Icelandic Association of Fishing Vessel Owners Against EU Membership
The Icelandic Association of Fishing Vessel Owners (LÍÚ) has come down firmly against possible EU membership for Iceland, stating that by becoming part of the European Union, Iceland would sacrifice its rights to legislate its own resources. These powers would be transferred to Brussels as part of EU membership, while Iceland would have miniscule voting rights within Europe.
LÍÚ states that as an EU member, Iceland would also give up its rights to fish straddling stocks, including capelin, blue whiting, redfish, Greenland halibut, herring, mackerel and other species. Around 30% of Icelandic fisheries are conducted on these straddling stocks that are shared with other nations.
The LÍÚ points out that by joining the EU, there would be no other option but to allow its fisheries to become governed under the Common Fisheries Policy. It says that he terrible track record of the CFP has led to fisheries across the EU being in a sad state. In spite of repeated attempts, the EU Commission has not been able to reverse this trend. The CFP has been repeatedly criticised, both from within the EU and without. Monitoring results is in the hands of individual states. It is well known that enforcement is weak, offences are frequent and penalties are light. Over many decades it has been repeatedly stated that the CFP needs a complete rethink.
The Federation of Icelandic Fishing Vessel Owners (LIU) was founded on January 17th 1939. The founders’ purpose was to represent all Icelandic fishing vessel owners in one unified organisation in order to safeguard their mutual interests. The main functions of LIU are to speak on behalf of fishing vessel owners, promote progressive developments within the field of fisheries, negotiate salaries and catch premiums with the trade unions and to look out for the economic, financial, legal, technical and social interests of fishing vessel owners.
For more information visit: The Icelandic Association of Fishing Vessel Owners (LÍÚ) There’s also an excellent booklet that you can download from the LÍÚ website called Responsible Resource Management.
The Power of Software Defined Sonar Technology
A few days ago, the fishing vessel Sigurbjörg experienced a broken Distance Sensor while fishing in the Barents Sea. The vessel wasn‘t carrying an extra spare, so the Captain called Marport technical suppport for assistance. With traditional based sensor designs, the vessel would have to return the sensor to shore for repairs. However, the vessel was also carrying a number of Marport‘s software defined Catch Sensors.
Helgi Ingason, one of Marport‘s senior field technicians spoke to the Captain and Chief Engineer via Inmarsat telephone and explained how to remove the sensor processing module board from the Catch Sensor and install it in the Distance Sensor. Once that was accomplished, Helgi emailed a Distance Sensor software application from his office in Reyjavik to the Captain‘s laptop computer aboard the vessel. The Captain then placed the sensor next to his laptop, and using a Bluetooth wireless link, he successfully reprogrammed the processing module to become a Distance Sensor.
This is another great example of the many benefits of Marport‘s Software Defined Sonar technology. By being able to dynamically reconfigure a critcial sensor, the Sigurbjörg was able to stay on the fishing grounds and maintain harvesting efficiency.
Great job, Helgi!
Work Class ROV Market Expected to Grow to Over $2 Billion Per Year
A Triton XLX work-class ROV manufactured by Perry Slingsby Systems
Since 2003, expenditures on work-class ROVs (Remotely Operated Vehicles) have more than tripled. The findings of a new market study “The World ROV Market Report 2008-12″ from energy analysts Douglas-Westwood Ltd (DWL) project further strong growth is expected over the next five years – leading to an annual market of some $2.4 billion per year by 2012. The majority of growth is expected from the offshore oil & gas industry as ROVs have become an essential part of offshore exploration and production.
Around a third of world oil & gas production came from offshore in 2008; a figure which will increase as rising oil price rises will enable some offshore fields, particularly in deepwater, to become economically viable. Also many onshore fields have now matured and therefore unlikely to see any significant increases in production. As such, any increase in offshore activity has a direct impact on the demand for ROV systems.
DWL estimates that, over the next five years, over 650 new work-class ROVs will be required to keep up with increased demand and attrition of the current fleet. The continued growth in the offshore industry will increase the amount of ROV operations during the 2008- 2012 period as the high levels of drilling activity and increasing installations of subsea wells, pipelines, control cables and other seabed hardware, all require the use of work-class ROVs. Moreover, this is increasingly happening in water depths beyond the economic reach of manned intervention.
The growth in the ROV market bodes well for Marport’s underwater sensing instrumentation – including DataSquid® – a new multi-function Attitude Heading Reference Sensor system that we plan to introduce to the ROV market during 1Q’09.
Computer Animation Highlights Marport Sensors
The following computer animation was prepared by Alexander Olkhovich from Inter-Trade Electronics, a Marport distributor based in Saint Petersburg, Russia. While most of the text is in Russian, the animation does a great job of conveying how Marport‘s various sensors operate. We think you‘ll enjoy it. A special thanks to Alexander for sending it along. Nazdrovyeh!
Marport Presenting at Underwater Battlespace Conference
From January 19 – 21, Marport personnel will be attending the 7th Annual Underwater Battlespace conference in London, England. The conference brings together senior military personnel responsible for underwater requirements with leading figures from industry. Presentations will address the key challenges for underwater platforms to ensure naval forces have the critical capabilities for Anti Submarine Warfare (ASW), Mine Counter Measures (MCM) and Autonomous Underwater Vehicles.
Marport will be showcasing its Software Defined Sonar platform as a key enabling technology that can increase connectivity and interoperability between underwater assets in order to move towards a network-centric operating environment. Network-centric warfare (NCW), or net-enabled capability (NEC) as it’s known in Europe, is a central theme to the current naval defence development of western nations. The concept is shaping a new approach to warfare, which emphasises a different way of using tactical information. It is therefore playing an increasingly vital role in underwater operations. The concept is that attack assets can be dispersed, relying on information provided by remote sensors over information nets using advanced subsea sensing and acoustic communication technologies, such as those designed and manufactured by Marport.
New NOAA Report Says Commercial Fishing Industry Generates $100+ Billion Revenue and Supports 1.5 Million Jobs in United States
The United States commercial fishing industry — harvesters, seafood processors and dealers, seafood wholesalers and seafood retailers — generated $103 billion in sales, $44 billion in income and supported 1.5 million jobs in 2006, the most recent year included in the report, Fisheries Economics of the United States 2006, which covers 1997 to 2006. “The report documents clearly that managing fisheries sustainably is good for the environment and the economy,” said Jim Balsiger, NOAA acting assistant administrator for NOAA’s Fisheries Service. “Fishing helps create a substantial number of jobs around the nation.”
The report is the first volume in a new series designed to give the public accessible economic information on fishing activities in the U.S. The report also provides a snapshot of fishery management plans as well as the status of fish stocks and an inventory of protected marine resources.
Fisheries Economics of the United States, 2006 is available online.
Leading Investment Advisor Recognizes Commercial Fishing As One of the Strongest Industries For Next Decade
Peter Schiff, President & Chief Global Strategist of Euro Pacific Capital, recently listed 10 industries and professions that he saw as being strongest over the coming decade and beyond. In addition to such notables as Engineering, Agriculture, Energy and High Technology, Mr. Schiff named the Commercial Fishing industry to #5 on his list.
As excerpted from his latest book, “The Little Book of Bull Moves in Bear Markets”, Mr. Schiff writes, “ Commercial fishing should be another growth industry that allows for a secure future. Currently the United States imports about 90 percent of the fish it consumes. Demand for fish is growing as the United States ages and becomes more health conscious and more sophisticated in its tastes. Unless U.S. residents give up eating fish, more of it will need to be caught. I predict growth in commercial fishing over the years to come.”
Mr. Schiff is one of the few investment advisors to have correctly called the current bear market before it began. As a result of his accurate forecasts on the U.S. stock market, economy, real estate, the mortgage meltdown, credit crunch, subprime debacle, gold and the dollar, he is becoming increasingly more renowned. He has been quoted in many leading newspapers, including The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, Investor’s Business Daily, The Financial Times, The New York Times, and many others. His best-selling book, “Crash Proof: How to Profit from the Coming Economic Collapse” was published by Wiley & Sons in February 2007. His second book, “The Little Book of Bull Moves in Bear Markets: How to Keep your Portfolio Up When the Market is Down” was published by Wiley & Sons in October 2008.
Marport fully agrees with Mr. Schiff’s analysis and outlook for the Commercial Fishing industry.
Marport Delivers Canadian Navy Contract – Ahead of Schedule and On Budget!
HMCS Toronto is one of 12 Canadian Patrol Frigates that will be equipped with Marport’s Software Defined Sounder
In May, 2008 the Government of Canada awarded Marport a $1.4 million contract to upgrade the depth sounders on the Halifax class frigates. Marport’s sounder will replace the existing AN/SQN 501 equipment with an open architecture, software defined solution designed for submarines and surface ships. A software defined sounder incorporates agility, configuration flexibility and future-proofing. This will ensure that Marport’s depth sounder remains the most comprehensive and highly capable in-service sounder in the world, thus sustaining a key advantage for the Canadian Navy.
It was a busy holiday season around Marport’s offices as we prepared to deliver. Marport personnel worked harder than Santa’s elves to ensure that the systems were shipped to the Navy depot by December 31st.
Bravo Zulu to all staff who pitched in – with special thanks to Gilles, Neil, Brian K. and the teams at ELEKTO and PF Collins.
Local Company to Play Big Part in Future of Life on Earth
Marport received some local publicity today from one of Atlantic Canada’s most respected media sources. VOCM ran the story below on 26 am/fm radio stations and over 110 cable community television stations. The story also ran on VOCM.com which receives over half a million hits per week from all around the world.
Local Company to Play Big Part in Future of Life on Earth
January 7, 2009
The head of a Newfoundland company involved in subsea acoustics technology believes this province will play a very important role as the world’s oceans take on an increasing importance for future life on the planet. Karl Kenny is President of Marport who is turning heads worldwide in developing innovative and advanced Software Defined Sonar technologies.
He says many people don’t recognize that the world’s oceans are of vital importance to the survival of life on earth. Kenny pointed out that they cover over 70 per cent of our planet, but less than 5 per cent of this vast frontier has been explored. Kenny says we know more about outer space than the oceans. He says Marport is convinced that this planet’s future lies below the surface of our seas and that is where Newfoundland and Labrador will play a crucial role. Kenny says Marport will continue to innovate and develop advanced software defined sonar technologies to help secure the supply of subsea resources such as protein, hydrocarbons, minerals and knowledge. He stated nearly 3-thousand people have reached the summit of Mount Everest; over 450 people have been in outer space; 12 American astronauts have walked on the surface of the moon, but only two people, Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh, have been to the bottom of the ocean. And that happened almost 50 years ago.
