ANNUAL REPORT 2002-2003 BOUT NIO The National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) was founded on 1 January 1966. It has headquarters at Goa and three regional centres located at Mumbai, Kochi and Visakhapatnam. Its present Staff is about 600 of whom 200 are scientists. The Institute has well equipped laboratories, modern communication and distributed facilities and a well developed library and information service facility. It has been recognised as Responsible Oceanographic Data Centre by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission catering to the needs of organisations within the country, and to countries bordering the Indian Ocean. The Institute has a Coastal Research Vessel Sagar Shukti which is equipped with state-of-the-art technology for coastal studies. UR MISSION "to continuously improve our understanding of the seas around us and to translate this knowledge to benefit all" UALITY POLICY "to provide the best possible advisories to our stakeholders in the sustainable use of the ocean, the quality of which would be gauged by the quality of publications, patents and services to industry" BJECTIVES to attain international recognition and leadership in the Indian Ocean region through outstanding multi-disciplinary research and creation of intellectual property to develop world class expertise and facilities in the emerging fields of ocean science ANNUAL REPORT 2002-2003 NIO, GOA Contents 2 Director's Report 4 Oceans and Climate 6 Biogeochemistry & Ecosystems 16 Drugs & Chemicals 23 Non-Living Resources 25 Pollution & Environmental Impact 30 Engineering & Instrumentation 33 Marine Archaeology 35 Sponsored Projects 37 Cruises Participation 40 Events 43 Awards & Honours 47 Deputations from the Institute 48 Patents & Publications 51 Finances & Human Resource 55 Director's Report During the year 2002-03 the National Institute of our chosen favourites for the task. Considerable Oceanography continued its efforts towards progress has been made in certain areas, where fulfilling its mission : to continuously improve we are closer to our goals. Thus, we have several our understanding of the seas around us and US patents granted in this field during the current to translate this knowledge to benefit all. I year. Our research has opened up new avenues summarize below salient products of these that show much promise. The common green efforts in different areas of research. mussel growing in the backyard of the institute has yielded some potential anti-viral drugs. The Oceans and Climate area of prevention of biofouling of surfaces and materials in the marine environment still The ocean's role in controlling the climate of the provides a great challenge. Therefore, search Earth has received considerable attention during for antifouling compounds from various sources the last few decades. is a continuous process. Extracts from a gorgonian and a few other marine organisms including The researchers of NIO have an added interest seaweeds have been shown to inhibit attachment in this arena. It arises from the need to understand of bacteria to surfaces. interaction between the ocean and the monsoon, the provider of freshwater to India. The studies Non-living Resources carried in the area of oceans and climate during this year primarily followed three themes. The It has often been printed out that the oceans form first was exploration of the physical processes of the last frontier for the mankind's needs. The the Bay of Bengal and their role in the monsoons. research this year in the institute focused on three The interest in this theme stems from the fact that potential non-living resources : gas hydrates in activity of the monsoon precipitation is much the continental shelf, phosphorites and more intense over the bay than over the rest of manganese nodules. A number of processes the North Indian Ocean. The second theme was that lead to the presence of these resources were oceanic processes that dominate near-surface studied. Attention was drawn to the provenance circulation in the open sea and in the coastal of volcanic ash found in the ocean. Also studied areas. While the study of ocean processes at the were processes associated with manganese present provides insight into what the climate in micronodules found in the Bay of Bengal. future might be, the ocean is a valuable recorder of signals of the climate of the past Deciphering Geophysical investigations of the ocean floor are those signals formed the third principal theme important to understand its structure. In this during the year. Summarized below are the year's research geophysical studies of the Central studies that were carried out under the three Indian Ocean provided new insights into plate themes. movements and possible mountain building activity which took place during early Pliocene. Biogeochemistry & Ecosystems Closer to home, geophysical studies of the continental margins of India generated new ideas The unique monsoon cycles make a profound on their evolution and present structure. In an impact on biogeochemical cycling in the northern interesting application, backscatter of acoustic Indian Ocean making this area globally signals used in ocean floor mapping systems significant in terms of processes that affect ocean were used, together with Neural Networks to productivity and atmospheric composition. The identify characteristics of ocean floors. research during 2002-03 at NIO focused on the effects of the unusual physical forcings on Pollution and Environmental Impact changes in elemental transformations and ecosystem functioning in the pelagic and benthic The institute continued its investigations into the environments, on oceanic production of health of the waters around India. It was shown climatically important gases and their exchanges that while an oil spill reduces the number of across air-sea interface. organisms in the water almost immediately after the spill, it takes much longer to regain its pre- Drugs & Chemicals from the Sea spill status. This is particularly true in the waters that experience a strong seasonal feature like The institute continued to pursue its objective of the monsoon. In another study it was shown that finding: solutions to human diseases, counts of bacteria over different seasons serve environmental pollution and fouling of marine as indices to evaluate risks associated with structures through marine organisms. Bacteria, human activities in marine environment. Some fungi, seaweeds, seagrasses, mangrove plants hypersaline strains of anaerobic bacteria were and invertebrates from our waters have been very effective in precipitating mercury and lead. Such bacteria could play an important role in This year we were granted five patents: two related metal pollution bioremediation. In another study, to human and animal nutrition and therapeutic a particular fish was found responsible for use, the third concerned treatment of dyes controlling some of the fouling organisms. originating from industrial and other sources in wastewater discharge; the fourth was related to a Engineering and Instrumentation composition tested to be effective as a prophylactic and/or the therapeutic agent for the As earlier, ocean engineering and applied management of viral and bacterial diseases in oceanography continued to be an important the aquatic animals, particularly against white component of our industry-sponsored research. spot syndrome virus (wssv) in prawn aquaculture; Analysis of data collected under such projects the fifth concerned a closed seawater/brackish revealed important clues on characteristics of water recycling system, designed and developed wind-waves, mining and sediment transport for effective management of culture organisms/ dynamics in the near-shore and estuarine areas to generate fodder organism, etc. of India. In instrumentation there were studies conducted on impact of water density on sea The year marked the conclusion of a highly level measurements that need tide-well based successful bilateral programme between India gauges. and Germany that was initiated in 1986 by late Dr. H.N. Siddiquie of this institute and by late Dr. Marine Archaeology E.T. Degens, University of Hamburg, Germany. The programme focused on biogeochemical The ocean often serves as a repository of the processes and monsoonal upwelling in the North artifacts used by past civilizations, particularly Indian Ocean. those that made coastal areas their home. Marine archaeological studies carried out in the institute during this year have helped to A number of honours came to our scientists. Dr. understand our past better. Potsherds from Bet V. Pumachandra Rao was elected Fellow of the Dwarka, Gujarat, were dated using methods that Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore. Dr. D. utilize bioluminescence to arrive at a cultural Shankar received the "CSIR Young Scientist sequence of the island. Archaeological studies Award" in Earth, Atmosphere, Ocean and were carried out in the waters of Goa, Dwarka Planetary Sciences. Dr. V. Subrahmanyam and Orissa. received the National Mineral Award 2001 for his contributions in geophysics. Dr. P.D. Naidu was selected for the S.S. Merh Award 2002. Dr. Z.A. Other significant events in the institute were: Ansari was honoured by the National The Institute organized a multi-disciplinary cruise Environmental Science Academy, New Delhi. onboard ORV Sagar Kanya in April-May 2002 at This year marked completion of two decades the initiative of Ministry of External Affairs (GOI) since the First Indian Expedition to Antarctica. and active support