st looks back

Sea Technology, Jul 2006

July Issue

25 Years Ago

1981. Windfarm Ltd. (San Francisco, California) and United Technologies' Hamilton Standard Division (Windsor Locks, Connecticut) reached an agreement, in principle, to build what was claimed to he, at that time, the world's largest wind turbine farm....That summer, Hydrolab, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's undersea laboratory, hosted four experiments related to fishery management. Projects included meanderings of the parrotfish and observations of the early life stages of coral reef fish....Adm. James D. Watkins replaced Adm. Donald C. Davis as commander-in-chief of the U.S. Navy's Pacific Fleet as Davis' retirement became official.

15 Years Ago

1991. Officials at the Global Positioning System Association forecasted a commercial market for hand-held receivers at $1 billion over the next five years, including marine navigation and recreation....The U.S. House of Representatives Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee voted to repeal the U.S. Coast Guard's user fee/boat tax, offsetting the planned $718 million income with a plan to charge waterborne common carrier users for use of an automated rate filing system....Dr. James W. Elkins, Paul C. Novell and Dr. L. Paul Steele led a joint study which determined that computer projections of global climate change were underestimating carbon dioxide amounts in the atmosphere.

10 Years Ago

1996. An international coral reef symposium involving more than 1,000 scientists from 60 countries was held in Panama City, Panama, and organized by the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and the University of Panama....The U.S. Food and Drug Administration made available updated nutrient data on the 20 most frequently consumed seafood products in the world....The U.S. House of Representatives approved the Antarctic Environmental Protection Act, which provided legislative authority for the United States to establish rules for protection of the Antarctic environment.