The Priority Research Programmes and Equipments (PEPR) program was launched by the government in 2021 to keep France at the top of the global competition. Oceanography is the subject of six of the 37 projects that the CNRS directs or co-directs.
Two examples are the Solu-BioD project with the INRAE, which works on nature-based solutions to the environmental crisis and has one of its projects that involves the restoration and management of coastal biodiversity and ecosystem services. The Atlasea PEPR project with the CEA looked at the genomes of 4,500 species in the French exclusive economic zone.
Claudet is co-directing the Bridges PEPR, along with IFREMER and the Research Institute for Development (IRD), on the sustainable management of marine resources in the southwest Indian Ocean with the intention of lowering the risk of conflict there. Thematically and geographically targeted oceans research, as well as tools and infrastructure at the national level, will benefit from these programs.
hh – Stock/Richard Carey Adobe.com The country also owns the world-famous French Oceanographic Fleet (FOF), which, along with Germany and England, is one of Europe’s three largest and the only one capable of navigating across all oceans. Submarines, sampling vessels, coastal ships, stations-using ships (operated by the CNRS), and high-seas ships are all included. IFREMER is in charge of it. With over 1,000 scientists, engineers, and technicians aboard, the fleet completes 40 high-sea missions, 140 coastal missions, and 300 station missions annually.
The French oceanographic fleet is considered to be one of the best scientific instruments in France. It must be preserved and consolidated at all costs. Alternatives exist, the majority of which originate from private initiatives, and they will be crucial in the future for broadening the scope of French teams’ intervention. “This is always as a complement to the fleet, not as an alternative, as it is one of the reasons why our oceanographic research has a major impact on the world,” however, d’Ortenzio exclaims.
