Thank to a partnership between the government and private companies, Brazil will soon acquire one of the most modern oceanographic research vessels in the world. The ship will make it possible to gather more information on the mineral and biological resources available in the 3.6 million square kilometers encompassed by Blue Amazonia, the name by which Brazil’s exclusive economic zone in the Atlantic Ocean is known.

“The greater volume of information on the geology and biodiversity of the ocean floor which it will be possible to collect with the new scientific and technological platform will allow for oil exploration, for example, to have less of an impact on natural resources,” Janice Trotte, the general coordinator of the Department of the Sea and Antarctica at the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, told Tierramérica.

The new ship, valued at 162 million reais (80 million dollars), is scheduled to begin operations in September 2013. Brazil already has two large oceanographic research vessels, but both are equipped with technology highly inferior to that planned for the new vessel.