Fishery Oceanographic Research Vessel ''Sagar Sampada'' (FORV ''Sagar Sampada'') is an Indian research vessel that is equipped to carry out multidisciplinary research in

oceanography Oceanography (), also known as oceanology and ocean science, is the scientific study of the oceans. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of topics, including ecosystem dynamics; ocean currents, waves, and geophysical fluid dynamic ...

marine biology Marine biology is the scientific study of the biology of marine life, organisms in the sea. Given that in biology many phyla, families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology classifies s ...

and

fishery science Fisheries science is the academic discipline of managing and understanding fisheries. It is a multidisciplinary science, which draws on the disciplines of limnology, oceanography, freshwater biology, marine biology, meteorology, conservation, eco ...

. This is the unique facility of the country equipped to undertake oceanography and fisheries (demersal) in the same platform. The vessel is currently managed and operated by the Centre for Marine Living Resources & Ecology (CMLRE), Kochi, a

research institute A research institute, research centre, research center or research organization, is an establishment founded for doing research. Research institutes may specialize in basic research or may be oriented to applied research. Although the term often i ...

attached to the Ministry of Earth Sciences,

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

, and is operated from

Kochi Kochi (), also known as Cochin ( ) ( the official name until 1996) is a major port city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of K ...

. FORV ''Sagar Sampada'' is a platform for interdisciplinary expeditions in and around the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone, and in International waters with participation from various institutions, from India and abroad. Built in Denmark, the vessel was commissioned at

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

in 1984. As of March 2020, ''FORV Sagar Sampada'' has completed 397 oceanographic expeditions, which includes one expedition to the

Southern Ocean The Southern Ocean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the World Ocean, generally taken to be south of 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica. With a size of , it is regarded as the second-small ...

in the winter of 1995-96 for surveying

fishery Fishery can mean either the enterprise of raising or harvesting fish and other aquatic life; or more commonly, the site where such enterprise takes place ( a.k.a. fishing ground). Commercial fisheries include wild fisheries and fish farms, both ...

resources in

Antarctic The Antarctic ( or , American English also or ; commonly ) is a polar region around Earth's South Pole, opposite the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antarctic comprises the continent of Antarctica, the Kerguelen Plateau and other ...

waters (Krill Expedition, FIKEX 1995), one in the southern Ocean with port call at Mauritius and one in the Northern Arabian Sea with port call at Muscat, Oman. The vessel has an overall length of 72.5m and is ice strengthened. The scientific facilities onboard includes, SeaBird CTD (Conductivity-Temperature-Depth) Profiler, Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (75kHz), Skalar Autoanalyser for nutrient analysis, AutoSal, Multiple Plankton Net (MPN), Grab, Dredge, Bongo Net for fish egg larvae and surface

zooplankton Zooplankton are the animal component of the planktonic community ("zoo" comes from the Greek word for ''animal''). Plankton are aquatic organisms that are unable to swim effectively against currents, and consequently drift or are carried along by ...

collections, VELNet for Fish egg/larvae collection from the upper 10m, Multiple Frequency Echo Sounders (200 kHz, 120 kHz and 38 kHz), Side Scan Sonar, Integrated Trawl Instrumentation System, Integrated Fish Finding System, Automated Weather Stations, Facilities for fishing operations up to a depth of , facilities for sediment core sample collection etc. Recently the research facilities are augmented with Continuous Under way Fish Egg Sampler (CUFES), with the technical support of NOAA, USA, 2 Big eye binoculars for the mammal watching and a Thermosalinograph. The vessel can accommodate 24 research personnel and 35 crew.

References

1984 ships Research vessels of India Science and technology in Kochi {{ship-stub