This is a voyage to a place where the sun never shines and no human eye has ever seen before, yet it could hold the key to finding a treasure trove of riches.

It is the mysterious world more than a thousand metres under the sea.

The more we learn about our outback, tropics, mountain ranges and coral reefs the more we can benefit from them, as well as understanding how to protect them.

There are mountain ranges, forests and deserts under oceans too, but we know little about them. In fact Australia owns the third largest ocean territory in the world, yet only five percent has ever been mapped. And only one to two per cent examined to find out what creatures live there.

Even though the petroleum, fishing, pharmaceutical, tourism and other ocean based industries are worth more than 50 billion dollars a year. That's more than Australia's agricultural industries and it's expected to grow rapidly.

So CSIRO marine scientists used some ingenious techniques to discover more about our oceans.

They modified a remote video system, enabling it to bring back pictures from depths of 1400 metres under the ocean.

They developed this deepwater echo sounder to map the seafloor and the abundance of fish life. Sample bottles that open and close to collect water samples at various depths. And a sled that drags along the ocean floor to bring up speciments to be examined.

On a recent trip aboard CSIRO's Southern Surveyor, scientists found more the 75 species of fish and invertebrates that had never been seen before.

Examining them will enable scientists to find out more about the complex ecosystem under the ocean.

And on a survey of the waters around Macquarie Island, 1500 kilometres south east of Hobart, they were able to study the deep sea patagonian toothfish, which is already harvested commercially. Learning more about its environment will help provide advice to managers to make sure they are not over fished.

The successful development of Australia's ocean industries, depends on an understanding of ocean ecology, and CSIRO research is providing that valuable information.