Voyage Number
IN2025_V01
Voyage Dates
Voyage Location
Chief Scientist
Dr Georgia Nester
Institution
University of Western Australia
Voyage summary
Training voyage out of Hobart as part of the Collaborative Australian Postgraduate Sea-training Alliance Network (CAPSTAN) sea training program. This is the fourth CAPSTAN voyage and follows the completion of a successful pilot program during 2017-2020.
CAPSTAN is a maritime education and training initiative of CSIRO, the University of Tasmania’s Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) and the Australian and New Zealand International Scientific Drilling Consortium (ANZIC). The voyage will provide university students and trainers with direct experience with the equipment, systems and techniques on board a modern research vessel, as well as the opportunity to develop professional networks and experience life at sea.
The study area for this voyage includes various sites to be visited during a circumnavigation of Tasmania, including the Tasman Fracture Zone, Bass Canyon and southern extension of the East Australian Current (EAC). The voyage will see a cross-disciplinary science training program delivered including: deep towed camera surveys, environmental DNA (eDNA) surveys, CTD (conductivity, temperature, depth instrument) and TRIAXUS deployments, net trawls, seafloor mapping including sub-bottom profiling, sediment sampling, and seabird and marine mammal surveys. Students will also receive training in practical maritime skills such as knot tying.
A shipwreck search will also be conducted during the voyage to expose students to the procedure and approach for conducting underwater cultural heritage surveys. The search target is the 37-metre sailing vessel Empress of China, which was lost off northwest Tasmania on 31 December 1888.
In addition to the training program, there are two other projects on the voyage:
- Argo float deployments (Gabriella Semolini Pilo, CSIRO – on shore): Deployment of two Argo floats in support of the International Argo Float Program.
- Sediment sampling in the Gippsland Offshore Wind Area, Bass Strait (Anamitra Roy, University of Melbourne – on shore): Collection of seafloor sediment samples to assess the suitability of sites for offshore wind developments.
The voyage includes 38 participants, including 5 trainers and 21 students from 16 Australian universities from nearly all states and territories, along with CSIRO support staff and 20 ship crew from MMA Offshore.
CAPSTAN partners CSIRO and the Australian and New Zealand International Scientific Drilling Consortium (ANZIC) receive funding for this activity from the Australian Government through the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS).
About CAPSTAN
CAPSTAN is a first-of-its-kind training initiative that offers Australian university students and trainers at-sea experience onboard our state-of-the-art ocean research vessel (RV) Investigator.
Watch the video below to follow the journey of students and trainers on the fourth voyage in the CAPSTAN program to see their experience living and working on the high seas to apply their knowledge, develop new skills and create new networks.
Voyage outcomes
Voyage outcomes will be published approximately 3-6 months after the completion of the voyage.
Voyage media
News
CAPSTAN gallery
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