1.1 Major activities and achievements of the Department of Ocean Development during the year 1990-91 include the following:

Completion of the ninth and tenth Indian Scientific Expedition to Antarctica with the objectives of carrying out sophisticated scientific experiments designed to provide valuable clues to the structure of the Antarctic land mass, its ice sheets and ecosystems, and in particular the processes of global change as well as insights for making environmental impact assessments.

Acquisition and installation of Hydrosweep, a sophisticated multibeam echosounding system and image synthesiser on board ORV Sagar Kanya for refined exploration of the sea floor topography.

Refinement of sea-bed exploration covering about 1,30,000 sq.km of the minesite area in the Central Indian Ocean, allotted to India as a Pioneer Investor, with the aid of multibeam bathymetry and three dimensional imaging (vide cover).

Design and implementation of a new project on test mining aimed at developing a deep sea-bed mining system including a remotely operated underwater nodule collector system, a collector buffer, associated sensors riser pipes, air and hydraulic pumps as well as other associated subsystems.

Systematic exploration of sea floor topography, study of various oceanographic parameters and of biomass distribution in different parts of Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal and the Central Indian Ocean, through carefully designed cruises of research vessels: Sagar Kanya and Sagar Sampada.

Oceanographic surveys in the Caribbean Seas under a Commonwealth Assistance programme.

Design and sanction of a programme for precise monitoring and modelling of sea level variations. This includes the establishment of modern tide gauges for precision sea level measurements at selected stations along the coast and islands.

Design and sanction of levelling survey of a vulnerable coastal front along the east coast and mapping on the scale of 1:10,000 to provide the essential data base for risk assessment due to a possible sea level rise and storm surges

Design of a multi-institutional programme and creation of an Apex Centre for Coastal Environmental Studies and 11 supporting units for systematic monitoring of ocean chemistry of all our coastal oceans from Dwarka upwards to Hooghly and around the Andaman and Nicobar and Lakshadweep Islands, aimed at quantifying transport rates of various chemical elements and compounds and their inputs in the coastal reservoirs of sediments, water and biota using incisive modelling frameworks.

Design and sanction of a multi-institutional programme aimed at identifying potential bio active substances of therapeutic value in the coastal ocean, through a systematic study of marine flora and fauna as a possible source of new drugs

Stationing of the 2500 tones concrete caisson at the desired site near Vizhinjam harbour for experimental wave power generation.

Design of an integrated breakwater wave power generating system to be installed as a part of the new breakwater schemes for creating -fishing harbours in coastal areas.

Design and implementation of a semi-intensive prawn aquaculture demonstration farm near Nellore jointly with the Department of Biotechnology which has already yielded a first harvest of 23 tonne of prawns from eleven ponds covering a total area of about 5.8 hectares.

Acquisition of 15.8 hectares of land in the Andaman Islands for setting up a R&D-cum-demonstration prawn aquaculture farm.

Establishment of a field unit of the Department at Port Blair aimed at generating and providing coastal ocean data for development and creating new additional resources through technology demonstration and extension as well as new technical manpower for ocean related operations.

Institution of a new diploma course in fisheries technology at the Port Blair Polytechnic with the good offices of Department of Technical Education and positive support by the Department of Ocean Development for arranging guest faculty from the mainland for imparting instruction.

Creation of a new unit for post-graduate training and research in ocean circulation and air-sea exchange processes aimed at developing predictive models of coastal circulation and coastal weather, in the Centre of Atmospheric Science at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.

Institution of a Distinguished Lecture Series of the Department to be given annually by some of the most distinguished scientists in the field of ocean science and technology. These are aimed at creating an opportunity for Indian marine scientists and technologists to interact with some of the most creative minds in this fast developing field. The inaugural lecture was delivered by Prof. Walter H. Munk, of the Scripps Institute of Oceanography (USA), on a novel method of estimating ocean warming on a global scale the (Heard Island Experiment) in November 1990, at the National Physical Laboratory, Delhi.

Establishment of a Marine Information Service to provide near real-time information characterising the current and evolving state of the oceanic regime, using satellite data, backed by special campaigns for direct sea-truth and predictive models to provide the essential data base for decision support to navigation as well as design strategies for various marine and coastal activities: exploration, exploitation, surveillance and management of oceanic resources and environment. The programme is supported by a network of national institutions providing special S&T support from satellite data acquisition and processing at ISRO (NRSA, SAC) to generation of higher data products as an aid to development at 4 coastal centres (NIO, CMFRI, ORSAC, Anna University) and development of predictive models at C-MMACS/NAL Bangalore to visualise evolving scenarios of important oceanic systems, ocean circulation and air-sea energy exchange, biomass distribution, pollution regimes and ecosystem dynamics, erosion of shorelines and coastal ecological habitats.

Design and development of some crucial marine instrumentation and systems, underwater ocean acoustic remote sensing (tomography), fish echosounders, ocean data buoys and sensors.

Design and development of a network of 11 modern reliable quality controlled National Marine Data Centres (NMDC) relating to specific aspects of marine information, at existing national S&T institutions with built-in mechanisms for generating and achieving marine data by pooling together the facilities available on Government vessels as well as for their stringent quality check and dissemination. These National Marine Data Centres will be coordinated by a special cell for National Ocean Information Systems (NOIS) at the Department headquarters.

Completion of negotiations concerning the obligation to be fulfilled by Registered Pioneer Investors resulting in the waiver for India, of payment of a fixed annual fee of one million US dollars from the date of its registration as a Pioneer Investor, i.e. August 1987, until the entry into force of the Convention on the law of the Sea.

Financial Outlay

1.2. Financial Outlay for the year 1990-91 was Rs.35 crores for the Plan and Rs:8.16 crores for the Non-Plan respectively. Revised estimates for the year 1990-91 are Rs.31.45 crores for Plan and Rs.8.13 crores for Non-Plan. Details of various new and ongoing activities as well as the significant achievements made during the year are given in the following chapters.