XN000022-1976-12-25 — Page 3

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 25, 1976

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SOPHISTICATED ACOUSTIC EQUIPMENT INSTALLED ON RESEARCH VESSEL

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THE AGRICULTURE AND FISHERIES DEPARTMENT HAS SUCCESSFULLY CARRIED OUT SCIENTIFIC TESTS WITH AN ADVANCED FISH FINDING ACOUSTIC EQUIPMENT RECENTLY INSTALLED ON THE DEPARTMENT'S RESEARCH VESSEL CAPE ST. MARY.

IT IS HOPED THAT THIS SOPHISTICATED EQUIPMENT WILL HELP THE DEPARTMENT TO LOCATE UNTAPPED MARINE RESOURCES IN THE SOUTH CHINA SEA AND THUS OPEN UP NEW HORIZONS FOR THE LOCAL FISHING INDUSTRY.

THE EQUIPMENT, ON PERMANENT LOAN FROM THE SOUTH CHINA SEA FISHERIES DEVELOPMENT AND CO-ORDINATING PROGRAMME BASED IN THE PHILIPPINES AND SPONSORED BY THE FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANISATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS, HAD BEEN TESTED FOR MORE THAN ONE MONTH.

INITIAL RESULTS SHOWED THE EQUIPMENT TO BE ACCURATE, EFFECTIVE AND EFFICIENT IN PROVIDING DATA RELATING TO LOCATION AND QUANTITY BOTH OF THE INDIVIDUAL FISH AND OF FISH SCHOOLS.

A DEPARTMENT RESEARCH OFFICER, DR. CHRISTOPHER LEE, SAID VARIOUS CALIBRATION EXPERIMENTS HAD BEEN SATISFACTORILY COMPLETED A FEW WEEKS AGO. THESE EXPERIMENTS ARE ESSENTIAL TO THE FUTURE INTERPRETATION OF RESULTS OBTAINED WITH THE NEW EQUIPMENT, + HE SAID.

THE EQUIPMENT INSTALLED ON THE VESSEL, HE POINTED OUT, CONSISTED OF A HULL-MOUNTED TRANSDUCER, A TRANSCEIVER, AN ÉCHO SOUNDER RECORDER, AN INTEGRATOR, AN OSCILLOSCOPE, AND A SET OF CALIBRATION INSTRUMENTS.

+ALL THESE HAVE VARIOUS ROLES, BUT ARE INTER-RELATED IN THE SENSE THAT THEY ALLOW ACOUSTIC INFORMATION FROM THE WATER COLUMN TO BE PROCESSED, STUDIED AND RECORDED IN THE MOST EFFECTIVE MANNER, DR. LEE ADDED.

+THE INTEGRATOR IS THE MOST POWERFUL PIECE OF EQUIPMENT IN THAT IT ENABLES A RESEARCHER TO ASSESS THE RELATIVE QUANTITY OF FISH OBSERVED ON THE ECHOGRAM RECORDS.

+ IT MUST ALSO BE STRESSED THAT AN IMPORTANT FACTOR IN THIS KIND OF MARINE RESOURCES RESEARCH IS THAT THE PERSON USING THE EQUIPMENT IN THESE EXPLORATIONS MUST BE EXPERIENCED AND MUST KNOW THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE FISH FAUNA AROUND HONG KONG AND THE DIVERSITY OF ITS SPECIES.+

HE SAID THAT THE EQUIPMENT CONTAINED SOME ADVANCED CIRCUITRY TO ENABLE THE RESEARCHER TO MAKE QUANTITATIVE ASSESSMENTS OF AN INDIVIDUAL FISH DOWN TO A DEPTH OF 230 METRES AND OF A FISH SCHOOL DOWN TO 500 METRES DEPTH.

IN OUR CALIBRATION TRIALS, WE USED THREE SPECIES OF FISH

OF VARIOUS SIZES AND QUANTITIES.

FROM THE RESULTS OF THESE TRIALS WE WERE ABLE TO RELATE THE INTEGRATOR'S READINGS TO THE ACTUAL QUANTITY OF FISH LOCATED ACROSS THE PATH OF THE SUPERSONIC BEAM.

THE RESEARCH