On Wednesday (October 23), a decision will be made on whether to grant funding to the Oceania research vessel. Minister of Science Dariusz Wieczorek assured that the Institute of Oceanology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, to which the vessel belongs, will receive approximately PLN 8 million for the maintenance of the ship.
– All information that appeared in the public space that we were ceasing financing was simply untrue, because this procedure was ongoing – emphasized the head of the Ministry of Science on Tuesday (October 22) on TVP Info.
As previously reported by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, in the competition in which IO PAN applied for funding, 256 applications were submitted for a total amount of almost PLN 619 million, and the ministry had to divide PLN 200 million. The financing of “Oceania” was – as Wieczorek explained – “generally accepted” by the team of experts, but “additional explanations and additional documents were required” to grant the funds.
– These funds will of course be there, because I cannot imagine a situation in which we would not continue the project that has been implemented for so many years – said the Minister of Science. – This decision will be made tomorrow – he added.
When asked what funds the Institute of Oceanology of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IO PAN) could count on, he said that so far the institute had received PLN 6.4 million for the maintenance of the ship, and this amount would probably increase by at least 20%. – up to approx. PLN 8 million.
The only Polish research vessel
“Oceania” is a sailing ship belonging to the Institute of Oceanology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, built in 1985 in the Gdańsk Shipyard. IO PAN is currently the largest Polish institute researching problems of physics, chemistry, biology and ecology of the sea. Annually, Oceania spends up to approx. 250 days at sea, including: a research expedition in the Arctic and numerous Baltic cruises.
On October 18, representatives of IO PAN informed on social media that the Ministry of Science had suspended funding for the research vessel s/y “Oceania”. They emphasized that the inability to use the research vessel means the termination of current scientific projects, as well as many years of fruitful cooperation with scientific institutes – in Poland and around the world.
On October 19, the Ministry of Science and Higher Education declared “urgent consideration of the matter” on website X.