MH370 search data unveils fishing hot spots and geological movement
The search data that was compiled in the fruitless search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 has uncovered some unexpectedly useful information.
While surveys of the 46,000 sq miles of the remote waters of Western Australia failed to find the plane, they did provide fresh insight into the region’s past.
Information about valuable fish that congregate in the area will also prove useful to the world’s fishermen, according to Charitha Pattiaratchi, professor of coastal oceanography at the University of Western Australia.
Under-sea mountains in the area are home to plankton – the food of high-price fish like tuna and trevally.
The information discovered in the sea-floor maps also give scientists a clue into the prehistoric movement of the Earth’s southern continents.
Martin Exel, a commercial deep-sea fisherman at Austral Fisheries who has fished in the area, said: “To see this work come out of that tragedy that was MH370 is really quite astounding, they’ve taken it to a new level.
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“From a fishing perspective it would be valuable information – they’ve found whale bones and cables and a drum, it is incredible the resolution.
The search area in the Indian Ocean is now one of the most thoroughly mapped regions of the deep ocean on the panet.
Investigators mapped the area while trying to solve the mystery of the whereabouts of Flight MH370.
The missing Boeing 777 vanished in March 2014 and while pieces of debris have been found, no one knows the location of the plane.
Top pic: Reuters
