The Daily Review from Morgan City, Louisiana • 56

Pago 12, The Daily Review, Morgan City, La Friday, August 29, 2003, Section Fugro Geoservices' fleet fills subsea 'detective' role strated how a wide angle view of a particular plot of ocean bottom contains a number of potential hazards. By zooming in on the plot and clicking on a particular image, technicians are able to identify what type of hazard exists there. "It can be anything from a pipeline to a sunken boat to a mudslide," Benoit said, explaining that sophisticated sonar equipment and imaging techniques provides crews with a clear view of the submerged hazard. "And it we continue to zoom in, the outline of the hazard is as visible as if it was on dry land," he added. "Pretty amazing stuff." The company's list of clients includes all major oil and gas exploration companies in addition to governmental agencies like the Minerals Management Service, engineering firms and -universities.

Miles of cable wrapped around conductors to feed the information to the vessel are wrapped around spools on the deck. While the equipment both on deck and in the pilot house is costly, Fugro Geoservices offers a wealth of information to its clients that would not be possible by other means, Benoit pointed out. Fugro Geoservices headquartered in Houston is a member of the multi-national Fugro group of companies with 200 officers in -15 countries. By TED McMANUS Much the name way that some people have the need for a private investigator, oil field companies doing business in the Gulf of Mexico often need the expertise of Fugro Geoservices. In its role as subsea supersleuths, crew members aboard Fugro's survey vessels are armed with the latest in video surveillance, sonar and seimic capabilities.

Locally, the Fugro Geoservices (formerly John Chance Marine Surveying) facility is on the Lower Atchafalaya River in Patterson. Hazards on or beneath the ocean's floor, which were previously hidden or obscured from sight, have been brought into plain view by sophisticated equipment aboard Fugor's vessels. Instrumentation provided onboard the survey vessel consists of high frequency digital seismic and sub-bottom profilers, depth sounders, side scan sonars, proton magnetometers and gravity-piston corers. Fugro Geoservices Party Manager Gene Benoit pointed out that the 125-by-30 foot "Geodetic Surveyor" was built in 1981specifically for offshore survey jobs. Benoit said high-tech computer systems now make it possible for maps of the oceanbottom to be shared via a huge database.

Sitting behind a computer monitor, Benoit demon 1 i i 1105 7th Street Morgan City, LA 385-3079 THE SPECIALIZED FLEET of survey vessels owned by Fugro Geoservices Inc. of Patterson offers a special type of expertise to the offshore exploration industry. The 125-by-30 foot "Geodetic Surveyor," above, was built in 1981 specifically for offshore survey jobs. At left, Fugro Geoservices Party Manager Gene Denct scans high-tech computer equipment to determine the location of subsea (wards which have been togged into a massive database using information generated by high frequency digital seismic and sub bottom profilers, depth sounders, S'de scan sonars, proton magnetometers and gravity-piston corers. i --r( frM 1111 J-- 2 I iSJi CALL US FOR ALL YOUR MEDICAL EQUIPMENT NEEDS! 19 I River coalition working hard ft i (AUU Annual i to keep local waterways open Wimp their ve'l encounter problems ui Matte pointed out.

"it will up 1 a 1 "NJ Left to right: Aaron Bodin Accounts Manager, Alicia Pcnnsion -Office Manger, Brad Mane President, Jocelyn Baker Accounts ManageNew Orleans Kristen Gilly, R.N. Accounts Manager' Baton Rouge I 1 4 us as a community to get behind getting the channel prnjitt funded at the Congressional level Other studse sanctioned by the Morgan City Harbor and Terminal District have already U-en completed to show that a deeper channel will, indeed, be cost and will benefit the local economy Also, studies performed IJV and the Corps verified that a culprit in the fluctuating depths of the channel is suspended pudding-like goo called "fluff which cb gs the propulsion systems of ninny boats. Lal officials are confident that a deeper channel will lower the level of the fluff, keeping it away from the vessel's intakes. More recently, the ARC, the Coast Guard and local port officials have asked for help from boat captains to pinpoint particular shallow spots in the Atchafalaya Kd Kyle Navigation River Channel and its tributaries Roat company officials were asked twice this year by the port commission to let them know when the channel lepth readings in the channel at various times of the year havp indicated l'M2 feet of water in some "pots, much than miny vessel netl to reach the Gulf of Met ion Ri.i! company repreentatnes are to identify the problem spits by longitude and latitude, or channel buoy marker Matte told port commission members recently that a Csers Committee is Ix-ing formed to unite boat companies in pursuit of more naMgable channel He said fl request has also been made to allow the I 'oast Guard the same flexibility to move channel buoy markers in the Atchafalaya River as it doe in waterways Waled in the "Western Rivers system of the I' tied States By having the Coast Guard mown the buoys on short notice, a rhan nel of adequate depth could marked as needed without abiding by the mandatory 90-day notice period. The channel-deepening project is also tied closely to environmental (Continued on Page 14) -ir By Ttl) McMANt'S It has eventful year and a half fur the Atchafalaya River Coalition.

The ARC in a non-profit group comprised of 41 memU-r companies devoted to lobbying state and federal officials in support of maintaining and deepening local waterways. Without a reliable route to the Gulf of Mexico, local official the area's) economy tand little chance of thriving or even surviving. Tim Matte, Morgan City's former two-term mayor, serves at executive director of the coalition and answers to a 15-memher hoard Over the past IS months, the ARC's membership has been busy attending governmental meetings and traveling to Baton Rouge and Washington to raise awareness of the immediate need for a consistent 20-foot channel and the future need for a 35-foot route to the Gulf of Mexico. "We've been very active since day one," Matte said. "The ultimate goal is, of course, a deeper channel Hut the coalition is also determined to take whatever steps are needed to get the 20 feet of water for unimpeded vessel traffic in this area." While the time schedule for getting one or both of those objectives accomplished, Matte is optimistic that the required feasibility and environmental impact studies will be complete by 2005.

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