it has secured funding for five projects as part of the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition, funded by the Department for Transport and delivered in partnership with Innovate UK.Fifty-five projects successfully secured £23m funding as part of the Competition, announced at an event during London International Shipping Week by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps.ORE Catapult is either leading or is a consortium partner in five of those projects, totaling £3.3m in funding awarded.

Ocean acidification can now be seen from space, highlighting an ongoing danger of climate change and revealing the regions most at risk. Pioneering techniques that use satellites to monitor ocean acidification are set to revolutionize the way that marine biologists and climate scientists study the ocean. This new approach offers remote monitoring of large swathes of inaccessible ocean from satellites that orbit the Earth some 700 km above our heads. Seawater absorbs about a quarter of the carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that humans release into the atmosphere each year, mostly from the burning of fossil fuels, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML) announced it is to renew its partnership with the Institute for Marine Engineering Science and Technology (IMarEST). The year-long partnership will see the Institute and PML working together to encourage career development among the laboratory’s 166 employees, as well as boost its profile among the international marine community. PML, which develops integrated marine science to promote sustainable oceans, will also have access to the IMarEST’s vast global information resources and industry networks. PML’s CEO, Prof. Stephen de Mora, commented, "I am delighted that Plymouth Marine Laboratory and IMarEST will be working much more closely together in the future and this partnership is the perfect vehicle for making that happen.

Planet Ocean inform that they are supporting the UK Met Office and Plymouth Marine Laboratory to gather real-time Met-Ocean Data with their AXYS Watchman (WM-500) data acquisition and telemetry systems. The WM-500 can be configured to control a large variety of sensors providing data manipulation, logging and have the ability to interface with a variety of communication systems. The UK Met Office (UKMO) are using these systems in their range of inshore and offshore data buoy hulls provided by a growing range of manufacturers.

Geo Shipyard Inc, New Iberia, La, delivered the R/V Apalachee, a 64x21x9’, aluminum catamaran for Florida State University Coastal and Marine Laboratory, St Teresa, Florida. Designed by Fyffe Yachts with NC lofting by Eli Ring, VP of Advance Fabricating, both of Kemah, Texas, the 48 passenger T-boat will support a verity of research missions in the Gulf of Mexico. DeJong and Lebet, Inc., Jacksonville, Florida provided construction oversight and plan review. Power for the new boat is supplied by a pair of John Deere 6135 SFM engines rated at 500 hp at 1…

Caterpillar agree multi-year partnership with OCEARCH to help global research on sharks, key members of the ocean's ecological system. "Most people think sharks are invincible," said OCEARCH founder Chris Fischer . "But they are in real danger*. We must find a sustainable path forward because sharks play a crucial role in maintaining balance in the delicate oceanic ecosystem. Fischer's vessel, the MV OCEARCH, already relies on Cat® power in the water. The boat with its team of scientists and crew runs on two Cat engines and has three Cat generators on board that power an at-sea laboratory, custom-built hydraulic lift and 55,000-pound capacity research platform with the capability of handling 5,000-pound sharks.

Famed for Finding Oil Deposits on the Seafloor after the Gulf of Mexico Deepwater Horizon Accident, the Invaluable Seagoing Laboratory is up for Sale. Meticulously tended to by a professional crew, and certified for another decade of exploration, the research vessel (R/V) Cape Hatteras has a lot of life left in her. That service may, however, take place in new seas now that the craft is being retired and sold by the Duke - University of North Carolina Oceanographic Consortium (DUNCOC). Constructed for The National Science Foundation in 1981 by Atlantic Marine Ship Builders, the 135-foot craft has been operated and meticulously maintained for 31 years by DUNCOC, and berthed at Duke University Marine Laboratory (DUML) on Pivers Island in Beaufort, North Carolina.

More universities and environmental groups are using underwater video systems to assist in their research and monitoring operations. These cameras can be very useful tools in studying benthic habitats and marine organisms, and to monitor the impact of pollution on the environment. Darling Marine Center is the marine laboratory at the University of Maine. Home to world renown research and education, the facility is situated on the shores of the Gulf of Maine with its diverse intertidal habitats.

Arch Chemicals, Inc. announced the opening of its new Asia Pacific Marine Laboratory in Osaka, Japan. The facility, which is close to key Japanese marine paint customers, has been established to maximize technical expertise in the ongoing development of antifouling paint technology and will include work with self-polishing polymers and net coatings for aquaculture applications. Concurrently, the Arch Osaka sales office will relocate to the same facility as the new Marine Laboratory. www.archbiocides.com

The Commerce Department’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service and scientists from various academic institutions are sponsoring a free national lecture series on marine mammals and human noise. They will hold the eighth lecture in Baltimore, Md. on Sept. 23, 2004. NOAA Fisheries Acoustics Program and other scientific experts in marine mammals and human noise are hosting the programs at public aquariums and marine laboratories around the country, to help increase public knowledge about human noise and marine mammals. The lecture series, Marine Animals and Human Noise, started in March in Florida, and will continue through November 2004.

On August 3, the Subcommittee on National Ocean Policy of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation will conduct a hearing on the State of the Oceans 2006. Subcommittee Chairman John Sununu will preside. Witnesses will include: - Honorable Vice Admiral (Ret) Conrad Lautenbacher, Administrator, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) - Hon. Leon Panetta, Co-Chairman, Joint Ocean Commission Initiative - Mr. Paul Kelly, Commissioner, U.S Commission on Ocean Policy - Mr. Mike Chrisman, Secretary, California Resources Agency - Mr. Michael Orbach, Director, Duke University Marine Laboratory