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Four orange objects spotted sunday, thought to be a compelling lead. those four objects are not from the plane. they are fishing junk. this morning an australian vessel, the "ocean shield," will make its way to the search area, carrying a high-tech u.s. navy pinger detector. it can scan under water for the plane's data boxes. cnn's paula newton joins us now, live in perth, australia. certainly, those four pieces, the pieces of orange debris, thought to be a good lead, now an empty lead. searchers frustrated here. >> reporter: absolutely. and you know when we talk to them when they get off thos...

For flight 370 is ramping up this morning as the clock ticks down on that remaining battery life on the plane's black box recorders. it is estimated they will only ping for about 30 days, and time is running out. as christine said, about six days left. ten aircraft, ten ships will be scouring the search zone in the indian ocean today west of australia, looking for any sign of flight 370. australian officials had described four orange objects spotted sunday as a promising lead, but they've just confirmed to cnn they are not related to the plane. they're just pieces of fishing equipment. this mo...

Perth, australia, with the latest on the search effort. paula, what can you tell us this morning? >> reporter: hey, john. well, again, that disappointing news that those four objects, indeed, was fishing equipment, not what they were looking for. i have to say what is significant is that the search is now involving so many ships in the area. and remember, they're the ones that are going to be able to get to sea level and investigate any kind of leads that are spotted in that search zone. today, australia's prime minister, tony abbott, making it clear that so far, this search is open-ended. now...

Search and recovery goes. every day you just have to keep at it, because you never know when you're going to be able to sight that one piece of debris that helps you find out where the crash might have been located. so, it's imperative that they get out there, because that window is closing, john. >> atika shubert for us in perth, where you could hear the planes taking off behind her. good to see you. meantime, we're learning more about the malaysian government reaching out to the cia and its counterparts in britain and china in this investigation to take a deeper look at the passengers and ...

Now, today, wednesday, there were a record number of assets out in the search area. 12 aircraft, five ships, they did spot what they describe as three significant items of debris, two of which appeared to be rope, the third was just described as something that was blue, although they played down the significance of those as to whether they could really be related to the aircraft. the weather was much improved today. there was good visibility, although it was a little rough out there, but not like yesterday when they had to suspend the operation. they are warning, though, that bad weather is on...