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Updated: August 15, 2015 15:02 IST
India may own new research vessels in a few years - The Hindu
A view of the research vessel Sagar Sampada. Photo: Special arrangement
The new Fisheries Oceanographic Research Vessel will have state-of-the-art research labs.
Ending the long wait, the efforts for obtaining three new ocean research vessels for the country have taken a definite shape. A Letter of Intent was issued to a consortium for consultancy, design and procurement of the vessels this week.
India would be looking for one Fishery Oceanographic Research Vessel and two Oceanographic Research Vessels, which can carry the researchers up to the Southern Ocean. The three vessels together would cost around Rs. 1,000 crore. The news of replacement for Sagar Sampada generated a mixed reaction from the scientific community as many scientists remembered with nostalgia their days onboard the vessel.
Beaming with pride, those managing the vessel say that more than “100 PhDs have been awarded by various universities for works carried out onboard the vessel. Almost 70 per cent of the research publications from India in the field of fishery oceanography are through the works carried out onboard FORV Sagar Sampada,” said one official.
The vessel, commissioned in 1984, has already put in 31 years of service. Sampada, owned by Ministry of Earth Sciences and managed by Centre for Marine Living Resources and Ecology, Kochi, has so far completed 343 scientific cruises including the one to the Southern Ocean for India’s first Krill expedition.
Besides the various marine research organisations, a host of other scientific institutions including space research organisation too have made use of the vessel for scientific purposes.
Recently, the vessel was upgraded with scientific equipment and machinery for ensuring its seaworthiness for three more years. It would serve the Indian scientific expeditions till the replacement vessel comes calling.
The reduced speed and capacity of the existing vessels and new challenges in ocean research have mandated the acquirement of the new vessel. Several research programmes on the marine living resources in the Southern Ocean and in the Indian Ocean as part of the Ocean Bio-geographic Information System and the Census of Marine Life are also progressing. Survey of the Central Indian Ocean and Western Arabian Sea too demands a new vessel, scientists felt.
The new Fisheries Oceanographic Research Vessel will have state-of-the-art research labs and facilities on board. It will be a deep sea stern trawler with capability for up to 1500 m bottom trawling and long lining facility. It should be able to cruise at a speed of 15 Nautical miles and spend at least 45 days at a go with 60 persons onboard and sail as far as up to the southern oceans. Labs for meteorology, acoustic, chemical, hydrographic and oceanographic studies along with plankton, isotope, microbiology, biotechnology and fish labs on board have been suggested. However, it would take at least three more years to see the new vessel taking over the mandate from the grand old lady, according to those in the know of things.
India may own new research vessels in a few years - The Hindu
A view of the research vessel Sagar Sampada. Photo: Special arrangement
The new Fisheries Oceanographic Research Vessel will have state-of-the-art research labs.
Ending the long wait, the efforts for obtaining three new ocean research vessels for the country have taken a definite shape. A Letter of Intent was issued to a consortium for consultancy, design and procurement of the vessels this week.
India would be looking for one Fishery Oceanographic Research Vessel and two Oceanographic Research Vessels, which can carry the researchers up to the Southern Ocean. The three vessels together would cost around Rs. 1,000 crore. The news of replacement for Sagar Sampada generated a mixed reaction from the scientific community as many scientists remembered with nostalgia their days onboard the vessel.
Beaming with pride, those managing the vessel say that more than “100 PhDs have been awarded by various universities for works carried out onboard the vessel. Almost 70 per cent of the research publications from India in the field of fishery oceanography are through the works carried out onboard FORV Sagar Sampada,” said one official.
The vessel, commissioned in 1984, has already put in 31 years of service. Sampada, owned by Ministry of Earth Sciences and managed by Centre for Marine Living Resources and Ecology, Kochi, has so far completed 343 scientific cruises including the one to the Southern Ocean for India’s first Krill expedition.
Besides the various marine research organisations, a host of other scientific institutions including space research organisation too have made use of the vessel for scientific purposes.
Recently, the vessel was upgraded with scientific equipment and machinery for ensuring its seaworthiness for three more years. It would serve the Indian scientific expeditions till the replacement vessel comes calling.
The reduced speed and capacity of the existing vessels and new challenges in ocean research have mandated the acquirement of the new vessel. Several research programmes on the marine living resources in the Southern Ocean and in the Indian Ocean as part of the Ocean Bio-geographic Information System and the Census of Marine Life are also progressing. Survey of the Central Indian Ocean and Western Arabian Sea too demands a new vessel, scientists felt.
The new Fisheries Oceanographic Research Vessel will have state-of-the-art research labs and facilities on board. It will be a deep sea stern trawler with capability for up to 1500 m bottom trawling and long lining facility. It should be able to cruise at a speed of 15 Nautical miles and spend at least 45 days at a go with 60 persons onboard and sail as far as up to the southern oceans. Labs for meteorology, acoustic, chemical, hydrographic and oceanographic studies along with plankton, isotope, microbiology, biotechnology and fish labs on board have been suggested. However, it would take at least three more years to see the new vessel taking over the mandate from the grand old lady, according to those in the know of things.
