A unique study recently published by scientists from the National Oceanography Centre and University College Cork shows that deep, cold-water corals are very slow to recover from damage. Therefore deep-water Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) protect vulnerable marine ecosystems most effectively when they are put in place before that damage occurs.

Tritech International Ltd, [Tritech], a Moog Inc. Company, welcomed His Royal Highness The Duke of Kent on Wednesday 22 June, 2016 to the company’s Ulverston, Cumbria site. Tritech designs and manufactures high-technology sonars for underwater applications which enable underwater vehicles to perform tasks such as obstacle avoidance and target detection in industries such as Oil & Gas and Defence.

Delta Subsea LCC, a leading integrated independent provider of ROV Services and Solutions, and Boskalis Subsea Services, a global subsea IRM provider have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding to provide integrated Diving and ROV solutions in the Gulf of Mexico.

Be heard at the world's leading marine science and ocean technology exhibition and conference in its first North American edition.

Embargoed for 00:01 Monday 27 June 2016. Australian headquartered company Blue Ocean Monitoring, experienced global provider of ocean monitoring services, is expanding its offices and taking space in the Marine Robotics Innovation Centre at the National Oceanography Centre (NOC) in Southampton.

Following successful delivery of recent cable-lay and trenching projects for the renewables sector, Fugro has secured three contracts for its trenching services for oil and gas clients. The contracts will see its high performance Q1400 trenching systems deployed in the North Sea over the next 12 months.

The International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA) has published ‘Guidance on drug & alcohol policies and testing’ (SEL 040). It is downloadable free of charge to members and non-members alike at www.imca-int.com/media/252259/imcasel040.pdf. Within its 28 pages there are sections on ‘Who should be tested? - Reasons for testing’; ‘Tests for drug and alcohol abuse’; ‘Urine testing’; ‘Breath testing’; ‘Record keeping’; ‘Problems with testing’; and ‘Cut-off levels’ as well as a useful glossary of terms and guidance on further information.

InterMoor, an Acteon company and part of its foundations and moorings business, recently completed its involvement in the Shell Malikai Tension Leg Platform (TLP) float-off operations. The TLP was loaded onto the Dockwise Heavy Lift Vessel White Marlin at Malaysia Marine and Heavy Engineering (MMHE) shipyard in Pasir Gudang, Malaysia, and transported to a float-off location in the Singapore Straits.

As a leading global manufacturer of syntactic foam-based solutions, Trelleborg’s offshore operation has been awarded a purchase order from a major European Drilling Contractor for Drill Riser Buoyancy Modules (DRBMs). As a trusted partner, this is the 6th order from this contractor for their new build rig series.

Subsea technology company Sonardyne International Ltd recently used 2G Robotics’ underwater laser scanning equipment to dynamically map the seabed in Monterey Bay, California. This high resolution deep water mapping of Sur Ridge was performed using 2G Robotics’ ULS-500 underwater laser scanner mounted to an ROV.

The MTS/IEEE OCEANS'16 Conference was recently held in April 2016 in Shanghai, China.

When two tugboats collided off the coast of Nanaimo in late May 2016, SEAMOR Marine Ltd. was quick on the scene to offer help. The accident occurred the evening of May 24, 2016 in the south of Nanaimo between Duke Point and Gabriola Island. Two tug boats were running alongside one another, when one ship, the C.T. Titan, swerved and crashed into the smaller Albern tug. Two crew members were safely pulled from the water, but the Albern rolled and sank to the bottom of the Northumberland Channel. The sunken tug suffered damage to its fuel tanks, slowly releasing fuel into the channel at the rate of five-foot diameter patches of oil every ten minutes. At 105 metres of depth, with substantial tidal impacts and moderate current in the channel, there were concerns that the oil spill could worsen.

C-Kore Systems Ltd has been awarded a contract to supply Statoil with Subsea Electrical Monitoring Tools. Statoil will be using the tools to monitor the insulation resistance and continuity of a new control umbilical during its installation at a field outside Bergen in the northern part of the North Sea.

Fugro has been awarded a three-year contract for integrity management support (IMS) and intervention works for Det norske in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea.

Two teams of north-east school pupils are set to travel to the United States to compete in an international underwater robotics competition. The teams, from Mintlaw Academy and Robert Gordon’s College, will compete in the Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) Centre’s 2016 ROV international final in Houston later this month.

An invitation only technology showcase organised by Subsea Commercial Services (SCS) in conjunction with Forum Energy Technologies (Forum) has been hailed a success by all those involved. With the objective of introducing new subsea technologies from three manufacturers to the Aberdeen Oil and Gas sector, the two-day event was well attended with positive feedback and outcomes for Forum and all the equipment manufacturers taking part.

Leading subsea technology provider Forum Energy Technologies (UK) Limited has unveiled a deep water test facility and received industry accreditation for the calibration laboratory at its new European Operational Centre in Aberdeen. The indoor test tank is one of the largest in the North-east of Scotland and is dedicated to testing subsea tooling and survey sensors as well as work-class remotely operated vehicles (ROVs).

Fugro has been awarded a geotechnical site investigation survey contract for the Hollandse Kust (zuid) Wind Farm Zone. This follows previous contracts awarded earlier this year for geophysical survey and metocean monitoring at the same site. The work will be performed using dedicated geotechnical DP2 vessels from the Fugro fleet. Taking place over a period of two months, it will result in an integrated geological/geotechnical soil model of the site.