MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Scientific Spanish vessel researching in South Atlantic

Oceanographic vessel “Miguel Oliver”

A state of the art Spanish fisheries research vessel currently in Punta Arenas is scheduled to collect sea bed and water samples in the South Atlantic, off the Falkland Islands before heading for Montevideo.

According to La Prensa Austral the 70 meters long Spanish flagged Miguel Oliver with a crew of 22 and six scientists arrived in Punta Arenas after doing research along the Peruvian coast. The vessel is specifically equipped for submarine prospecting with robots that can operate at depths of 200 and 700 meters. In the near future a third vehicle which can reach 2.000 meters will be incorporated. "While sailing along Peruvian waters we fished three times a day, collected water and sediment samples and calculated the biomass of several species", said Jose Luis Patiño one of the vessel's officers. The vessel which is stationed in Vigo has on board scientists from the Oceanographic Institutes from Madrid, Malaga, Vigo and La Coruña. According to Patiño in the coming days they will be operating off the 200 Argentine miles in the South Atlantic taking sea bed sediments samples and testing water for nutrients and other factors such as temperature, salinity, etc. "all activities related to fisheries and in the interest of Spanish vessels in the South Atlantic". "Miguel Oliver" which cost 21 million Euros to build is scheduled to call in Montevideo on November 21/22 for a rest period and change of crew. The vessel is considered one of the most advanced of its kind with electronic cartography gear with capacity to map the sea bed in a range of five kilometers plus several multidisciplinary labs. "Miguel Olivera" also specializes in mapping commercial fisheries, areas of influence, how they tend to move and even monitor schools of fish. To achieve this sensitive information the vessel is equipped with two electric propulsion turbines of 1.000 KW each which makes it extremely silent and environmentally friendly with virtually no vibrations. "Miguel Oliver" built in Vigo yards was launched a year ago and is named in tribute to an outstanding Spanish marine biologist.