The authorities in French Polynesia say the sound recorder of the crashed Twin Otter plane has been located at a depth of 430 metres off Moorea.
20 people died when the Air Moorea aircraft crashed shortly after taking from Moorea to nearby Tahiti.
The French high commission says the recorder is similar to a blackbox and may contain clues as to why the plane plunged into the sea.
It says a robot will be available within two days which will allow for the recorder to be retrieved.
The authorities now say only 14 bodies have been recovered and not 16 as announced before.
The high commissioner, Anne Boquet, has meanwhile asked the media not to disseminate shocking and contradictory witness aaccounts in order to spare the victims' families.
