Scientists to float new boat
Oceanographers to probe depths with better equipment
ALONG-awaited marine research vessel has arrived in Durban and is here to stay for as long as scientists and students can use her for approved projects.
The newly-built RV Phakisa, custom-made for scientists, will enable them to use a craft more effective than ski-boats, which cannot carry heavy equipment. It will also be a 10th the cost of KwaZulu-Natal scientists’ other alternative – research ships – for which bills go up to R100 000 a day.
“Marine research and fishing research has been focused on the South and Western Cape. Traditionally, KwaZuluNatal has never had a research vessel,” said Sean Fennessy, deputy director of the Oceanographic Research Institute (ORI), which is host to its two crew, who are themselves scientists.
Skipper Nick Ridden has an MSc in fisheries from Rhodes University and his assistant, Thor Eriksen, is studying science through Unisa.
While scientists outside of ORI are also eligible to apply to use the vessel, Fennessy said the institute saw its use in projects such as mapping areas of the ocean floor that had already been declared marine protected areas. “We’ve never had a good handle on what’s in those areas,” he said.
“We can also identify new areas that need conservation.”
RV Phakisa has been named in recognition of Operation Phakisa, a presidential initiative to unlock South Africa’s Ocean Economy, according to the the South African Association for Marine Biological Research (SAAMBR), under which ORI falls.
Camera equipment on board includes a mini-submarine-like device which can be controlled from a computer in a cabin much like someone playing on an X-Box, exploring creeks and crannies below the vessel. Although it is a remotely operated vehicle it is, however, connected to the vessel by chords.
Then there’s a stationary baited remote underwater video which attracts fish to a bait box an arm’s length from the camera itself, enabling scientists to see fish types, their abundance and size at depths even more than 100m.
Both cameras offer live coverage of the undersea.
The diesel-powered vessel uses two 450 horsepower jets rather than a propeller to avoid having scientific equipment caught up in its workings and is permitted to travel up to 40 nautical miles offshore, Ridden said. “It has lots of deck space and is stable. It also has a winch that allows us to lift and lower heavy equipment.”
The vessel cruises at 15 knots and can do 23, he added.
SAAMBR said the vessel was commissioned by the African Coelacanth Ecosystem Programme (ACEP) and built by Ocean Legacy Marine in Port Elizabeth with funding secured from the National Research Foundation, through the Department of Science and Technology. It is also a flagship programme of the Grahamstown-based South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity.
“It will be available to the South African marine science community on a competitive basis through the ACEP Open Call. ACEP partners in KwaZulu-Natal include ORI, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, the University of KwaZulu-Natal, the University of Zululand and the KZN Sharks Board, among others.