MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Scientific vessel stranded in Buenos Aires

The Falkor (Too), belonging to the Schmidt Ocean Institute, was scheduled to begin the “Echoes of Two Cannons” mission on Sept. 30, but permission to begin the campaign did not arrive in time.

The Falkor (Too), a highly-publicized scientific vessel, which carried out missions for Uruguayan and Argentine researchers recently, is being delayed at the Port of Buenos Aires because of a missing signature.

The ship, with 30 researchers and technicians aboard, was scheduled to depart on Tuesday for a month-long mission in the South Atlantic but has been stranded at a daily operating cost of around US$150,000 due to a legal technicality regarding the cooperation agreement that needs to be signed by the Defense Ministry's Naval Hydrography Service (SHN).

The disagreement hinges on basic terms like ship usage, but also more sensitive issues, such as the distribution of author credits for future scientific publications and the ownership of collected samples.

The intended mission intends to map and understand the dynamics of submarine canyons off the Argentine continental shelf and their relationship to ocean currents and biological productivity in the Argentine Sea. The results are crucial for explaining the fertility and fisheries wealth of these waters.

Government sources confirmed the “unresolved disagreement” but expressed hope that the issues would be “unlocked” shortly. The research team is primarily comprised of scientists from the Naval Hydrography Service, CIMA-UBA-Conicet, and other institutions.