OTECA-JAPAN PLANNED 2ND SURVEYS FOR CHRISTMAS/VITI LEVU ISLANDS

IOA News Letters Summary

According to the recent report released from the OTECA-JAPAN, the Japanese OTEC development term is currently placing considerable effort to introduce a "Multi-Purpose Applications of OTEC" concept with the aim of proposing an International OTEC Center for Oceanographic Research in Christmas Island and promoting an OTEC co-product industry (fish-farming and cooling source etc.) in Viti Levu Island. After the initial site surveys conducted during 1989 at four locations: Bali and Lombok in the Republic of Indonesia; Viti Levu in the Republic of Fiji; Christmas Island in the Republic of Kiribati; and Pohnpei Island in the Federated States of Micronesia, the team has selected Viti Levu and Christmas Island as their model sites for the proposed multipurpose OTEC development and they are planning to conduct their second site investigation at those two selected locations. The site investigation for Christmas Island will be emphasized on the survey of geographical features, water, corals,ect. on the southwest coast of the island where many small-scale lagoons and an inlet suitable for the multipurpose OTEC applications are present, while the previous survey was focused on the more populated northwest part of the Island from the point of profitability. Since the Viti Levu Island has good potential for establishing multi-purpose industries such as fish farming and supplying of cooling energy, the investigation will be highly concentrated on the collection of such related data and evaluation of fish farming practice around the island.