For the past two weeks, attendees at The Great New York State Fair have had the opportunity to see technology that could lead to the discovery of more information on past shipwrecks.

The Great New York State Fair and the New York Sea Grant presented an exhibit at the 2014 fair on Great Shipwrecks of New York’s Great Lakes. The exhibit was created in partnership with 10 other organizations, includingthe State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry.

Greg Boyer, a professor at SUNY-ESF and the director of the Great Lakes Research Consortium, and his research team were in charge of organizing and managing a display that showcased the technological power of underwater remotely operated vehicles as part of the shipwrecks exhibit. They put on demonstrations twice a day in the reflecting pool behind the fairgrounds.

Dave White, a professor at SUNY-ESF as well as the recreation specialist for the New York Sea Grant and the associate director of the Great Lakes Research Consortium, said that one goal of the display was to draw attention to the maritime history and culture of upstate New York. The display highlights 12 different shipwrecks across New York lakes, rivers and streams.

“Each wreck has its own history,” White said. “Learning that history can help us appreciate it, help us understand it, help us think about what happened before we came. To me, that’s the real fundamental theme — raising that awareness to folks about where we are and where our place in it all is.”

White explained that ROVs help with this process by using its clear camera to spot a mark of identification on the ship.

“So if you saw a ship down there, you could send the ROV and it could see a number or part of a name or something that could say when it was built, construction style, so then you can say ‘oh that’s the wreck of ‘blank’ and then begin to get into the history,” White said

Boyer, the Great Lakes Research Consortium director, said another one of the benefits of using ROVs is that it is much safer and less expensive than using manpower. In addition, humans are usually limited to going 100 feet deep, so an ROV can allow people to see what’s further down.

Another goal of the demonstration was to increase general public knowledge, Boyer said.

“The shipwreck display is to make people aware of the amazing things under the water,” he said. “The ROV display specifically is to raise awareness about cool technology.”

Frances Knickmeyer, a graduate student at SUNY-ESF who had been helping run the ROV demonstration, agreed that the display was a great way to discover more about this technology.

“I learned a lot about the basics of what ROVs are good for,” said Knickmeyer. “There’s the scientific research aspect — looking at underwater vegetation, animals, they’re also good for exploring shipwrecks, deep water oil spills, missing persons. Pretty much anything and everything that’s underwater you could probably use an ROV for.”

Boyer hopes that this technology will soon be able to be utilized by students for educational purposes. He said the vision is for students to be able to use ROVs for coursework. He added that they’re pretty easy to control, comparing them to a video game.

While it may look like a toy, the expensive gadgets are powerful research tools.

“In reality, these are a lot of the same tools they use on TV,” White said. “They’re using them to try to find the Malaysia airplane.”

White said that although the public may not have been fully aware of the technological ability of the ROVs, they were more than willing to learn as tens of thousands of people have visited the display and the public reaction has been overwhelmingly positive.

“It really speaks to the richness of our maritime history and culture,” he said. “It’s why many people continue to live here in upstate New York. The water lures us in, so many of us live, work and play around rivers.”

Published on September 2, 2014 at 12:01 am

Contact Anjali: acalwis@syr.edu