The Department of Ocean Development, established in 1981, has completed a decade of significant activities in various fields of ocean sciences. The activities of the Department extended from Antarctic research, deep seabed exploration, survey and exploration, demonstration of desalination technology, manpower training etc. to various aspects of development of coastal zone and islands. Development of technologies for generation of electricity from sea waves, application of remote sensing for identification of potential fishery zones, monitoring of marine pollution are some of the activities taken up recently.

 1.1 The major programmes of the Department initiated during the earlier period and which continued during the year 1992-93 are:

• Scientific research in Antarctica
• Deep seabed exploration, development of technology for extraction of metals from nodules and Development of seabed mining system
• Surveys for assessment of living and non- living resources
• Coastal zone and islands
• Marine Instrumentation and Systems
• Promotion of basic research, development and specialised manpower
• Infrastructure support: research vessels; National Ocean Information System
• Policy and law relating to oceans and Antarctica.

• Completion of the Eleventh scientific expedition and launching of twelfth expedition to Antarctica in December 1992 and continuation of scientific research programmes in fields of atmospheric sciences, meteorology, biology, oceanography, earth sciences etc.
• Completion of all preliminaries for construction of Anatarctic Study Centre at Goa, including environment clearance.
• Completion of survey of the mine site (pioneer area) of 150,000 sq. km allotted to India by using hydrosweep and generation of bathymetric data and maps.
• Erection of pilot plants for extraction of metals from nodules at the National Metallurgical Laboratory (NML), Jamshedpur and Regional Research Laboratory (RRL), Bhubaneswar and pilot plant campaigns for obtaining material and energy balance .
• Completion of the first phase of research and development work on a scaled down mining system at the Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute (CMERI), Durgapur. This included design and development of a remotely operated nodule collector unit and bucket-in-pipe lifting system, master slave manipulator and testing of the equipment in a shallow water test basin facility.
• Completion of ten multidisciplinary research cruises of Oceanographic Research Vessel (ORV) Sagar Kanya and thirteen cruises of Fishery and Oceanographic Research Vessel (FORV) Sagar Sampada and demonstration of the performance of the deep sea trawl designed and developed at the Central Institute of Fisheries Technology (CIFT).
• Dissemination of potential fishery zone information by the Department's Marine Satellite Information Service (MARSIS) Centres to fishermen through their cooperative societies in Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Orissa, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Goa, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Lakshadweep and Andaman & Nicobar Islands.
• Identification of forty hot-spots along the coastline for monitoring the sources of pollutants under the Pollution Monitoring Programme.
• Critical analysis of the performance of wave power plant at Vizhinjam and techno-economic feasibility studies for construction of integrated wave energy system at Thangassery in Kerala and Mus Point in Car Nicobar Islands.
• Completion of the first crop of prawn culture in Andamans achieving a production rate of 1.25 tonne per hectare.
• Commissioning of the first shore station at Machilipatnam in Andhra Pradesh for operationalisation of shore to fishing vessel two way communication system.
• Preparation of feasibility report on design and development of a submersible through the Naval Science and Technological Laboratory (NSTL), Visakhapatnam.
• Strengthening of capabilities of data collection and processing at the Central Pollution Board, Calcutta and Regional Research Laboratory (RRL), Thiruvananthapuram under the project on National Ocean Information System (NOIS).
• Identification of 51 marine organisms under the national project on drugs from the sea and detailed biological and chemical investigations resulting in valuable leads in most of the major areas of biological activities.

 1.3 A major new initiative related to the establishment of National Institute of Ocean technology (NIOT) in Madras as an autonomous body under the Department. The objective of the Institute will be to develop indigenous technologies in ocean sector .

 With a view to strengthening the infrastructure and research vessel capabilities, plans are finalised to procure two indigenously made coastal research vessels for pollution monitoring on the east and west coasts. The possibility of acquiring a multipurpose research vessel is being explored which would enable Indian scientists to carry out ocean research in wider field and carry out investigations for krill resources in Antarctic waters.

 1.4 Total financial outlay of the Department for the year 1992-93 was Rs.39 crores under Plan and Rs. 9.17 crores under Non-Plan. Revised estimates for the year 1992-93 are Rs. 39 crores under Plan and Rs.9.17crores under Non-Plan. Details of various activities under each programme are given in the following chapters.