During the year new initiatives were taken by the Department for creating infrastructure in the field of ocean technology and acquisition of pollution monitoring vessels. The National Institute of Ocean Technology started functioning in the new building with modest complement of mission personnel. Orders were placed for acquisition of two coastal research vessels for monitoring marine pollution in the coastal environment.

Other activities in the ocean sector during the year covered programmes such as, dissemination of potential fishing zone information to the fishermen community of the coastal States, commissioning of eight shore stations for shore-to-vessel communication system for distress warning and standardisation of prawn culture techniques in Andaman Islands. Surveys for assessment of living and non-living resources, promotion of basic research and development in marine sciences, monitoring of marine environment, deep seabed exploration, scientific research in Antarctica have been the major programmes. The Fourteenth Indian scientific expedition to Antarctica was launched on 17 December 1994.

The new initiatives related to the finalisation of the pay-load required for a dedicated ocean remote sensing satellite proposed to be launched by the Department of Space and a national programme for deployment of Met-ocean data buoys at important locations along the coast.

India joined forty-four other nations in signing the Agreement relating to the implementation of Part XI of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on 29 July 1994.

1.1 Major Programmes

The following major programmes initiated during the earlier period were continued during the year 1994-95:

* 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 Island development programmes such as Marine Satellite Information Service, Coastal Ocean Monitoring and Prediction System, Sea Level Monitoring and Modelling, Island Development, Prawn culture in Andaman Nicobar Islands and Shore to Vessel Communication Systems.

* Promotion of basic research, development and specialised manpower

* Infrastructure support : Research vessels; National Ocean Information System; National Institute of Ocean Technology.

1.2 New proposals

The new proposals related to:

* National Data Buoy Programme to create scientific data base for oceanic parameters necessary for assessing the impact of climate change and global warming, and for offshore construction activities;

* Proposal for setting up of Marine Aquarium in Andaman Islands as a part of Island Development Programme.

1.3 Mid-term Review of the Eighth Plan

During the year 1994-95 a mid-term review of the activities of the Department was undertaken by the Planning Commission. The progress made in the first three years of the 8th Plan and requirement of funds for the remaining period of the Plan along with the proposed activities were discussed.

The Standing Committee of Parliament also evaluated the progress made under various programmes during the year 1993-94 while considering the Demands for Grants for 1994-95. The Committee observed that the policies and schemes pursued by the Department should be given top priority in implementation and funds should not be a constraint in achieving the objectives. It is necessary to replace the research vessels which are aging. The Committee noted the useful work done under MARSIS and other programmes and recognised the need for protection of marine environment and assessment of health of the seas along the coastline and island territories.

1.4 Performance Highlights

Scientific Research in Antarctica

* The fourteenth Indian Scientific expedition was launched in December 1994 to continue the scientific research activities in the areas of ozone phenomena, geology and geophysics.

Deep Seabed Polymetallic Nodules

* 47 tonnes of nodules were collected from the mining site in the Central Indian Ocean Basin. Deep tow survey was conducted to identify the locations of nodule abundance.

* Metallurgy programmes were continued for completing the pilot plant campaigns.

* Remotely operated vehicle (ROV) was tested in the shallow water basin of 5 metre depth to collect first hand information on the behaviour of the system.

Research cruises and surveys

* Completion of 7 multidisciplinary cruises of ORV Sagar Kanya and 11 cruises of FORV Sagar Sampada.

Coastal Zone and Islands

* Dissemination of PFZ information to the coastal States and validation of data.

* Continuation of work on the preparation of 1:50000 scale coastal maps for the States of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and West Bengal based on satellite remote sensing data.

* Finalisation of payload required for the proposed ocean satellite.

* Collection of data on continuing basis on 25 pollution parameters at 77 locations in the sea and intensive monitoring of 25 Hot Spots.

* Commissioning of 8 shore stations for the Shore-to-Vessel Communication System in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh and processing of proposals to undertake similar projects in the other coastal States.

* Standardisation of prawn culture techniques in Andaman Islands.

* Establishment of 4 more National Marine Data Centres in the satellite network for dissemination of data to the users under the National Oceanographic Information System (NOIS).

* Printing of 1:25000 scale coastal maps for the cyclone prone stretch from Nellore to Machilipatnam on the east coast, with 0.5 m. contour interval.

* Commissioning of tide gauge stations at Cochin, Tuticorin, Madras, Visakhapatnam and Kavaratti for monitoring of sea level variations.

Infrastructure & support

* Placement of order for the construction of the two Coastal Research Vessels for the Coastal Ocean Monitoring & Prediction System (COMAPS) programme.

* Building up of infrastructure and recruitment of manpower in the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) for initiating the mission projects in the areas of ocean energy, coastal zone management, marine instrumentation and shallow water seabed mining system.

Marine Research & Development and Training of Manpower

* 402 samples of marine flora and fauna have been screened in Phase I and 534 in Phase II. Of these, 121 samples showed different types of promising biological activities.

Law and Policy

* The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, 1982 entered into force on 16 November 1984. An Agreement relating to the Implementation of Part XI which deals with deep seabed mining was signed by India along with forty-four countries on 29 July 1994.

* India which has been registered as a pioneer investor and allotted a deep seabed mine site in the Central Indian Ocean will not be required to pay, under this Agreement, the annual fixed fee of one million dollars from the date of registration, i.e. from August 1987 till the commencement of commercial production of deep seabed minerals.

1.5 Finance

Total financial outlay of the Department for the year 1994-95 was Rs. 46 crores under Plan and Rs. 13 crores under Non-Plan. Revised estimates for the year 1994-95 are Rs. 46 crores under Plan and Rs.13 crores under Non-Plan. Details of various activities under each programme are given in the following chapters.