For more than 40 years JW Fishers has specialized in the design and manufacture of reasonably priced, high tech underwater search equipment. Their product line includes diver-held and boat-towed metal detectors, marine magnetometers, underwater camera systems, ROVs, cable tracking systems, acoustic pingers, scanning sonar, and side scan sonar systems. Fishers side scan sonars are routinely used fo
r search and survey operations by commercial diving companies, law enforcement agencies, and military units. The system provides simplicity of operation and real-time continuous viewing of sonar images on a laptop computer. A GPS can be connected to display and store position coordinates with the sonar data. Optional map coverage software shows the path of the boat as it travels over the search area and the width of the scanned area, all overlaid onto a nautical chart. The scanned area is highlighted in yellow and overlapping scans are highlighted in green. Other features of the software included annotations and navigational markers. Three types of markers can be displayed on the map; user defined waypoints, text annotations made on the sonar file, and general purpose markers. Placing markers on the map helps in planning and performing search and survey operations. Fishers diver-held and boat-towed magnetometers are super sensitive detectors for iron and steel. These mags are rugged, reliable and easy to operate which are key reasons they are in such wide use by the commercial diving and salvage industry. Mags can locate sunken vessels, anchors, chains, pipelines, dredge heads, armored cables, moorings, and a variety of other lost objects. A GPS system can be connected to the boat-towed Proton 4 to capture position coordinates along with the readout data. Tracker software allows the mag operator to know the exact status of the search at any point in time. In the upper left of the screen is a graph with latitude and longitude showing the path of the boat as it moves over the search area. On the right hand side of the screen the mag readouts and associated position coordinates are displayed in a cascading waterfall. At the bottom of the screen is a graphical representation of the mag readouts, making it easy to see when a target is detected by the spike or dip in the graph. When an operation calls for a visual survey, Fishers underwater camera systems and ROVs are the best choice. They send real time video images to a surface monitor for viewing and recording. Connecting the On Screen Display system with a GPS allows position coordinates to be displayed and recorded with video picture. The additional information of depth, temperature, and compass heading can also be captured with the ROVs. For more information on Fishers complete line of underwater search systems go to www.jwfishers.com.
