France-NIO ties to plunge into maritime archaeology

Panaji: France, which has a long-standing memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), is looking to take the cooperation further and is keen to collaborate on maritime archaeology with the Dona Paula-based ocean research centre.
“We have also decided to cooperate in the fields of heritage and archaeology,” said Francois Richier, French ambassador to India, “There is a lot of heritage in Goa and a lot of possibilities in archaeology in Goa too.One of them is maritime archaeology—to learn a lot about history by finding important wreckages and whatever was there in the ships at that time.”
France is also keen about collaborating with NIO to study water cycles in the Bay of Bengal, tropical cyclones in the North Indian portion of the bay, and bio-chemistry in the Arabian Sea, Richier said, talking to the media in South Goa on Saturday. He is in Goa in connection with the Indo-French naval exercises off the Goa coast.
NIO director S W A Naqvi said the institute’s collaboration with France has been continuous since 2003-04. “The French are keen on helping India in ocean science research, but that is something that has been on for years. What we have not been doing so far with France is studying shipwrecks,” said Naqvi.
He said France was very keen on studying shipwrecks that had sailed from France and Portugal to French territories in the Indian Ocean belt during medieval times.
It is said the shipwreck history off Goa is as old as maritime history.