Interview: Harry Stewart, President & CEO, The Dutra Group
, sea conditions, inflation, fuel price volatility, labor shortages, or equipment breakdowns.” Early in his career, Stewart was asked to be the project engineer to help put the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge back together following the Loma Prieta earthquake that struck the San Francisco Bay Area in 1989. All photos courtesy The Dutra GroupBuilding BridgesThe dredging and marine construction business is never straight ahead, or easy. Even projects that have been long-studied and investigated invariably provide numerous curves and roadblocks before bringing the job to fruition.Then
Ship Strikes Kill Gray Whales in San Francisco Bay Area
Four dead gray whales washed ashore on San Francisco Bay area beaches in nine days, with experts announcing that two of the giant aquatic mammals died from ship strikes and an investigation is ongoing Saturday on the other two.Biologists with the non-profit Marine Mammal Center in California said in a release Saturday that two dead whales washed ashore in the Bay area on Thursday, joining two more that were discovered dead in area beaches since March 31.Of the four animals, two died from blunt force trauma from ship strikes, the center said.“It’s alarming to respond to four dead gray
New ASV Delivered to the US Navy
San Francisco Bay Area based marine robotics company Marine Advanced Robotics said it has delivered a WAM-V 16 autonomous surface vehicle ASV to Naval Information Warfare Center (NIWC) Pacific to support multi-domain unmanned maritime system autonomy.According to Marine Advanced Robotics, the WAM-V technology is particularly suited for subsurface, surface and air sensor deployments in real world ocean conditions where asset recovery is critical in less-than-ideal conditions.“WAM-V stability and portability are unmatched and together with NIWC and our industry partners, we demonstrated the
Oi 50th "Voices": Don Walsh: First to Travel to the Deepest Ocean Depths
Growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area, Capt. Don Walsh decided to join the U.S. Navy at Naval Air Station Oakland in 1948, where he became an aircrewman in torpedo bombers. Two years later, he entered the U.S. Naval Academy, and in 1956, he enrolled in submarine school. Little did he know that four years later — in 1960 — he’d be the first person (with Jacques Piccard) to travel to the furthest ocean depths onboard the submersible Bathyscaph Trieste (Trieste).During his tenure as Officer-in-Charge of Trieste, Capt. Walsh was designated USN Deep Submersible Pilot #1. In January 1960
Trieste: 60th Anniversary of Deepest Dive
Deep Submersible Pilot #1—something that had never been achieved before in the United States. Image Courtesy Don Walsh.A lucky pilotWalsh said Jan. 23 “was a lucky day.” Ambition, a sense of adventure and good fortune placed him on the path to historic destiny.Growing up near the San Francisco Bay, Walsh was captivated by the ships entering and exiting the harbor. Inspired, he attended the U.S. Naval Academy and became a submariner.Not long into his naval career, Walsh heard about an unusual opportunity. The Navy recently acquired Trieste and needed volunteer pilots to test it. However
The Ocean Cleanup Kicks Off
A first-of-its-kind floating ocean cleanup system is undergoing a final round of testing before it begins removing plastic pollution from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch halfway between Hawaii and California.The system developed by the Dutch nonprofit The Ocean Cleanup was launched from San Francisco Bay on September 8 and towed 350 nautical miles by the vessel Maersk Launcher to an offshore test site. System 001 will now undergo two weeks of trials before continuing its journey to start collecting debris at the world’s largest accumulation of ocean plastic some 1,200 nautical miles off
ROV Used for Cherry Lake Dam Inspection
A Phantom T4H remotely operated vehicle (ROV), designed and built by Deep Ocean Engineering, Inc., has completed an inspection of the intake riser at Cherry Lake Dam near Yosemite in California. The dam, built in 1956, has provided water and power to the San Francisco Bay Area, Modesto and Turlock districts for over 60 years, and the structure has not been seen since its construction. The Phantom T4H ROV documented the state of the dam’s water intake riser and the position of the gates at a depth of 258 feet (78.6m), about a quarter of the ROV’s rated capability. The
Underwater Video Aids Scientists and Search Teams
Great South Bay. “In Hempstead Bay, we saw the sea lettuce algae that can overwhelm these bays if nutrient levels are too high. The TOV was also instrumental in mapping California’s Humboldt Bay to identify areas for possible marine protection, and in a shallow water mapping project in San Francisco Bay to study the health of eel grass, which is a priority habitat for the state.” Another agency successfully using the towed video system is Boone County Water Rescue in Kentucky, a division of Boone County Emergency Management. The group of 39 volunteers work more 12,000 hours
New Research Vessel Delivered to State of California
Incat Crowther and built at Vigor’s specialized aluminum fabrication facility in Seattle. A replacement for the DWR’s 40-year-old vessel San Carlos, Sentinel will be used primarily to monitor water quality, phytoplankton, zooplankton and benthic macro-invertebrates within the San Francisco bay area and close proximity coastline, specifically the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and upper San Francisco Estuary. The Sentinel will serve as a floating laboratory whose mission is to protect water quality, according to the DWR. The flagship of DWR’s Environmental Monitoring
February 2024
