1980 - National Institute of Oceanography

Under the geological and geophysical programme, the survey of the entire
western continental shelf has been completed. This has not only provided some
basic information on geomorphology, sediment distribution and surficial geology of
the area but has also led to the demarcation of areas of economic interest potentially
important from the point of view of future exploitation.
As a part of the programme on offshore mineral exploration, the Institute has developed
the methodology and techniques for the exploration of shore deposits of heavy
minerals.
The biology programme of the Institute include an intensive survey of seaweed
resources along the west coast and the location of areas of high concentration of economically
important seaweeds, demarcation of productive areas in the Arabian Sea and Bay of
Bengal and the investigations on benthos and their relationship with demersal fisheries.
In the aquaculture project, modified techniques were employed for the culture of
shell fish, shrimp and Artemia. The Artemia is in great demand as food in the
aquaculture experiments and the Institute has located new resources of Artemia and
has also cultured Anemia on a mass scale in the salt pans of Gujarat.
A new project on the "energy from the sea" was started and status reports
on the energy from ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC), waves, tides, salinity
and from marine biomass conversion are being prepared. The design of a laboratory
model of OTEC plant with 200 watt capacity is ready for fabrication. Reports on
methods developed for wave hindcasting and storm surges were also prepared.
Efforts to develop some of the oceanographic instruments in the Institute were
intensified and design and fabrication of 'sea probes' such as CTD system, buoy
telemetry system and a shallow water echosounder were completed and successfully
tested. A profile current meter was also designed and fabricated.
The Cochin Regional Centre of NIO has gathered considerable information
on the living resources of certain regions of the Indian Ocean while the Bombay
Centre continued to work on the protection of marine environment and monitoring
of pollutants along the Maharashtra and Gujarat coasts. Baseline water quality
analysis of the river Narmada in Gujarat and a comparative study on the behaviour
of some metals in polluted and unpolluted waters were completed during the year.
The Waltair Centre made a steady progress in oceanographic work off Waltair and
nearby areas and studied the crustal structure and basement tectonics of the Bay of
Bengal.
B. Sponsored Projects
During the year, the Institute has fully utilized the expertise and available
indigenous technology and has provided services and support to various public and
private sector undertakings through as many as 26 sponsored projects on areas such