Jump to content

Sounds Sea Bed Survey


Recommended Posts

Late last year and into early this year, the NIWA boat had been surveying the Sounds. They spent 8 months and covered 40,000 hectares of Sea Floor and recorded 30 Terabytes of Data.
 Interestingly, they have discovered quite a number of wrecks. Some known and some unknown. One is really interesting to me, because it could well be my friends Yacht that went missing several years back now. The data has shown a Sailboat out from Waikawa and the top of the mast is at 40m down. Too deep for Police to dive to apparently.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/96315270/add-them-to-the-list-underwater-survey-discovers-new-wrecks-in-marlborough-sounds

Link to post
Share on other sites

40m is fine on air if you know what you're doing. Mixed gas would be better but not necessary for a quick inspection but I understand their need to follow strict rules, it keeps them safe. Worst job I ever did was a salvage on a boat that went down with a family on it. Never want to dive where bodies are involved ever again, having grieving relatives around only made it worse. The police divers earn their money.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I would hate being a Police diver. And especially when they are working in filthy water that has no vis and they are working by feel only.
But yes, both Police and Navy have very limited depth they can dive to. I had always thought Navy would have specialist diving to deeper that normal depths, but no, they are the shallowest of the lot.
NIWA does have a submersible camera apparently.

When all the Data of the survey has been sorted, it will be available to the Council. I would love to see the charts produced, but I imagine that the Council will likely charge a horrendous fee for the information.

Link to post
Share on other sites

the charts will be produced by LINZ as usual,

there was a joint approach by LINZ and Marlborough District Council that meant LINZ surveyed the entire sound and not just bits important to shipping  and MDC get a heap of other data about the sounds at a really good price.  

 

Most councils tend to make their data available where they can.  It might take a while to chew through the data and make it something more easily digested.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...