The industry's recognized authority for design, engineering and application of equipment and services in the global ocean community
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www.sea-technology.com May 2016 / st 45 $14 Million in Grants To Support Rec Boating The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced nearly $14 million in grants to 32 states, commonwealths and ter- ritories for projects to support recreational boating through the service's Boating Infrastructure Grant (BIG) program. Grantees use BIG funds to construct, renovate and main- tain marinas and other facilities with features for transient recreational boats 26 ft. or more in length. Funding for the BIG program comes from the Sport Fish Restoration and Boating Trust Fund, which boaters and manufacturers support through excise and other taxes on certain fshing and boating equipment and gasoline. Ocean Champions Endorses Two Senators for Re-election Ocean Champions, which works to build political pow- er for the oceans by helping to elect pro-ocean candidates to the U.S. Congress, endorsed the Senate's Finance Sub- committee on Energy, Natural Resources and Infrastructure Ranking Member Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) for re- election in November 2016. Bennet, who also serves on the Senate Finance commit- tee, has made the environment and protecting Colorado's wild lands a priority. He passed a bill to protect the Her- mosa Creek Watershed, one of only a handful of wilderness bills to pass Congress in the past six years, and he led the fght to designate Chimney Rock near Pagosa Springs a na- tional monument. Ocean Champions also endorsed Sen. Rob Portman (R- Ohio) for re-election in November. He co-sponsored the Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Research and Control Amendments Act of 2014, introduced the Drinking Water Protection Act of 2015 and co-sponsored the North Ameri- can Wetlands Conservation Extension Act. He is a member of the Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee, as well as the subcommittees on Energy, National Parks, and Water and Power. Unsolicited Lease Request for California Wind Energy Project BOEM received an unsolicited lease request from Tri- dent Winds, LLC for a foating wind energy project offshore Morro Bay, California, NOIA reported. BOEM will issue a Federal Register Notice to determine if there is competitive interest in the area. The proposed project would generate up to 800 MW of power using about 100 foating foundations, each supporting a turbine that could produce up to 8 MW. A single seafoor transmission cable would bring the elec- tricity to shore. The project would be located about 33 naut. mi. northwest of Morro Bay at 2,600 to 3,300 ft. depth. The proposed lease area is 67,963 acres. Shipping Federation Seeks More Funding for Canadian Icebreakers The Shipping Federation of Canada, which represents the owners, agents and operators of ships involved in Canada's world trade, welcomed the commitment to investing in transportation infrastructure and strengthening the Canadi- an Coast Guard expressed in Canada's 2016 federal budget. The Shipping Federation urged the federal government to allocate investment funds to the renewal of the Canadian Coast Guard's icebreaking feet, which, it argues, comprises over-aged vessels thinly spread over a vast expanse of water. The current plan to rely on the construction of a single polar-class icebreaker, which was commissioned by the pre- vious government at a cost of over $1 billion for delivery in 2022 at the earliest, is not a viable solution, according to The Shipping Federation. World's First Automated, Exposed Aquaculture Facility The Norwegian Ministry of Trade and Fisheries has ap- proved Norway's frst development concession enabling Ocean Farming AS, supported by Kongsberg Maritime AS, to build the world's frst automated "exposed" aquaculture facility. Situated outside of Trondheim, it would introduce a paradigm shift in salmon and other types of fsh farming in the future and is a signifcant step in Norway's efforts to deliver technical solutions to address the impending global food gap challenge. The submerged, anchored fxed structure will foat steady in the exposed ocean and is suitable for water depths of 100 to 300 m, allowing for a more natural habitat for the fsh. The Kongsberg Maritime technology scope of supply for the fsh farm includes the K-Chief 600 automation system, an extensive telecoms and positioning package, AIS, Simrad EK80 echosounder, underwater cameras, ADCP, velocim- eter and oxygen sensors. The project will be the frst in the world to combine ma- rine engineering, marine cybernetics and marine biology via a big data approach fusing all the available underwater sensors. Three New Marine Highway Project Designations U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx has desig- nated three new Marine Highway Projects. A Marine High- way Project is a planned service, or expansion of an ex- isting service, on a designated Marine Highway Route that provides new modal choices to shippers of cargo, reduces transportation costs and provides public benefts, including reduced air emissions, reduced road maintenance costs, and improved safety and resiliency. The Mississippi River, previously designated as the M-55, will serve as the primary route for the Baton Rouge-New Orleans Shuttle project. The proposed container-on-barge service will operate between the Ports of Greater Baton Rouge and New Orleans, reducing congestion and bridge traffc on Louisiana's Interstate 10. Also operating along the M-55 from Chicago to New Orleans, the proposed Illinois Intrastate Shuttle project is structured to shift about 5,500 containers in its frst year of operation from congested north-south Interstate 55 to the Mississippi River. The container-on-barge service will pro- vide soybean and grain shippers a new routing option. The third service, the Lake Erie Shuttle, is a proposed route that will carry cargo for shippers between the ports of Monroe, Michigan; Cleveland, Ohio; and Detroit, Michigan. ST capital report