The Legislative Yuan yesterday passed a bill governing the establishment of a national oceanological science and technology center, allowing personnel recruitment and preliminary operations to start next year at the earliest.
The Council of Ocean Affairs-run center would develop and manage oceanographical capabilities, including a ship design laboratory, research vessels and other tasks, Ocean Affairs Council Minister Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said.
The planned center would be designated as an independent administrative agency under the Non-Departmental Public Body Act (行政法人法), Kuan said.
Photo: CNA
That would allow the center to recruit and retain a highly educated and trained workforce without being constrained by the laws governing hiring and pay grades in the civil service, she said.
The center would be looking for personnel trained in ship design, the operations and maintenance of scientific apparatus, and data collection and analysis, she said.
The center would manage the ship model test lab being built at Kaoshung’s Singda Harbor, the council said in a statement.
The test lab, an 80m long, 40m wide and 5.5m deep pool for simulating ocean conditions, would be the nation’s first-ever ship model testing basin, it said.
The facility would include two rotating arm systems, which are 60m wide and 5.5m deep cylindrical tanks designed for hydrodynamics testing, wave makers, ventilation systems, tow vehicles, high-performance computers and a hull model factory, it said.
The hardware in the facility is to be completed in 2027, with final calibrations and a test-run period to start thereafter, it said.
The council said it is to order heavy, medium and light research vessels, with a displacement of 4,000 tonnes, 300 tonnes and 100 tonnes respectively.
The heavy vessel would have a multibeam sonar, oceanic conductivity, temperature and depth sensor, fish finder, sea bottom and current profilers, remotely operated vehicles and other surveying tools, the council said.
The contract for the 4,000-tonne ship was awarded this year, with its delivery anticipated in 2029, it said.
The contracts for the 100-tonne and 300-tonne ships were awarded last year, with deliveries expected next year and acceptance tests to start in 2027, it said.
The center would improve the nation’s oceanographic data collection capabilities, promote marine science and build a multipurpose ship testing lab, the bill says.
The bill says it includes rules governing the nation’s oceanographic research, oceanographic survey equipment research and development, state-owned research vessels, marine science education and training, and international collaboration.
It also stipulates regulations over the investigation of culturally valuable underwater ruins and shipwrecks, and requests from third parties to conduct research.
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