SmartBay

Placentia Bay, Newfoundland - www.SmartBay.ca

SmartBay provides access to information to assist in effective management and sustainable development of coastal ocean areas of Placentia Bay and improve the safety and security of life at sea.

The website provides customized weather and sea state forecast information using data gathered by four oceanographic buoys strategically placed in Placentia Bay. The information is updated four times daily.

The buoy data is available to the public in near-real time. Fishers, shipping companies and other users in the area routinely take advantage of SmartBay as a user-driven ocean observing system that helps them make better decisions about their operations in the bay.

SmartBay can be used to improve:

• marine safety
• marine efficiency
• vessel operations management
• industrial development
• community socio-economics
• and environmental protection

In addition, SmartBay has introduced the local fishing industry to Automatic Identification System (AIS) technology, greatly improving the interaction between oil tankers and fishing vessels.  

An important aspect of SmartBay is its spin-off role in Newfoundland and Canadian ocean research and development. The SmartBay buoys and related technology have been engineered with the size, power and data capacity to carry and support research and product testing.  New products can be tested in the actual harsh marine environment and test data can be collected and delivered to the developer.

The Marine Institute’s School of Ocean Technology leads the Placentia Bay SmartBay Ocean Observation initiative in partnership with three private sector firms, AMEC Earth and Environmental, International Communications and Navigation (ICAN) Limited and Earth Information Technologies (NL) Limited.    

Exploratory Fisheries and Biological Resource Assessment of Atlantic Hagfish in the Newfoundland and Labrador Region

Lead Researcher: Dr. Scott M. Grant

Collaborators
Wade Hiscock, Quinlan Brothers, Andrew Daley, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Newfoundland and Labrador Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture, Canadian Centre for Fisheries Innovation

Summary
Fisheries the world over are susceptible to economic and ecological uncertainty. Nowhere is this more evident than in new emerging fisheries which are typically developed quickly and in the absence of science.  Recently (2001), Fisheries and Oceans Canada introduced the New Emerging Fisheries policy intent on providing a reasonable scientific basis for the management and long-term sustainability of new fishery resources. In many ways this policy has helped to foster greater industry stewardship as well as cooperation and understanding among industry, science, and management. Nowhere is this more evident than within the Atlantic hagfish (Myxine glutinosa) and sea cucumber (Cucumaria frondosa) fisheries currently under development in the Newfoundland and Labrador region.

Identified in Canadian Science and Management Workshops as a model to the approach of new fisheries development and stakeholder cooperation, CSAR has been leading a multi-year Atlantic hagfish resource assessment that has established the maturity schedule of hagfish in order to set a biologically sustainable rather than market driven minimum legal size and incorporated this information into gear selectivity experiments to maximize conservation of the resource at the onset of the commercial fishery.  The study provided baseline information on the reproductive potential, sex ratios, and nature of the spawning season and reproductive cycle, and established geographic distribution and temperature mediated habitat preferences, all in conjunction with annual research surveys conducted from industry vessels and exploratory fisheries to monitor fishery independent and fishery dependent trends in biomass indices.

Photo: Female Atlantic hagfish with a clutch of recently ovulated eggs ready to be spawned. 

Modeling and Simulation of Harsh Environments

The advanced simulation capability available at the Centre for Marine Simulation provides researchers with a valuable tool to conduct controlled studies in a ship board environment that are impossible or expensive to conduct with sea trials. Research topics that are especially suited for Marine Simulation include: human factors studies, ship systems, simulator design, and curriculum design. The simulation capabilities at the Centre can augment the capabilities of other research units in Newfoundland and Labrador and elsewhere by providing vital information on ship operations.

The Centre for Marine Simulation’s particular focus of research is the modeling and simulation of harsh environments. The objective of this research is to improve the safety and efficiency of offshore operations in harsh maritime environments through the development of innovative modeling and simulation capabilities focused on reducing human error. It addresses an industry demand for more accurate, innovative and reliable solutions to human factor challenges within the design and delivery of training programs for harsh environments (with a specific focus on ice management). The Centre works with various organizations, both national and international, to improve simulation capabilities to support the related research, to develop the necessary numerical models to permit realistic simulations to be conducted, and to enhance the understanding of the key human factor issues such as cognitive performance (e.g. decision making under stress), ergonomics (the man-machine interface), and organizational factors (e.g. procedures).

Effects of Motion Sickness

Human performance has been shown to decrease as Motion Sickness (MS) increases (Bos & Bles, 2000). Thus it becomes important to prevent or mediate symptoms of MS in order to maximize performance efficiency and operator well-being. During a major NATO exercise in 1997, approximately one-half of 1025 naval subjects reported mild and moderate MS symptoms for sustained periods of time during operations in high seas, while the other half did not report any MS symptoms at all (Colwell, 2000a). Those subjects in the group with mild and moderate MS symptoms reported substantially higher severity of problems with cognitive and physical performance, and with task completion than those with no MS symptoms.  The types of problems reported and the potential consequences in terms of reduced operational effectiveness were sufficiently serious that these trends should be investigated in more depth (Colwell, 2000b).
 
The Centre for Marine Simulation aims to build on this previous research through its current research project entitled ‘Effects of Motion Sickness’. CMS, in collaboration with Memorial University’s School of Human Kinetics and Recreation and through support from DRDC, plans to focus on evaluating and correlating changes in body core temperature with respect to motion sickness.
 
The objectives of the work are to:

• Compare body temperature changes in individuals who are susceptible and individuals who are not susceptible to motion sickness as induced by:

•  
  • provocative laboratory device and
  • ship motion simulator.

• Investigate the effects of selected classes of anti-motion sickness drugs in suppressing motion sickness induced changes in body temperature