The country is facing paucity of research vessels in implementation of its research projects, lamented S.W.A. Naqvi, Director, Goa-based National Institute of Oceanography (NIO).
Talking to The Hindu on the sidelines of an event to dedicate to the nation RV Sindhu Sadhana , the first indigenously built research vessel, acquired recently by CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), on Saturday in south Goa, Mr. Naqvi said that while India has half a dozen research vessels today, given the large number of on-going research programmes, demand far exceeds supply.
He said that Sindhu Sadhana will meet a basic need of the NIO — that is having a weather sampling platform. He further said that with this vessel, NIO is “much better placed to help industry to utilize the resources within our exclusive economic zone.”
After the NIO acquired this vessel, ONGC has sanctioned a project to us to carry out geophysical survey in the Krishna-Godavari basin, at a cost of Rs. 20 crores. This is the largest project NIO has ever undertaken for the industry, said Mr. Naqvi and added, “We are currently negotiating for bigger research projects from oil industry so that we can recover at least half of the operational cost of the ship.”
He emphasised that the principal sectors of research for which the vessel will be used are food, energy, minerals, climate and environment.
For instance, he said that the NIO had a major project on gas hydrates, which occur buried in deep sea floor.
“This ship has the capacity to take deep sediment cores-up to 24 metre long, so its acquisition will definitely provide an impetus to research on gas hydrates,” he explained.
Moreover, with excellent facilities for geophysical measurements and geological sampling, the vessel is well suited for ongoing research on marine minerals such as ploymetallic nodules and sulphides, including the environmental impact of mining.
NIO’s largest project in the 12th annual plan concerns understanding oceanographic processes that will improve forecasting of Indian marine living resources potential. That is how the research planned using this vessel is of direct societal relevance, the Director remarked.
He said that the ship will also be utilized to study the role of the ocean in controlling climate, both present and past. This includes impacts of human induced changes on marine biogeochemistry and ecosystems and their feedback to climate change.
“The vessel will enable us to investigate how changes such as global warning, eutrophication, de-oxygenation and acidification are affecting our waters and marine life,” said Mr. Naqvi.
