About Us

A.G.O. Environmental’s history starts with its founder, Jim Harrington.  Jim’s long and varied career started in the geophysics and mining industry doing field surveys all over the world.  Driven by the need for a simple, lightweight, disassemble-able winch for his fieldwork, he built his first winches in the early 1970’s.  Later, these inspired what is now A.G.O.’s PID series of winches.

A brief career shift in the early 80’s gave Jim the opportunity to apply his experience with electromagnetism from field geophysics work to a space physics research job with the Herzberg Astronomy and Astrophysics Research Centre in Ottawa.  Here he worked on several projects including the Ulysses spacecraft and developing new magnetometers for the Black Brant rockets, before moving back to Victoria to get away from the snowy Ottawa winter.

Back in Victoria, a third career shift brought his field work experience and hands-on experience with electronics to a job as an oceanographic technician, where he worked with water sampling, CTD’s, magnetometer surveying, and more…completing the aerospace, geophysics, and oceanographic background that inspired A.G.O.  When the oceanographic company got bought out, Jim incorporated A.G.O. in 1986.

Jim applied his direct experiences with working with winches in the geophysics and oceanographic industries to develop simple, practical models, and built a reputation for providing dedicated technical customer support that A.G.O. still prioritizes today.  In the early 2000’s, the portability and manual backup hand cranking features of an early CSW-7 model caught the eye of a rep from Klein Marine Systems, resulting in A.G.O.’s “breakout moment” into the side scan sonar industry and the broader marine and oceanographic industries.

A.G.O.’s current team brings their own personal interests in the aerospace, geophysics, and oceanographic industries to carry Jim’s design legacy into the present day.  We are committed to pairing A.G.O.’s longstanding principles of simplicity, serviceability, and exceptional customer service with thorough documentation and a strong dedication to continuous improvement.