Brave New Waves
Open to the World, Spring 2006
The Scotian Shelf is an undersea apron that extends hundreds of kilometres off the coast of Nova Scotia. The 96,000-square-kilometre area provides a fertile breeding and feeding ground for a broad range of marine animals, from sponges and corals to shellfish, whales, and birds. It’s in this highly productive zone that the frigid Labrador Current mingles with the tepid waters of the Gulf Stream, producing the “pea soup” fog for which the coast is famous.
Those who ply their trades in these waters do so in conditions that can be harsh and even dangerous, particularly in winter. However, abundant natural resources in the water column and beneath the ocean floor—along with transportation, tourism, telecommunications, and scientific endeavours—mean that more people than ever are navigating these often-turbulent seas using Nova Scotia-made technologies and equipment.
by Melanie Jollymore
In Nova Scotia, traditional ocean industries are benefiting from new technologies, while new industries are emerging for which knowledge and creativity are the stock in trade. Take MetOcean Data Systems Ltd. (www.metocean.com), for example. The Dartmouth-based company is a world leader in specialized marine technologies. Scientists are using the company’s ice beacons and platforms to monitor the condition of the polar ice caps, along with ice movements, thickness, and indicators of melt.
Established in 1985 with a core staff of five and a local customer base, the company has grown to employ nearly 40 people at its state-of-the-art facility. MetOcean now sells its diverse range of products around the globe. “Innovation is the key to our success,” says 37-year-old MetOcean president Tony Chedrawy. The National Research Council (NRC) recognized MetOcean last January as a Canadian Innovation Leader for its outstanding technological achievements.
The latest of these is PROVOR, an autonomous profiling float developed through the NRC Industrial Research Assistance Program. These two-metre-long tubes drift with global currents, plunging to depths of 2,000 metres before rising to the surface in a continuous wavelike pattern known as profiling. As they go, they collect data about water temperature, pressure, and salinity, which they transmit daily to users via satellite and the Internet. Meteorologists, oceanographers, and other scientists use this data to predict weather patterns and long-term climate changes.
MetOcean is now working with navys around the world to extend PROVOR capabilities. “The next generation will be equipped with acoustic sensors and integrated with stationary listening posts to detect the movement of ships,” says Chedrawy. Users will be able to direct the floats from a remote location; this technology will play an important role in port and homeland security for several nations.
A different sort of acoustic system is helping the United States navy stay on target. MetOcean developed and patented the Mobile Acoustic Scoring System (MASS) four years ago; the navy now uses it to monitor missile-firing accuracy in training operations. “MASS is essentially a mobile firing range at sea,” says Chedrawy. “The buoys form a 20,000-metre circle, they fire a missile into the circle, and the buoys capture and relay acoustic data that tells them where it landed.”
MetOcean’s Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) is another innovation with safety benefits. The VMS, which MetOcean custom made for DFO, monitors fishing-vessel movements. This makes the boats easy to locate in an emergency, but the VMS does more than simply track location. “Fishermen connect their laptops to the device and surf the Internet for weather reports,” says Chedrawy, “and, just as important, enter catch information.” DFO correlates this catch data with fishing patterns and other VMS-revealed information that helps it better manage fish stocks. “It’s about applying our expertise to create new applications,” says Chedrawy.
The boat-building industry is another case in point. Wade Goulden is hardworking and resourceful. He was six or seven years old when he first fished with his father. “We fished inshore for groundfish, lobster, and herring,” says Goulden, 47, of Ingomar, Shelburne County, near the southwestern tip of Nova Scotia.
“We’re creating a framework to guide intelligent growth and development of ocean industries in the future so they can generate wealth without harming the ecosystem”
Like many Maritimers lured by higher wages, Goulden went west at a young age to work as a farmhand and heavy-equipment operator in Manitoba. However, eventually the sea—and his father—called him back. They fished throughout the late 1980s’ lobster boom, but when inshore groundfish catches fell flat, father and son decided to build a bigger boat and head offshore. “We crafted a 38-foot Cape Islander with the help of a local builder,” recalls Goulden. “So I learned the fundamentals of boat building—and that I liked it. That’s when the idea of someday owning a boat shop took hold.”
Goulden fished the southwestern reaches of the Scotian Shelf until 1996. “By then quotas were so low, it was hard to go fishing,” he says. “The right species weren’t always there in the right numbers.” A local boat-building shop was sitting empty, so Goulden bought it and in 1999 launched Apple Island Marine (www.appleislandmarine.com). He began by building one boat and servicing the local market with repairs but soon began building more and more new fishing boats.
From the beginning, Goulden harboured the notion of tapping the pleasure-boat market, so he didn’t hesitate when a couple from North Carolina called to see if he could build them a yacht based on the classic Cape Island fishing-boat design. Christened Cape Sable Grace, the 13.5-metre-long, 6.6-metre-wide, fibreglass cruiser—featuring two three-piece bathrooms and full-size appliances—left Nova Scotia for her home berth in North Carolina last November with owner Skip Roofner and Goulden aboard.
“We ran into almost 50-mile-per-hour winds and 25-foot seas just outside of Seal Island,” says Goulden wryly. “Once it was over, Skip was happy because he knew he could trust his boat to handle anything.” Indeed, the beamy Cape Island design is so stable, and the fuel and water tanks so generous, that this ocean-going vessel is ideal for lengthy high-seas voyages.
Cape Sable Grace is turning heads at her home marina, and Goulden anticipates that his pleasure-boat business will expand. Apple Island Marine already has grown from three to 10 employees, with gross sales averaging more than $1 million each of the past three years. The company is a substantial player in the local economy of Ingomar, where fishing is still a way of life—and a prime example of how Nova Scotia’s growing boat-building industry is applying traditional knowledge and skills to new products and markets.
