42 



COMMERCIAL FISHERIES REVIEW 



Vol. 28, No. 7 



A market survey conducted in Western Eu- 

 rope for the U, S. Bureau of International 

 Commerce pinpointed business opportunities. 

 Among some of the business opportunities 

 were: ocean mineral and food resources de- 

 velopment; fisheries research and fish farm- 

 ing; marine and civil underwater engineering, 

 construction, and harbor installation; marine 

 biology and geophysical oceanic research, 

 underwater TV, and movies; and hydrography. 

 The survey revealed that a growing number 

 of European firms was interested in diver- 

 sifying their capabilities to take advantage of 

 advanced ocean sciences and engineering to 

 develop the vast resources of the ocean. 



As in the United States, Western European 

 firms and organizations, both private and gov- 

 ernment, now are engaged in a wide variety of 

 oceanographic activities --physics, chemistry, 

 meteorology, graphics, geology, metallurgy, 

 biology, medicine, naval architecture, and 

 civil engineering. 



U. S. firms interested in taking part in the 

 Frankfurt Trade Center show may obtain ad- 

 ditional information and marketing facts from 

 the Bureau of International Commerce, U. S. 

 Department of Commerce, Washington, D. C. 

 20230, or from any of the Department's 42 

 field offices. 



■Jf J- J- -Jf ~u 

 'T 'C 'f "V- T- 



DEEP-WATER BUOY SYSTEM 

 IMPLANTED OFF CALIFORNIA COAST 



FOR OCEAN RESEARCH: 



The successful implantation of a three- 

 point buoy moor in deep water (4,300 feet) 

 was recently made by a marine engineering 

 firm. This buoy system, installed for the 

 Environmental Scientific Services Adminis- 

 tration (ESSA) of the U. S. Coast and Geodetic 

 Survey, is located 80 miles off the California 

 coast. The purpose of the buoy system is to 

 support instruments which are recording con- 

 tinual magnetic measurements for the first 

 time in the deep ocean basin. The project 

 scientist for ESSA termed the retrieval of the 

 first 60 days of recorded data as a "signifi- 

 cant step toward the establishment of mag- 

 netic observatories throughout the 78 percent 

 of the world covered by the oceans". Previ- 

 ously, the engineering firm successfully im- 

 planted and recovered a similar buoy system 

 for ESSA in 12,000 feet of water. 



The system consists of a stable toroidal 

 (doughnut-shaped) buoy, 8 feet in diameter. 



moored 100 feet below the water's surface. 

 The buoy is anchored in exact position by 

 three 6,150 ft. wire mooring legs. To prevent 

 the wire legs from sagging, glass floats are 

 attached at 120 -foot intervals along each of the 

 legs. The foam-filled buoy supports an in- 

 strument case containing a magnetometer 

 which measures 'the earth's magnetic field 

 vector. After 30 days, the magnetometer is 

 removed from the buoy and the batteries are 

 recharged for 24 hours; the instrument is 

 then reinstalled in the buoy. 



SfT£ MARKER BUOY 



' NEUTRALLY BUOYANT MOORING 

 LEGS. WIRE ROPE WITH GLASS 

 FLOATS ATTACHED 



1 

 4300' 

 WATER DEPTH 



Stable deep-water buoy for long-term geophysical measurement. 



According to the engineering firm, this 

 buoy system is the first to hold position with- 

 out vertical, horizontal, or rotational move- 

 ment and to allow the collection of precise 

 deep-ocean geophysical measurements. Al- 

 though it was designed by ESSA primarily as 

 a deep-sea magnetometer station, the system 

 provides a highly stable platform which read- 

 ily can be instrumented with a variety of other 

 sensors. For example, it can be used to meas- 

 ure deep-sea tides, seismic sea waves (tsu- 

 namis), or to provide a geodetic bench mark. 

 "Hopefully, a series of these buoy systems 

 will be implanted throughout the world ena- 

 bling man to increase his knowledge and un- 

 derstanding of the deep ocean," said the ESSA 

 scientist. 



^ 



\ 



