The Engineering Committee on Oceanic Resources (ECOR)
(Established 1971)
| Headquarters: | ECOR |
| Memorial University of Newfoundland | |
| St Johns | |
| Newfoundland | |
A1B 3X5 |
|
| Canada | |
(Executive Secretary: Prof G Sabin) |
Website: http://www.engr.mun.ca/ECOR/
Status
Non-governmental organisation.
Mission
An international, non governmental, professional engineering body, whose purpose is to provide an international focus for professional engineering interests in marine affairs.
Activities
The establishment of ECOR as a non governmental international society of professional engineers with interests in marine affairs was completed when the statutes of ECOR were agreed and ratified by the Founder Members (the national committees of the Federal Republic of Germany, France, Japan, the Netherlands, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the United States of America; and the International Association of Dredging Companies (IADC) and the International Ship Structures Congress (ISSC). At the Founder Council Meeting in Bordeaux, March 1971, ECOR Officers were elected, bye–laws established, arrangements made for incorporation in the Netherlands, and the First General Assembly schedules for London, March 1972. Particular emphasis is given to
- Establishing and maintaining international, professional engineering communication in marine affairs.
- Providing advice, from an engineering viewpoint, on policy, programme and organisational matters to international and intergovernmental organisations concerned with marine affairs, or providing such advice directly to individual nations on behalf of their organisations.
- Assisting the engineering profession in the development of its capability in the use of the ocean and in the enhancement of the quality of the marine environment, while recognising that engineering is practised within legitimate proprietary interests.
- Coordination of international Working Groups, which currently include: marine pollution; ocean engineering training; marine robotics; small scale ocean energy systems; and large scale cleansing of polluted sea beds. Recently successfully completed topics include ocean engineering systems; and reliability analysis of offshore oil and gas structures.
In addition, the interests of ECOR include aspects of engineering practice (such as design, management, operation, planning and research) and all engineering disciplines as they relate to the marine environment.
United Kingdom Interests
Interested Departments and Organisations
The Society for Underwater Technology, Memorial Building, 76 Mark Lane, London, EC3R 7JN.
Contact: D R Wardle; Tel: 0171 481 0750 Fax: 0171 481 4001.
Perspective Since the international organisation moved its headquarters from the UK to Newfoundland in February 1995, the UK’s participation in ECOR activities has ceased. Prior to the move, the British Committee (BC–ECOR) whose membership comprised the Institution of Civil Engineers, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and the Society for Underwater Technology, with an observer from the Department of Trade and Industry, had not met for two years. In 1994 the SUT endeavoured to reconstitute a UK ECOR as a technical committee within the Society and as a working group of ECOR, with the objective to examine submerged waste water treatment plants for use in harbours, inshore areas adjacent to heavily populated coasts and other areas suffering from pollution. This initiative did not gather enough support, and has been abandoned. It is currently unlikely that the UK will renew its links with ECOR in the foreseeable future.