Then Tuesday, September 11 came and the horrible, incredulous events we have all been watching non-stop ever since. While the conference and exhibits were equally well attended, there was a definite, singular and erie sense of disbelief, anger, suspense and above all, sorrow. At one point when an announcer scratched the microphone to speak, you could have heard a pin drop in seconds. Don't take our word on this, ask around... it was unnatural and instant!

An E-PageAds perspective: It is difficult, perhaps impossible, to comprehend the sorrow and grief victim's familes are going through right now, and will go through for a long time to come. We can however, all play a part in helping them overcome their grief by pitching in any way we can and particularly, to demonstrate that they were not lost in vain and that the collective resolve of this great nation shall champion under its leadership.

We sincerely hope that our readers pause for thought and consideration for the families, and the brave, exhausted rescue teams continuing to unselfishly toil away with honor, pride, and determination. There can be no doubt that all of our lives have been affected in some way or another and that life as we knew it last week, has changed... forever! We just want to pass the message to all, that when our lives are somehow inconvenienced in some petty way, stop and breathe in hard and reflect on the price of freedom our countrymen have paid for us.

Surely, we can support the effort for appropriate actions to prevent this happening again anywhere in the world... clearly, we can demonstrate this as a priority as we go about our daily lives... and most certainly, we must never, ever, lose site of the goal of freedom. The New York City and Washington tragedies resulted in thousands of deaths and injuries leaving millions of Americans searching for ways to help. Numerous federal and local agencies along with private organizations are seeking assistance from the public.We offer the following information as a resource for helping victims:

Donate financial contributions (even online) through The Red Cross:
American Red Cross 1-800-HELP-NOW - http://www.redcross.org/donate/donate.html
Donate Funds Online Through The United Way of New York City:
http://www.uwnyc.org and https://www.uwnyc.com/epledge/sept11.cfm
United Way, 2 Park Ave, New York, New York, 10016. Tel: +1-212-251-4035,
Salvation Army 1-800-SAL-ARMY.

Mr. Gonsoulin recently acquired a majority of the PHI voting stock from the Suggs Family Fund, L. L. C. PHI also announced that it will close its corporate office located near New Orleans in Metairie, Louisiana the end of this month. The corporate office will be moved to and consolidated with PHI's Operational Headquarters in Lafayette, Louisiana. PHI provides helicopter transportation and related services to a broad range of customers including the oil and gas industry and air medical programs. PHI Common Stock is traded on the NASDAQ SmallCap Market (Symbols PHEL and PHELK). For the full story, click here...

VisualWorks is a complete solution for online digital video capture of pipeline inspection survey data. It has been designed specifically for the offshore industry to replace the current S-VHS video recording methods. A comprehensive set of system tools enables simultaneous real-time encoding of up to four analog or digital ROV video cameras with equivalent image quality to S-VHS systems. The encoded video data can then be accessed and manipulated digitally significantly reducing the time and effort required to edit and review the pipeline events.

Using the digital video archive of the complete pipeline inspection survey, 'Smart' reports and event databases can be produced directly linking feature listings and descriptions with video clips of each event, the spokesman said. Client access to the video data will no longer require a dedicated VCR video review suite since all relevant data will be available on a desktop PC accessed from a central server on a local area network or distributed via CD/DVD/DLT. More from Cant or Paul Evans, VisualSoft +44 (0)780 1151-671. E-mail sales@vsl.org.uk or http://www.vsl.org.uk

The proposed sale areas will consider all available unleased acreage, with certain small exceptions, in the Gulf of Mexico, offshore Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and portions of Alabama. This is the third issuance of a multisale Call by MMS for proposed Gulf of Mexico (GOM) sales. The multisale EIS process was used for Central & Western GOM sales in the previous 5-Year Program (1997-2002). It is the first multisale call to be issued for the new proposed 5-Year Program (2002-2007).

"As always, we seek an open and frank exchange of views and information as we identify the issues and concerns in these areas," said MMS Acting Director, Tom Kitsos. "This open process allows the federal and state governments to gain an in-depth understanding and benefit from the involvement of all the parties." Kitsos said that after this first step in the process, there will be complete National Environmental Policy Act, OCS Lands Act, and Coastal Zone Management Act coverage for each sale. MMS will prepare an environmental assessment for Western GOM Sale 184, tiering off the previous multi-sale EIS for Western GOM sales. A draft multisale EIS for the remaining nine sales is expected to be published in April 2002 and a final EIS published in November 2002.

MMS is the federal agency in the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages the nation's oil, natural gas and other mineral resources on the outer continental shelf in federal offshore waters. The agency also collects, accounts for and disburses mineral revenues from federal and Indian leases. These disbursements totaled nearly $8 billion last year and more than $110 billion since the agency was created in 1982. Annually, nearly $1 billion from those revenues go into the Land and Water Conservation Fund for the acquisition and development of state and federal park and recreation lands.

For more information, contact one of the following at MMS: Barney Congdon +504-736-2595, Caryl Fagot +504-736-2590, or Debra Winbush +504-736-2597. You can also visit their web site at http://www.mms.gov

The HYPACK VENEZUELA Training Seminar will provide Spanish speaking HYPACK users with a low-cost opportunity to train their survey staff in all phases of the HYPACK MAX hydrographic survey software package. Three days of classroom training cover survey preparation, geodesy, data collection, editing, sounding selection, plotting, volumes, sections, surface modeling and import/export to CAD.

For more information please contact Lourdes Ramos, Marketing Director Coastal Oceanographics, Inc., 11-G Old Indian Trail, Middlefield, CT 06455 Tel: +860-349-3800, Fax: +860-349-1982 or visit their website at http://www.coastalo.com

Through its contribution, Phillips said it wanted to reach out to the victims and their families, as well as recognize the valiant efforts of the many firemen, policemen, rescue workers and others who are giving so much during this time of unprecedented tragedy. Click here for the complete release...

ExxonMobil will make a donation of $5 million to meet immediate needs and will match employee, retiree, dealer, and distributor contributions around the world on a three-to-one basis. The funds raised will be directed to those agencies and charitable organizations that are assisting surviving families of the injured and deceased rescue personnel in both New York and Washington, D.C., and responding to other needs arising from this disaster. "While no amount of money can alleviate the pain and suffering of the victims of these horrific acts, we hope that these funds will help in the recovery process for the families affected by this tragedy," said ExxonMobil Chairman and CEO, Lee Raymond.

"The ExxonMobil family has always responded in times of crises. Once again they have demonstrated their commitment to those in need," Raymond concluded. For the full story, click here...

Hosted by the Japan Chapter of PACON International, the Honorary Chairs for PACON 2002 include Mr. Hajime Sako of Japan; Ms. Margaret Davidson of the United States, and Dr. Ju-Chin Chen, of Taiwan.

The role of marine science and technology in the economic development of the Pacific Basin resources is of vital concern to planners, policy makers, administrators, educators and scholars. The biennial Congress brings together scholars and resource persons to address key issues concerning marine technology related to the ocean's economic potential from a multi-disciplinary perspective. The Congress facilitates an exchange of views and ideas between representatives of all nations thereby strengthening the global exchange of information and collaborative research linkages.

"We are pleased to report profitable results for what is normally a weak activity period in the seismic industry. The seasonal decline in leasing revenue from the Canadian market was more than offset by increased activity in South America, and we closed a significant equipment sale and collected commissions due on past equipment sales that contributed $600,000 of gross margin this quarter," said Billy F. Mitcham, Jr., Mitcham's chairman, president and CEO. "Our recent discussions with customers indicate that upcoming winter seismic programs in Canada may not be as robust as last year due to the present uncertainty over natural gas pricing. We will continue to monitor activity indicators closely and plan accordingly," added Mr. Mitcham.

Mitcham's board of directors recently approved an increase to 1,250,000 shares from 1,000,000 shares in the company's stock purchase program. To date, the company has purchased 764,900 shares under this program.

Mitcham Industries Inc., a geophysical equipment supplier, offers for lease or sale, new and "experienced" seismic equipment to the oil and gas industry, seismic contractors, environmentalists, government agencies and universities. Headquartered in Texas, with sales and services offices in Calgary, Canada and associates throughout Europe, South America and Asia, Mitcham conducts operations on a global scale and is the leading independent exploration equipment lessor in the industry. For the complete press release, forward-looking statements, and Consolidated Statements of Operations, click here...

In a Victoria funeral home room filled to the brim with relatives and friends, Jimmy Reynolds was laid to rest after passing on from a massive heart attack earlier in the week. He is survived by his father James, brother Bobby and sister Kayren. His close and life-long friend Jimmy Daniels led the tributes brilliantly and in a way that was ounce for ounce, perfectly fitting for the kind of person Jimmy was. Jimmy Daniels relived countless fond memories and "Jimmy ditties" before many in the congregation joined in telling their own amusing Jimmy story or experience. There were many and it was clear that during his 51 years, Jimmy touched many lives and in a most positive, caring and honest way.

Those of us who did get the opportunity to spend time with Jimmy, will miss him dearly. Our hearts go out to his family and close friends and while his body may have moved on, his personality will always be with us... farewell Jimmy.

The course is predominantly for those already experienced in surveying, who have a grounding in geodesy, positioning, and conventional processing methods, although this experience is not essential. The course is not designed to provide fully trained multibeam system operators or data processors, but those taking the course will gain an appreciation for further multibeam training and experience needed to gain this expertise. It also provides the ideal grounding for those involved in specifying the requirements for contract multibeam surveys or the acquisition of systems.

Those expressing early interest in this next course are, as expected, mainly from USA. The participants' areas of employment also look like covering the full range of activities from nautical charting, port and coastal surveys through to a range of work areas in the offshore mapping industry. It is interesting to note that as the offshore industry is moving into development in deeper water, so the focus of the course has been expanded to include high resolution mapping in deeper waters, where the multibeam technology was originally used. There is also an increased emphasis in multibeam applications for sea bed characterization which is of particular interest to the fisheries industry.

The topics to be covered include:
• Review of underwater acoustics & overview of acoustic seabed mapping systems
• Multibeam principles and multibeam calibration methods
• Positioning and motion compensation for multibeam surveys
• Multibeam survey planning
• Data structures and multibeam data processing
• Seabed acoustic backscatter and characterization
• Visualization methods and quality control

Course enrolment is limited to a maximum of 40 participants. The six day course fee includes all course materials and lunch each day (but excludes accommodation), and is $US2950 per participant. Participants must make their own lodging arrangements directly with Sheraton Central Reservations (1-800-325-3535). Be sure to identify yourself as being with the NOAA/THSOA Training group to obtain the $55 per night room rate. Course details are available on the internet at http://www.omg.unb.ca/mbc. Interested parties should e-mail Jerry Mills or Tel: +301 713 2780 x116, or Fax: +301 713 4533

*** POSTPONED Oceanology Int. Pacific Rim, Singapore, Dec 4-6 ***