Underwater cameras help scientists, police, and others
Underwater
camera systems are letting us study and explore the two-thirds
of our planet that is covered by water as we never have before.
A company in Massachusetts, JW Fishers Mfg., has been
designing and building specialized underwater video systems for
almost two decades. These high tech cameras transmit live video from the ocean
bottom through an umbilical cable to the surface allowing real
time viewing of the undersea world.
Fishers cameras are in use by scientists, universities,
law enforcement agencies, dive rescue groups, commercial diving
companies, and shipwreck explorers around the world. Here are
some examples of how underwater cameras are helping these
diverse groups.
Cameras
that can see underwater are allowing scientists to study the
marine environment to an extent that was not previously
possible. When the National Institute of Oceanography in India
wanted to study benthic habitats in their coastal waters, they
realized a camera system with some mobility would be needed.
After researching the various types of remote operated
vehicles or “ROVs”, it was decided that Fishers SeaOtter
would best meet their requirements.
This high tech, motorized underwater camera has the
ability to “swim” along the ocean bottom allowing the
institute’s scientists to closely observe the plant and animal
life there. A marine biologist in Chile, Dr. Carlos Guerra Correa, and
his aquaculture engineer wife Alexandra, are using their
SeaOtter to conduct environmental studies in rivers and bays.
“One of the primary applications of the ROV is to
monitor benthic communities near industrial discharges of warm
water. It is much easier to assess the environmental impact when you
can see the marine animals and the condition of their habitat,
rather than just relying on water quality samples.” says Dr.
Correa.
Researchers
of commercial fisheries also depend on underwater camera systems
to help them gather critical data.
When a group of marine biologists in Fairbanks wanted
study bottom fishing in the Gulf of Alaska, it found the right
equipment for the job in Fishers TOV-1 towed video system.
This underwater camera uses the propulsion of the boat to
pull it through the water.
The towed camera was deployed beside trawl nets set up in
various configurations to see which most effectively captured
fish. They were
surprised by how much information the underwater “eyeball”
provided them on the performance of each net.
And in the Middle East, scientists at Bahrain’s Center
for Studies and Research are using the TOV-1 “to perform sea
bottom surveys and to monitor the performance of BRDs (By-catch
Reduction Devices)”, says Dr. Ebrahim Abdulqader.
“The camera allows us to actually see which BRDs work
most effectively in releasing the species we want to
preserve.” Another commercial fishery where underwater cameras
are becoming an essential piece of equipment is the harvesting
of black coral. This
precious gem of the underwater world often grows at depths in
excess of 100 feet. Robin
Lee a coral diver in Hawaii says, “We regularly dive to depths
of 150 to 250 feet. If
we go down and there’s nothing there, we’re done for the
day, there’s no second dive at those depths.
Using our TOV-1 we can locate the coral trees before
going down. The
camera ensures that each dive we make is a productive one, but
we don’t just go down and clear cut an area, we selectively
harvest it. Here in the islands black coral is managed as a sustainable
resource.”
Government
agencies are also finding the underwater camera to be an
important tool in their work.
When the Ohio Department of Natural Resources needed to
study large tracts of underwater geology, it found the towed
video to be the perfect solution.
“The towed video allows us to examine miles of the Ohio
River bottom without having the limitations of scuba diving”,
proclaimed the department’s Dale Lieventhal.
The US Dept of the Interior’s Geological Survey
Division confirms Dale’s findings. In a report titled “Use
of Remote-Sensing Techniques to Survey the Physical Habitat of
Large Rivers”, they called the TOV-1 an effective tool for
survey work. The
report goes on to say, “These systems (remote underwater
cameras) are compact and portable, and can be easily used to
describe the physical environment, to provide ground truth
information for side scan sonar surveys, and make micro habitat
observations for species of interest.”
Serious
scientific work isn’t the only thing underwater cameras a used
for. State agencies
responsible for control and inspection of reservoirs and water
supply lines, like the New York Department of Environmental
Protection and the City of San Diego Water Operations &
Support Group, are also utilizing underwater cameras.
In New York, a Fisher ROV was deployed into an 800 foot
deep, water filled shaft to locate and inspect a leaky valve in
one of the main lines supplying water to NY city.
Previously, this type of operation would have required
draining the shaft to locate the problem or calling in a
commercial diving company to do a saturation dive. Both are time consuming and expensive processes.
Deploying an ROV allowed the inspection to be performed
quickly and inexpensively.
Another
responsibility charged to state agencies is the preservation of
submerged natural resources and historic sites.
Underwater camera systems play an important role in
performing this work. In
South Carolina, the Department of Natural Resources is using one
of Fishers ROVs to inspect reef structures and to videotape
underwater archeological sites.
The camera allows regular monitoring of these resources
without the need to deploy divers.
This is especially important with deep water sites, like
the civil war iron clad Monitor at a depth of over 200 feet.
The condition of the wreck can be regularly monitored
without having divers do a risky decompression dive. The Darling
Marine Center at the University of Maine is using their Fisher
drop camera for an archeological project.
They are videotaping the wreckage of the infamous
Penobscot Expedition of 1779, long considered the worst naval
defeats in US history prior to Pearl Harbor.
The camera allows the archeologists to construct a video
map of the site before beginning excavation.
Underwater
cameras are also used extensively by power companies to perform
inspections of dams and other underwater structures.
Ontario Power in Toronto needed a way to inspect the
tailrace, concrete piers, head-works, sluiceway aprons and draft
tubes at several of their plants. Conditions were too dangerous to deploy divers so they chose
Fishers SeaLion ROV for the job.
The maneuverability of the ROV allowed it to easily reach
various parts of the dam structure even in the high current
environment. The SeaLion is also being used by the Army Corps of Engineers
for dam inspection projects at the Ice Harbor Dam in Pasco,
Washington and Youghiogheny Dam, in Confluence, Pennsylvania.
Commercial
divers and marine services companies depend on underwater camera
systems to assist in their operations too.
Employing cameras
allows them to reduce the amount of
time divers have to spend in the water and completely eliminate
the need to dive on some projects.
Luigi Carrassi owner of the marine services company Dicol
in Venezuela says, “Using underwater cameras allows us to
inspect sites before putting divers down.
That way we know we’re on target and have what we’re
looking for before the divers are sent in.
This saves time and money.”
When engineers at the New York Canal System had a problem
opening one of the gates in a lock, they called Joe Plano of the
Aquatic Center in Rochester with his SeaOtter.
The ROV descended to the bottom of the lock and through a
tunnel to find the stuck gate, all in near zero visibility.
The camera was able to videotape the gate’s locking
mechanism allowing officials to come up with a solution to the
problem, all without having to put a diver into a potentially
dangerous environment. And in Sri Lanka, marine service provider Colombo
Engineering, used one of Fishers diver-held camera systems to
videotape a problem with a propeller on a sea-going freighter.
It was discovered thatone of the four propeller blades
had been sheared off causing an extremely bad vibration in the
vessel’s drive system. A
marine architect was able to view a videotape of the damaged
prop and come up with a temporary solution, which was to cut off
the blade opposite of the broken blade. This allowed the ship to continue on to its destination
without having to be dry-docked, a very expensive and
time-consuming procedure.
Another
group making extensive use of underwater cameras are law
enforcement agencies and dive rescue groups.
These dive teams are using Fishers video systems to help
them locate drowning victims and to search for importance
evidence, such as a weapon that was disposed of in a waterway.
Groups like the Baxter County Sheriffs Department in
Arkansas and the Missouri State Water Patrol regularly use their
towed video systems to conduct searches in cold, dark lakes thus
reducing the risk to their public safety divers.
When a waterfront nightclub collapsed into the Delaware
River, casting dozens of patrons into the chilly waters and
killing three, the Philadelphia Marine Police were quickly
called in. Using their Fisher underwater camera they were able
to assess the treacherous underwater scene before deploying
divers to search for the victims.
Underwater cameras are also being used to
educate and entertain the general public.
They can help those of us who have a less knowledge about
the ocean and it’s creatures, develop a better understanding.
When a charter boat captain in Maine was looking for a
way to increase his share of summer tourist traffic, he found
the answer by putting a SeaOtter on board.
Guests on the boat not only have the opportunity to view
the scenic New England seashore, but are also treated to a show
of the marine life that inhabits local bays and inlets.
Visitors have a chance to see fish, lobsters, crabs,
octopus, starfish, seals, seahorses, and a variety of other
underwater creatures - all in their native habitat. “It’s wonderful learning experience, and folks are
thoroughly entertained by it”, says Capt. Michael Day.
A cruise line operator found this to be true too.
American Canadian Cruises, known as the “small ship”
cruise line wanted to give their customers another reason to
travel with them so the owners installed Fishers dropped video
systems on board. When
the ship reaches its various ports-of-call the camera is lowered
over the side and guests can view all types of exotic marine
life on wide screens TVs set up the vessel’s lounge, without
ever putting a toe in the water.
Probably the most exciting use of
underwater cameras is in finding shipwrecks and assisting in the
search for the treasures on board.
Everyone that saw the movie “Titanic” witnessed the
impressive capabilities of an ROV. The remote operated vehicle let us view the wreckage of the
huge ocean liner as it sat eerily motionless on the ocean floor
at over 12,000 feet deep. Even
more amazing to see was the interior of the ship as the ROV
“swam” down the grand staircase and into the main ballroom.
A number of ROVs have also been equipped with special
metal detectors which allow them to swim over a wreck site and
locate treasure that has long been consumed by the ocean’s
sediment. On the
wreck of the Republic, an 1800s paddlewheeler and one of the
richest shipwrecks ever discovered, an ROV equipped with a
Fishers metal detector was able to locate hundreds of gold coins
lying just under the muddy bottom.
As the $20 gold pieces were brought to the surface and
loaded onto the support vessel they saw the light of day for the
first time since the Civil War.
