Restart of at-sea operations following COVID-19 shutdown
The health and safety of our personnel remains paramount in decision making about MNF operations. The decision to restart at-sea operations of RV Investigator has been made in line with advice from our at-sea healthcare provider, and with consideration of state and national guidelines. The restart of at-sea operations commenced with an 8-day sea trials voyage where a range of COVID-19 protocols were implemented on board and assessed.
As part of our COVID Management Framework, all future voyages will be managed under a set of strict COVID-19 protocols, providing wide-ranging measures to safeguard the health and well-being of participants. These measures include quarantining of interstate personnel, testing of all participants for COVID-19 prior to departure, cohorting of personnel to limit close contacts, maintaining physical distancing on board, daily temperature checks and ship cleaning routines, and single occupancy of all cabins.
The COVID-19 pandemic will continue to have significant implications for the way we work and has had a direct impact on operations of RV Investigator. The current situation with COVID-19 remains unpredictable so we will continue to closely monitor all developments. Any changes to the risk assessment will be used to inform our decision making.
CSIRO continues to work closely with our research partners and clients to manage the disruptions to our voyage schedule from the COVID-19 pandemic. Collaboration is at the heart of everything we do at CSIRO, so we remain committed to working closely with our partners, clients and community through this difficult time and beyond.
Updates
Updated information about the restart of at-sea operations will be provided on this page and via the MNF Mailing List.
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Updates published >>>
- 02/9/20: Restart of research voyages and publish of revised 2020-21 schedule
- 30/7/20: At-sea operations restarted on 29 July 2020
UPDATE 2/9: Restart of research voyages and publish of revised 2020-21 schedule
CSIRO Marine National Facility (MNF) resumed research voyages on 27 August 2020 with the departure of a voyage to maintain deep water moorings in the Southern Ocean. This is the first research voyage since at-sea operations were suspended in March 2020 and follows a successful 10-day sea trials voyage earlier in August.
For more information about this voyage visit IN2020_V09
To safeguard the health and well-being of voyage participants, strict COVID-19 protocols will apply to all activities on this and future voyages. Measures include the quarantining of interstate personnel, testing of all participants for COVID-19 prior to departure, maintaining physical distancing and cohorting of participants, daily health checks, personal hygiene and ship cleaning routines, and no sharing of cabins (double cabins will have single occupant only).
CSIRO thanks all who have worked tirelessly in an extremely challenging operating environment to enable the safe resumption of research voyages of RV Investigator. We will continue to work closely with our research partners and clients to manage the disruptions to our operations from the COVID-19 pandemic.
With the restart of research voyages, a revised 2020-21 voyage schedule has now been published. To view the revised schedule visit Voyage Schedule
Keep informed with our operational updates, voyage schedule and research opportunities by subscribing to the MNF Mailing List
UPDATE: 29/7: At-sea operations restarted on 29 July 2020
CSIRO Marine National Facility (MNF) restarted at-sea operations of RV Investigator on 29 July with a 10-day trial and calibration voyage. This follows a four-month pause in operations due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The health and safety of our personnel remains paramount in decision making about MNF operations. The decision to proceed with the trial and calibration voyage has been made in line with advice from our at-sea healthcare provider, and with consideration of state and national guidelines. As part of a Restart Management Plan, ten MNF COVID-19 Protocols will apply to all activities on board, providing wide-ranging measures to safeguard the health and well-being of participants. Some of these measures include testing of all participants for COVID-19 prior to departure, cohorting of personnel to limit close contacts maintaining physical distancing on board, daily temperature checks and ship cleaning routines and single occupancy of all cabins.
The trial and calibration voyage will not only be calibrating the ship’s systems and instruments after a prolonged pause in port but will also be testing new ways of operating in the current pandemic. A key objective of the voyage is to test the practical implementation of the MNF COVID-19 Protocols. Based on the lessons from this voyage, CSIRO will then make a decision as to whether it is safe to resume science voyages. A revised 2020-21 Voyage Schedule will be published on this site at that time.
CSIRO continues to work closely with our research partners and clients to manage the disruptions to our voyage schedule from the COVID-19 pandemic. Collaboration is at the heart of everything we do at CSIRO, so we remain committed to working closely with our partners, clients and community through this difficult time and beyond.