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A surveillance system will be installed in the Piscataqua River this summer to protect the Port of New Hampshire from terrorist attacks.
The system will include sonar equipment and a remotely operated underwater robotic camera called the Sea Otter that will let authorities check any potential threats to the bridges that connect New Hampshire and Maine. The camera also will let authorities check the hulls of incoming ships.
The system was developed by Sonatech Corp. of Bedford and already has been tested at several other ports.
Right now, there's nothing -- nowhere, nobody, no how -- looking under the water of the Piscataqua River, said Geno Marconi, director of the New Hampshire Division of Ports and Harbors. What it will do is give us another tool for our toolbox for homeland security.
Sonar detectors will be placed on either side of the Sarah Long Bridge and in other locations to scan near the I-95 bridge and Memorial Bridge. If potential threats are detected, a signal will be sent to law enforcement agencies, said Deputy Harbormaster Grant Nicholls. Authorities then would use a new 30-foot speed boat to take the camera to where the threat was detected.
Harvey Woodsum, president of Sonatech Corp., said the Coast Guard and Navy will test the new equipment in June. Officials also are talking with the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard to see if the federal government wants to use the equipment to monitor underwater activity near the shipyard.
Woodsum said Portsmouth was chosen as a test site more than a year ago. Though some critics have questioned the need for such technology, Woodsum said terrorists are close to having the ability to use divers to attach bombs to ship hulls and bridges.
We have bridges that can be attacked and sunk the harbor, which would basically stop all traffic, between New Hampshire and Maine, he said.
Nicholls agreed.
I think it pays to be prepared, whether we're operating in the Port of Portsmouth or the Port of Los Angeles, he said.
Source:RamblerNews
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