India’s Deep Ocean Exploration

Why in News?

Recently, the Union Minister of State for Earth Sciences noted India’s deep ocean exploration activities in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha.

• Ministry – Ministry of Earth Science.
• Indias exploration activities conducted under the Deep Ocean Mission.
• Allocation for exploration – As a part of ISA, India has been allotted a 75,000 square km area in the Central Indian Ocean Basin.
• 10,000 square km area in the Central Indian Ridge and Southwest Indian Ridge of the Southern Indian Ocean.
• Exploration activities – Centre for Marine Living Resources and Ecology (Kochi), attached to Ministry of Earth Sciences, has conducted biodiversity surveys across 19 seamounts in the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal,
• From the survey, 1300 deep-sea organisms have been collected, studied and vouchered, including genomic analysis for select organisms and the discovery of nearly 23 species that are new to science.
• Collaborative research – Projects are undertaken and funded to various government and private laboratories, universities and institutions.
• Data dissemination – The Marine biodiversity data is collected through research publications and shared with the UN Ocean Biodiversity Information System.
• The Marine Microbial Information Portal, developed by the National Institute of Ocean Technology (Chennai), provides genomic sequence data of deep-sea microbes collected in the public domain.
• India is a member of the International Seabed Authority.

Quick Facts

Reference

PIB| India’s Deep Ocean Exploration