From rxpgnews.com
Swedish scientist dreams of studying Andaman reef
By Papri Sri Raman, IANS,
Feb 2, 2007 - 1:34:10 PM
Chennai, Feb 2 - Swedish marine biologist Matz Berggren, who sailed here on a replica of 18th century ship Gotheborg, says he has always dreamt of studying the fauna on the reefs of the Andaman Islands.
'I am sure several new species can be found on these reefs,' the scientist from University of Gotheborg told IANS in an interview.
The original Gotheborg had made three trips to Asia in the 18th century. Laden with 700 tonnes of spices and silk from India and China, Gotheborg sank off Sweden's coast in 1745. It was believed to have touched India's Surat port.
The wooden replica, currently anchored at the port of Chennai for 10 days, set sail from Gothenberg to Shanghai and then to Singapore. It started from the city-state Jan 14, making seven knots an hour towards Chennai to participate in the Indian port's 125th year celebrations.
Berggren was considerably excited travelling in the ship to different ports, collecting several flora and fauna specimens.
'Swedish taxonomist Carl Linneaus - used to send his students onboard such ships to different ports to collect flora and fauna along different coastlines. One reads about it, but no one ever hopes to be able to copy exactly that,' said Berggren.
'It was simply great to sail. The Gotheborg visit has been so much advertisement for Sweden.
'I feel history has come together with this ship. It has all the modern facilities but it is an exact replica, providing us the opportunity for a similar sampling. It is 300 years of history coming together,' he remarked.
Added Berggren: 'And on the days I decided to take samples, the whole crew would assemble quickly, no matter how hard they had worked earlier ... they would climb up the rigs, pull down the sails, stop the ship and help with taking samples ... just for my experiments.
'I don't know if there are any new finds. There was one larva I could not recognise or identify.
'We have taken detailed pictures of everything and I have put everything in preservative. When we go ashore, we'll study the finds in our labs,' the scientist said.
Berggren also explained his underwater experiences, saying that one could see most fauna specimens 70-100 metres below the sea surface.
'I collected at about 200 metres. Generally by 70-100 metres one can get all planktons and other specimens one expects to find. I found that the animals all had very large heads as one went deeper, 80 percent of the head was eyes - to gather all the light that filters down.'
He added: 'It was clear 3,000-metres-deep as we travelled and then one fine day India suddenly came up like a huge rock in front. We can see the water changes as we approach the east coast of India. We cannot specify pollution unless we do chemical analyses of the collection.'
However, Berggren's biggest regret is that no Indian marine biologist had come to meet him or talk to him on the ship.
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