![]() Date: 2025-06-23 Page is: DBtxt003.php txt00009796 | |||||||||
Fisheries | |||||||||
Burgess COMMENTARY | |||||||||
RV Marion Dufresne II French oceanographic research vessel operating primarily in the Southern Ocean In 1995, the research vessel Marion Dufresne II replaced the slightly smaller Marion Dufresne as the French Government’s primary research and supply vessel in the Southern Ocean. Operating out of Réunion, it surveys the waters and seafloor around the French Southern and Antarctic Lands (the Kerguelen Islands, Saint Paul and Amsterdam Islands, the Crozet Islands, Adélie Land, and the Scattered Islands), while also resupplying the few settlements and research facilities located there. In recent years, its research work has also taken it to the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans. The vessel is owned and operated by CMA CGM on behalf of the French Polar Institute Paul-Emile Victor. With a length of 375 feet and a full-load displacement of over 10,000 tonnes, it is one of the world’s largest research vessels. It carries a full suite of oceanographic, geological, biological, and chemical research equipment and has a helicopter deck. It has two corers for deep seabed analysis, used currently for collecting and interpreting paleoclimatic data from throughout the world’s oceans. Marion Dufresne II is operated by a crew of six officers and 22 sailors. It can carry up to 110 passengers, primarily scientists utilizing its 31 laboratories. In recent years, it has also carried small numbers (up to 14) of eco-tourists. The vessel recently entered the shipyard in Dunkirk for a major overhaul and 20-year life extension project. While there, it will receive new multi-beam sonar equipment, a larger capstan for its stern trawl, and upgraded A-frames, among other things. The vessel is named in honor of the eighteenth century French explorer Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne, who explored much of the southern Indian Ocean, as well as Tasmania and New Zealand. |