Operation Deepscan
In 1987, the Adrian Shine launched “Operation Deepscan” which drew a “sonar curtain” along the loch using a fleet of vessels provided by the local hire fleet; Caley Cruisers of Inverness.
Twenty vessels were equipped with Lowrance echo sounders and formed a slow moving front line. On making interesting sonar contacts they dropped buoys into the loch , radioed in, and Adrian sent a follow up flotilla to plot the positions. When the positions were revisited later, most contacts proved to be fixed but three had disappeared. While certainly not 10 metre monsters, they were stronger than fish echoes and lay far deeper. But were they really animals? Perhaps some strong contacts are seals, which are now known to visit the loch almost every year. But the deep water-column could not be their normal habitat, because there is no food. Certainly, no air breather need dive into this barren zone. The contacts remain unexplained.
It is still true that most sonar expeditions have reported echoes they don’t understand, as we have. Of course, this doesn’t mean that we never will understand them.
Having swept the loch for misleading contacts perhaps Adrian Shine had also swept the way clear for science! For the Loch Ness Project, the 1990s would be devoted to general scientific understanding of the environment. The laboratory in the old Drumnadrochit Hotel would be a busy place. Before the end of the decade, studies from 20 universities were underway.
By the 1990s the LNP was asking how could unsual creatures feed? Where might they be and of course, what could they be? We joined forces with the Simrad Company whose sonar demonstration vessel “Simson Echo” became the mainstay of “Operation Echo” between 1987 and 1991.
We examined the fixed contacts found during Operation Deepscan using an ROV (remote operated vehicle). We began hydrographic mapping using swathe sonar. Most importantly, we completed the first quantitative acoustic estimates of the open water fish population. We found only about 20 tonnes. We were not alone in finding that stocks were low.
The Deepscan line sweeping up Loch Ness and passing Urquhart Castle.
Adrian Shine briefing Dick Raynor and the press and media cres crowding out the boat crews.
Three sonar contacts
©A and M SHINE