Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

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Boat for all

The S/Y Eugen Siebold
arrives in Panama

March 30, 2023

A new collaboration between STRI and the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry will make a research vessel available to researchers, educators and marine policy makers working in the Tropical Eastern Pacific.

STRI is thrilled to announce the arrival of the research vessel, S/Y Eugen Seibold, in Panama. This state-of-the-art vessel is capable of sampling and monitoring water, air, and plankton as well as supporting many other research and education initiatives.

The intention of this new collaboration between STRI and the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry (MPIC), which owns and operates the boat, is to expand collaboration among local, regional, and international researchers; to build regional capacity in marine research, to train marine scientists and to support innovation in Latin America.

The boat will be based at STRI on the Pacific side of Panama and will explore the biological and environmental dynamics of the Tropical Eastern Pacific for the next three years. During this time, there will be opportunities for researchers, educators and marine policy makers to use the boat for their own initiatives: all major research costs in the field will be covered by the MPIC and STRI for approved collaborative projects.

“Let me take this opportunity to thank the many people who have helped bring the boat to this part of the world,” said STRI Staff Scientist and project coordinator, Aaron O’Dea, “To all those who have assisted at STRI, Jon Cybulski for his unwavering support and counsel, everyone on the boat—the crew and captain—and especially Ralf Schiebel, Gerald Haug and the MPIC team for their collaboration. The Pacific Ocean awaits the science.”

Since the boat’s arrival, several projects are already underway such as sampling eDNA on the canal transit, training STRI technicians to use sampling equipment, and exploring the upwelling that characterizes coastal regions of Panama.

To find out more about the boat's capabilities and objectives visit this website.

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