Annual Report 2009-2010 - Ministry Of Earth Sciences

11
Vessel Management
The Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) has a
fleet of scientific research vessels to conduct the
oceanographic research programmes/projects
of the country. Presently, there are six research
vessels in operation; undertaking scientific
research activities in the Arabian Sea, Bay of
Bengal and the Indian Ocean. Oceanographic
Research Vessel (ORV) Sagar Kanya is undertaking
scientific programmes in the areas of survey and
exploration of non-living ocean resources and the
Fisheries Oceanographic Research Vessel (FORV)
Sagar Sampada.
The two coastal research vessels, CRV Sagar Purvi
and CRV Paschimi are used for the implementation
of Coastal Ocean Monitoring and Prediction
System (COMAPS) and Integrated Coastal and
Marine Area Management (ICMAM) programmes.
These vessels also provide services to many other
user agencies like; universities and research
institutes in the country for oceanographic surveys
and for marine scientific data collection. The BTV
Sagar Manjusha is actively involved in the logistics
for timely execution of desalination projects at
islands, in addition to the National Data Buoy
programmes. The TDV Sagar Nidhi is catering to
the on-going and several new programmes of the
MoES such as; the deep sea mining programme,
demonstration of Remotely Operable Vehicle
(ROV), Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV)
etc. It is also catering to other projects of the NIOT
and various R&D institutes in the country.
11.1 Oceanographic Research Vessel
(ORV) Sagar Kanya
During this year, three significant cruises were
undertaken by the vessel for the Deep Swath
Bathymetric Surveys in the Indian Exclusive
Economic Zone (EEZ), two cruises for studying
biogeochemistry and hydrodynamics of the
Tropical Indian Ocean (TIO) during summer
and winter; and one cruise each for CTCZ in Bay
of Bengal, Trichodesmium Bloom studies in the
Arabian Sea, PMEL-INCOIS RAMA moorings,
Equatorial current-meter moorings and UNEP-
SACEP training programme, (ICARB-Winter
campaign and Satellite Validation).
11.2 Fisheries Oceanographic Research
Vessel (FORV) Sagar Sampada
It had undertaken eight scientific cruises (FORV 265
– FORV 272) in the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone
during the period from April 2009 to mid October
2009, involving 137 days of sailing. Scientists
from Centre for Marine Living Resources and
Ecology-Kochi, Goa University-Goa, Annamalai
Vessel No. of cruises Days of
Port stay Maintenance
operation
ORV Sagar Kanya 10 308 44 13
FORV Sagar Sampada 09 159 38 167
TDV Sagar Nidhi 14 314 19 32
BTV Sagar Manjusha 04 268 46 50
CRV Sagar Purvi 16 239 93 33
CRV Sagar Paschimi 14 275 40 50
66 Ministry of Earth Sciences : Annual Report 2009-10