Committee on Foreign Relations and National Defense promotes Public Hearing on PROANTAR
Por Primeiro-Tenente (RM2-T) Luciana Santos de Almeida – Brasília, DF
On the date when the World Oceans Day is celebrated, June 8th, the Brazilian Navy answered to the request of the Foreign Relations and National Defense Commission (CREDEN) and presented the Brazilian Antarctic Program (PROANTAR) at the House of Representatives.
At the Public Hearing, the Secretary of the Interministerial Commission for Marine Resources (CIRM), Rear-Admiral Marco Antônio Linhares Soares, mentioned that in the last two years, since the beginning of the pandemic, the Antarctic Station Comandante Ferraz (EACF) adapted its activities so as not to compromise the safety of the researchers and to keep the operation running smoothly. “We did not interrupt the research, we fulfilled the quarantines required on board before arriving at the Station, including the researchers who were with us at the time. We stopped sending researchers for a while – but not field research – and we will resume sending them this year,” he clarified.
The Secretary of CIRM presented the perspectives of OPERANTAR XLI, which will take 121 researchers from 29 projects to Antarctica, in addition to the construction of the Antarctic Support Ship, which will be built in Brazil, by Brazilians, with national content. Admiral Linhares also detailed the costs to maintain PROANTAR, which include the maintenance of the EACF, ships and helicopters, fuel, pre-antarctic training, and logistical support to the research projects.
He highlighted that with the parliamentary support, it will be possible to expand, in 2023, the logistical capabilities at OPERANTAR (especially in relation to consumables and services); sending climbers; establishing new isolated modules (spaces) for research and the increase of oceanographic research in the year.
During the meeting, the CREDEN parliamentarians asked questions about the Program, answered by the Secretary of CIRM, and shared experiences of visits to the Brazilian Antarctic Station.
Meeting of the Joint Parliamentary Front in Support of the Brazilian Antarctic Program
The Secretary of the Interministerial Commission for the Resources of the Sea (SECIRM) held, yesterday (07), a meeting with the Mixed Parliamentary Front of Support to the Brazilian Antarctic Program, to discuss measures for the strengthening of the program and to tell how the Program worked during the pandemic. At the meeting, the Secretary of Research and Scientific Training of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovations (MCTI), Marcelo Morales, presented the research programs that the MCTI carries out in Antarctica with the support of the Navy.
The Parliamentary Front, created in 2007 to ensure support for the research carried out by Brazilian scientists at the Comandante Ferraz Antarctic Station, is currently chaired by Deputy José Rocha. He reinforced that the contribution of the Brazilian parliament to raise financial resources makes research and the maintenance of the Brazilian presence in Antarctica possible. “This fantastic program interests not only us, Brazilians, but the world, due to the level of excellence with which scientific research is carried out in the Antarctic continent. This has given our country a very high profile in the area of science and technology, exercised by great researchers. With this work that the Navy carries out in the Comandante Ferraz Antarctic Station, we are going to convince, this year, the majority of our colleagues to place parliamentary amendments in this Program”, he stated.
*** Translated by DEFCONPress Team ***