far easier to determine the features and resources beneath the waves.

This was the message from Steven Blasco, a marine geologist from the Bedford Institute in Nova Scotia, Canada, to Hamilton Rotary Club members at their weekly luncheon.

He discussed what advances had been made and they could be used to develop the oceans as a source of sustainable and renewable resources.

Satellite, laser, echo-sounding and computer technology now allow the ocean to be mapped like land, he said.

Laser and echo-sounding equipment can be mounted on boats, planes or helicopters and use beams of light and waves of sound to measure the distance between objects or formations on the ocean floor and the surface.

Satellite tracking systems, that have an accuracy of three to 20 feet, then pinpoint the location where the measurements are being made in latitude and longitude.

The combined data is fed into a computer known as a Geographic Information System which creates a three dimensional picture of the ocean floor.

"It is no longer a chart on the bridge of a ship with numbers on it. It is now a picture of the ocean floor that shows its different features like volcanoes, ship wrecks, etcetera,'' said Mr. Blasco.

He gave an example of how the technology was being used for scallop fishing in the waters off Nova Scotia.

"We've mapped all the areas the produce scallops and recorded how much they produce.

"We then divided the areas into blocks. Fisherman will now fish the first block for five years and then move onto the second block and so on.

"When they return to the first block in 20 years the scallops will have had enough time to regrow. We are managing the resource so that it is sustainable.'' Mr. Blasco said scientists will be able to look at all kinds of habitat to catalogue and inventory them in ten to 15 years.

"We will have the tools to use the ocean as a sustainable and renewable resource,'' he said.