Nekton Expedition 2020 will cost £3.9m |08 February 2020
PS de Commarmond and Mrs Muzungaile during the press conference (Photo: Jude Morel)
- Seychelles to contribute R300,000
The Nekton Expedition 2020 which will be launched on March 16, 2020 will cost £3.9m (around R72 million) and Seychelles will contribute R300,000.
After the successful mission in 2019, a team of 50 international scientists, technicians, media and crew will be carrying out research to gather critical data to define conservation and management priorities and the designation of Marine Protected Areas in Seychelles and in the Maldives.
The principal secretary for environment, Alain de Commarmond, and Marie-May Muzungaile, the director general for biodiversity conservation and management division in the Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change, met the press yesterday at the Botanical Gardens to further explain the Nekton Expedition 2020.
“In the last expedition the furthest we explored was between 250 metres to 350 metres in deep sea. This time, the research will be focused on seamounts in the Midnight Zone. The Midnight Zone describes ocean depths between 1000 metres and 4000 metres. While biomass peaks in surface waters, biodiversity peaks within the Midnight Zone.
“The expedition will undertake the first research of seamounts in this area of the Indian Ocean. With high levels of biological endemism, seamounts are often described as ‘undersea Galapagoses’, home to species found nowhere else on the planet,” explained Mr de Commarmond.
‘First Descent: Midnight Zone’ is one of a series of expeditions that Nekton, a UK charitable research institute, is carrying out across the Indian Ocean documenting changes beneath the waves in a bid to catalyse 30% protection by 2030. In Seychelles waters, two confirmed places have been spotted for the research which are located at the north of Bird Island and an area call Coco de Mer limit near to Seychelles EEZ zone.
The joint Seychelles-Maldives expedition is led by scientists from Nekton and the University of Oxford working with, and on behalf of the governments of Seychelles and the Maldives. Scientists from Seychelles and the Maldives will be participating throughout the mission.
“When in Seychelles waters there will be two Seychellois accompanying the team and one Maldivian and when in Maldivian waters, only one Seychellois will participate in the research. We asked for the non-governmental organisations to send us the names of some of the interested persons also,” noted Mrs Muzungaile.
The Maldives leg of the expedition is being undertaken to support Maldives Blue Prosperity, in partnership with the Blue Prosperity Coalition.
The expedition will be using the world’s most advanced deep diving submersible alongside a dozen research tools including landers, sampling, sensor and mapping technology. In August 2019, the submersible ‘Limiting Factor’ built by Triton Submarines, completed the world's first manned exploration of the deepest point in each of the five oceans (Five Deeps), and is the only human occupied vessel that can visit any place in our oceans.
PS de Commarmond confirmed that the mission will be covered live by the media.
Vidya Gappy