On Monday, September 13, an agreement was signed for the transfer of the legendary research vessel “Belgica” to Ukraine by the Belgian government, following a Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office, the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, and the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine in July 2021.
This was reported on the official website of the Ukrainian government.
The vessel has been a flagship of Belgium’s environmental monitoring in the North-East Atlantic until a new research vessel, also named “Belgica”, was built. It was then decided to provide the fully operational ship to the Ukrainian Scientific Center of the Ecology of the Sea (UkrSES), to reinforce monitoring of the marine environment in the Black Sea region, considering that Ukraine does not at present have any operational vessel suitable for sea monitoring.
During the event, State Secretary for Economic Recovery and Strategic Investments, in charge of Scientific Policy Thomas Dermine said: “After nearly one million kilometres covered and more than 1,000 scientific campaigns to increase knowledge of the seas, Belgium bids farewell to the research vessel Belgica today. As a sailing laboratory, the ship was the flagship of Belgian marine science for 37 years. With a heavy heart we say farewell, but I am very pleased that the ship will have a second life thanks to our cooperation with the Ukrainian Scientific Center of the Ecology of the Sea.”
The Ukrainian Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources, Roman Abramovsky, stated: "We are very grateful to the Belgian party for such an important gift to Ukraine - the research vessel “Belgica”. Using it we are planning already this year to renew scientific monitoring surveys in the Black Sea and later in the Azov Sea as well. Hope to do it jointly with our Belgian colleagues. This will promote not only the implementation of the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive as a part of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement but finally rehabilitation of the Black and Azov Seas”.
In the next few days, the vessel will start its cruise from Zeebrugge, Belgium to its new homeport in Odesa, Ukraine. During the ship’s 8,600-km-long journey, scientists will assess floating marine macrolitter, collect samples of seawater and bottom sediments for analysis of the wide range of pollutants, and perform a unique screening of the presence of more than tens of thousands of emerging contaminants, microplastics, environmental DNA for assessing biodiversity and microbial DNA revealing the presence of antibiotic resistance genes.
It is expected that the vessel will arrive in Ukraine in the middle of October 2021, where it will be renamed, and start its activities in the Black Sea region.
This ambitious scientific programme titled “Cruise of Three European Seas” (North-East Atlantic, Mediterranean and the Black Seas), as well as the transfer of the vessel, is organized and financed by the EU/UNDP project “European Union for Improving Environmental Monitoring of the Black Sea” (EU4EMBLAS) and supported scientifically by the EC Joint Research Centre and UkrSES.
“The European Union has been working hand-in-hand with Ukraine and other coastal countries to transform the Black Sea into a welcoming home for science, forward-looking policies, and investments that benefit people and marine ecosystems alike. With EU4EMBLAS and many other programmes to support and accelerate the green transition, the EU continues to be ready to support improved environmental protection and economic and social resilience in the Black Sea basin,” said Lawrence Meredith, Director, European Commission.