The James River is a tributary of the Missouri River. It is roughly 710 miles long and spans over 20,000 square miles of North and South Dakota with more than 70% of the river’s drainage occurring in South Dakota. River conditions during normal years include both still-water and flooding on both the James River and its tributaries. Water easily breaches the low banks, and these floods tend to cover a significant portion of the floodplain. When the river is still, water quality drops and it becomes quite difficult to see more than a few feet underwater.

““If you want to hear the distant voice of the ocean put your ear to the lips of a seashell.” - Curtis Tyrone Jones Seashells are the exoskeletons of mollusks such as snails, clams, oysters and many others. They have a critical role in coastal ecosystems such as providing nesting materials, a home or attachment surface for algae, sea grass, sponges, and a host of other microorganisms. Fish also use seashells to hide from predators while hermit crabs use them as temporary shelters. ScubaCom has the only specimen seashell permit (EP0002) in South Australia which is closely managed by the SA Fisheries Department.

Saginaw Bay’s warm waters serve as nursery grounds for many fish species and support the fisheries of both Saginaw Bay and the main basin of Lake Huron. Historically, inner Saginaw Bay contained rock reefs that provided critical habitats, spawning grounds, and juvenile areas for many native fish species. This includes Walleye, Smallmouth Bass, and Suckers during the spring and Lake Whitefish, Cisco, Lake Trout, and Burbot in the fall.

The principle task for any organization that puts its people in harm’s way is to find better and safer ways to increase productivity while minimizing the risk to operators. Commercial diving is a dangerous maritime job. Unlike recreational scuba diving, this career does not typically involve beautiful coral reef deposits or calm, clear waters. Instead, much of commercial diving revolves around daily risks, including exposure to toxic chemicals, working with power tools and other equipment in low-visibility conditions, and experiencing equipment malfunctions. This is risky work for even the most experienced divers.

JW Fishers’ signature underwear metal detector is the Pulse 8X. It has provided operators with the right tool for the job for over 25 years and is still the leading underwater metal detector in use worldwide by law enforcement, military, fire and rescue departments, public safety dive teams, commercial divers, and wreck hunters. The recent addition of the SAR-1 underwater metal detector has proven to be an outstanding compliment to the Pulse 8X when zero-visibility conditions make the SAR-1’s vibration feature and ultra-bright LED display a necessity. The SAR-1 boasts much of the P8X’s technology, but it is contained in a wireless, “snareless”, vibrating casing that is second to none when mission requirements dictate safe and efficient operations in the most unforgiving conditions.

Since the late 1980’s, JW Fishers’ Remote Operated Vehicles (ROV) have been critical tools used across the globe for various missions from the routine to the extraordinary. JWF’s SeaOtter and SeaLion ROV Systems are often used to locate drowning victims with attached sonar systems, to search a ship lost at sea, or to conduct inspections on submerged tanks, dams, and water intake pipes. JW Fishers Mfg., Inc. has been providing operators with top of the line ROV systems for over thirty years and continues to outperform the competition.

2020 is upon us and so begins a new decade! This February commemorates the fifth anniversary of our founder’s untimely passing. We are filled with pride that Jack Fisher’s legacy has continued and that JW Fishers has not only survived, but has grown in both sales and product breadth. JWF continues to update and improve our line of underwater search equipment, providing top notch support to all segments of the underwater exploration industry.

JW Fishers Mfg., Inc. takes pride in being a family owned and operated business and believes in giving back to communities whenever possible. Over the past 50 years, JW Fishers has donated equipment or gift certificates to many deserving organizations. The company has developed a complete line of underwater search equipment that is offered in times of need. JW Fishers products have helped many individuals including dive rescue squads, public safety dive teams, police departments, and fire departments locate drowning victims and weapons used in the commission of a crime.

Public safety diving is conducted by law enforcement, fire rescue, and search & rescue/recovery dive teams. These dedicated teams are called to action for a variety of missions from drowning victims to location of missing evidence. Public safety divers respond to emergencies 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and may be required to dive in the middle of the night, during inclement weather, in zero visibility or through polluted waters. These selfless men and women are often given very little to time to plan a search and rely solely on their team members, training and specialized search equipment. JW Fishers is proud to serve as an extension of these teams by providing the right tools for the job with the same mission-focus and devotion; anytime, rain or shine.

What can be done when disaster strikes and the unforgiving sea claims expensive or invaluable objects? JW Fishers has assisted in the recovery of countless ships, anchors, aircraft, indispensable equipment, and, in the most devastating of cases, love ones. One of the most effective tools for underwater search and recovery is a Side Scan Sonar (SSS) system. The JW Fishers’ line of SSS systems are able to search a large area quickly and to produce a detailed image of the ocean floor, regardless of water clarity.

Have you ever wondered how the first metal detector was invented? On July 2, 1881, U.S. President James Garfield was shot in the back. While he managed to survive the assassination attempt, a problem arose in that doctors could not locate the bullet. Alexander Graham Bell (then 34 years old) learned of this unfortunate instance and set out to build a device that could detect the bullet lodged in President Garfield’s chest. Although the machine worked properly, Bell deemed it a failure because it was unable to locate the bullet and resulted in the untimely death of President Garfield. What Bell did not know was that the President’s mattress was filled with metal springs that interfered with the magnetic field surrounding the search area. While Bell’s detector didn’t manage to save President Garfield’s life, the technology was a precursor to modern metal detectors. Jack Fisher (1941-2015) expanded upon Bell’s legacy in 1968 by founding JW Fishers’ manufacturing and its complete line of underwater search equipment. Both Bell and Fisher’s legacies live on with daily search and recovery operations across the globe leading to countless lives saved, livelihoods secured, and historical treasures found.

For more information about JW Every day, bodies of water around the globe are used for recreational purposes, to supply food and drinking water to the growing population, to help stock our natural resource supplies, and to provide a natural habitat for marine life. Sometimes these very same “friendly” waters take valued possessions from people or are used to discard evidence from a crime scene. JW Fishers has been manufacturing hand held, underwater metal detectors for over 40 years and has been the equipment of choice for both law enforcement agencies and treasure hunters worldwide.

Commercial dive companies, law enforcement, Search and Rescue dive teams, and wreck hunters all rely upon a carefully chosen inventory of highly technical equipment to accomplish their goals in a safe, timely, economical and professional manner. Selecting the right tools for the job involves detailed planning and depends entirely upon what an organization is searching for. JW Fishers Mfg. specializes in the manufacture of a diverse line of underwater search equipment to provide operators with a one stop shop for all of their search needs. Over the past 45 years, JWF has worked tirelessly to develop this carefully chosen inventory so that operators can focus on what’s truly important; the mission. Operators of all backgrounds repeatedly return to JWF for assistance in complex searches so that they may have these critical tools for the job, often calling without knowing exactly what they need.

Remote Operated Vehicles (ROV) are used throughout the world for a variety of projects by many different entities. From military, police, fire, and rescue teams searching for lost evidence or drowning victims to commercial diving companies performing inspections on various types of tanks and ship hulls, ROVs have become a staple in underwater search and survey operations. JW Fishers’ Seaotter-2 and SeaLion-2 are the ROVs that many agencies purchase when they need the right tools for the job. A variety of options are available from a mountable sector scanning sonar (SCAN-650) to a Remote Metal Detector (RMD-1). Using an ROV in tandem with a SCAN-650 allows the end user to drive the vehicle around a target area shooting video while also scanning the area using sonar to create a detailed computer image of the surrounding environment. This proves to be quite useful when operating in dark water where video feed doesn’t quite do the job. The RMD-1 is another indispensable accessory that turns an ROV into a metal detecting machine and is interchangeable on ANY manufactures vehicle!

Before 1970 the widely accepted solution for disposal of old munitions, typically called unexploded ordnance (UXO), was to dump them into rivers, lakes and oceans. Today we know this creates a multitude of problems, the worst of which are pollution and the risk of an explosion. Many people have already lost their lives to these underwater booby traps. The uncertainties surrounding their precise location and degree of decomposition, makes attempting to recover these dangerous devices an even more difficult task.

JW Fishers Mfg., a company specializing in the design and manufacture of underwater search equipment for almost 50 years, is introducing a new underwater metal detector for 2017. The SAR-1 Search and Recovery metal detector was developed as a result of significant customer feedback and extensive product testing. This new detector was specially designed for use by public safety dive teams, law enforcement agencies and military units that need to locate metal objects in poor visibility underwater environments. The SAR-1 alterts the operator to the presence of metal by vibration which is transmitted through the handle. Even in zero visibility, the user can feel the intense vibration conducted through the detector’s handle and into the diver’s arm. In addition to vibration, the detector also has a high intensity LED display which is directly in front of the diver’s face and easy to see in all but the worst conditions.

Two young engineers will soon be attempting a 250 kilometer crossing of the English channel in a pedal powered submarine. The two friends, Antoine Delafargue and Michael de Lagarde, are passionate about technical challenges, exploration, and sustainable management of natural resources. Their plan is to travel from Plymouth, England to Saint-Malo, France just a few meters above the sea floor in their human powered sub equipped with variety of observation instruments. The two pilots will provide propulsion through pedals attached to a crankshaft which is connected to a drive train that turns the sub’s propeller. The sealed hull is constructed of wood, fiberglass and a resin composite and has many of the features found on full a size submarine including ballast tanks, CO2 scrubbers, bow thrusters, and a sonar. The sub also has a number of safety features such as an emergency buoy and an acoustic pinger. The pinger will allow a surface vessel to track the sub throughout it’s journey.

Attempting to relocate underwater objects in open ocean or a low visibility environment can be a difficult and time consuming task. Acoustic pingers and transponders solve this problem. These acoustic beacons are attached to an underwater site or instrument package and transmit a sonar signal. A gun-like device, either carried by a diver or deployed from a boat, detects the signal and guides the operator directly to the beacon. Today these acoustic devices are being employed by many marine scientists and researchers to keep track of expensive oceanographic equipment allowing instruments to be quickly relocated and retrieved.