In 1990, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) were approached to join a Western Australian Maritime Museum-led search for "Sydney" and "Kormoran", which was agreed to on the condition that the search area be narrowed considerably. This was attempted at a 1991 forum: although the location of the battle was generally agreed upon, because the exact fate and time of sinking for "Sydney" was unknown, the possible location could not be more accurately determined. WHOI staff did not believe that the search area could be sufficiently narrowed down—shipwreck hunter Robert Ballard commented that searching for the ships could not be described as a , "because the haystack has not yet been found"—and the WHOI withdrew its support.