Boaters asked to watch for valuable seismometer that floated away on B.C.'s coast

Researchers are putting the call out to help recovera piece of ocean technology that has travelled hundreds of kilometresaway from its station in B.C.'s Pacific Ocean.

The bright yellow 240 kilogram seismometer a device that monitors vibrations from earthquakes on the bottom of the sea floor went rogue on Nov. 20 after it "released itself" and started floating away, according to Andrew Schaeffer of the Geological Survey of Canada.

His team is asking boaters to be on the lookout for a one-metre wide "yellow doughnut" which, according to GPS readings, has travelled more than 460 kilometresfrom its original station near Vancouver Island and is now somewhere in the Hecate Strait, off the coast of Prince Rupert.

Schaeffer saidthere are only about 120 of the instruments available to service the Halifax-based National Society for Seismological Investigations, which does research into earthquake tectonics across the world's oceans, inland seas and lakes.

As such, the organization is willing to pay "reasonable compensation" to anyone who helps recover the device especially because the researchersare worried its battery could run out, making them lose all contact.

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Researchers have asked mariners to watch out for the donut-shaped device.

Because the device is so heavy, the would-be rescue boat will require a winch or a lifting boom to recover it.

Schaeffer said his team deployed 26 of the seisometers off B.C.'s west coast in October, marking the first time they were used in the region. He described them as "complicated instruments," noting that another one was also cut loose, though it was recovered in Queen Charlotte Sound earlier this year.

Anyone on the waterwho may happen to see the device is asked to contact Schaeffer at andrew.schaeffer@nrcan-rncan.gc.ca