The National Oceanography Centre (NOC), working with the University of Southampton and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), recently completed a Fully Autonomous Marine Protected Area Seafloor Survey. This survey will help us understand the suitability of using autonomous underwater vehicles for UK offshore marine monitoring, and establish to what extent such systems can help the UK Government meet its increasing marine monitoring ambitions.

New insights into animal patterns around extinct submarine volcanoes could inform measures used to protect marine ecosystems from human activities, such as trawling and deep-sea mining. These insights have been published today in Nature Scientific Reports, and show that the structure of marine life communities depends on depth and small-scale features on the sea floor.

OCEAN BUSINESS - The Offshore Survey Committee are delighted to reveal one of the most impressive programmes yet for its fifth conference which takes place from 15 - 16 April 2015, alongside Ocean Business at the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton UK.

Ocean Business 2015, taking place from 14-16 April 2015 at the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton, UK, is delighted to present one of its most impressive training and demonstration line-ups yet. Demand has never been so high for the show, with both exhibitor stands and training and demonstration sessions being snapped up in record time. More than 300 companies from across the globe will showcase their latest ocean technologies at the exhibition, and a highlight of the show will undoubtedly be the training and demonstration programme, which gives visitors a chance to see products in action and actually put them to the test.