Japan, N.Z. marine survey

Press, 18 March 1982, Page 12

Japan, N.Z. marine survey

By BRUCE ROSCOE, in Tokyo Japan and New Zealand will make a joint geological and marine survey of resources in the little explored Tonga Trench, north of New Zealand, according to the Japanese Science and Technology Agency. The survey, which will be the first big scientific project to be undertaken jointly by New Zealand and Japan, will be spread over five years. The governments of Australia and Indonesia will also take part. Australia's interest lies. Un the New Britain Trench, south of NewBritain, and Indonesia's interest lies in the Sunda Trench, south-west of Sumatra. Officially, the survey is intended to determine the complex undersea structure of the three trenches to find clues which may explain their volcanic and earthquake movements. A Japanese survey ship which will be commissioned for the project, will be equipped with devices which measure seabottom temperatures and which will collect seabed silt and other matter, a sign that natural resources will also be a target of the survey.

The ship, which is yet to be named, will also carry an undersea seismograph and a multi-channel sonic probe to detect even the slightest of tremors.

According to the international affairs- division of the science agency, the New Zealand Government has approved the Tonga Trench survey plans, which were proposed by the agency’s director-general. Mr Ichiro Nakagawa, during his visit to New Zealand in August, 1981. Mr Nakagawa had sought New Zealand’s co-operation from Dr Shearer, the Minis-

ter of Science and Technology, who had described the proposals as “profitable." The Japanese Government already has appropriated Y 62 million (about $NZ310.000), from its fiscal 1982 Budget, to the science agency for the Sunda Trench survey, which will begin in . 1983.’ Survey work will shift to the New Britain Trench in 1984 and to the Tonga Trench in 1985. V Joining the project • in Japan are the Geological Survey of Japan, the Japan Marine Science and Technology Centre, and the National Centre for Disaster Prevention.