US exec takes back ocean sensor found by fishers

THOMAS Price (left), head of the Jusmag Plans and Policy in Manila, claims the oceanographic sensor that was temporarily kept at the Zambales police provincial office after it was turned over by fishermen. ALLAN MACATUNO/INQUIRER CENTRAL LUZON

IBA, Zambales—A US military official on Thursday retrieved an ocean sensor, which local fishermen recently found in the waters off this province.

Thomas Price, commander of the Joint United States Military Assistance Group (Jusmag) Plans and Policy in Manila, said the instrument is for underwater data collection and had nothing to do with the territorial dispute in the West Philippine Sea.

The gadget, which is shaped like a foot-long torpedo, was found on Feb. 14 by fishermen in Subic town, about 148.2 kilometers (80 nautical miles) from the disputed Scarborough Shoal (also known as Panatag Shoal).

Romy Abastillas, 54, a fisherman, said they mistook the object for a toy.

“This is a roving oceanographic sensor that is used strictly for scientific research. It’s neither a military tracking device nor a surveillance tool,” Price said when he took custody of the instrument that the fishermen had turned over to the Zambales police.

“We are thankful that the fishermen recovered this object since the US Naval Oceanographic Office (Navoceano) lost contact with it a month ago,” Price told the Inquirer.

The object bore the name of the manufacturing company, Teledyne Webb Research.

Price said about 1,000 ocean sensors have been deployed worldwide.

“Normally, if this instrument is lost, the [Navoceano] will just write it off [as missing property],” Price said.

He said the US Navy lost contact with the instrument and had assumed it was no longer working. The sensor would be kept temporarily in the supply warehouse of the US Navy inside the Subic Bay Freeport, he said.

“We are going to wait for a US ship that will take this instrument to Singapore for repair,” Price said. Allan Macatuno, Inquirer Central Luzon