Ifremer

Asia-Oceania

Japan: Cooperation in several marine science fields

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Franco-Japanese cooperation in marine sciences is overseen by a sub-committee in Oceanography created by the joint Franco-Japanese committee for science and technology. The French Ministry for Foreign Affairs chose IFREMER to represent France and co-chair this sub-committee in conjunction with the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). This sub-committee has met alternately in France and Japan 26 times since it was created.

IFREMER has a long history of cooperation with JAMSTEC, the Japan Agency for Marine Earth Science and Technology. The first Memorandum of Understanding was signed in 1998 and was renewed in 2007 and again in 2013. The main fields of cooperation that are endorsed are marine technologies, ocean monitoring, seafloor observatories, simulation of ocean dynamics (using the Earth Simulator), deep-sea ecosystems, the deep biosphere and fleet management.

In April 2015, IFREMER signed a new cooperation agreement with the Japanese research institute for fisheries and aquaculture research, the Japan Fisheries Research and Education Agency (FRA).  Outlining the first framework for exchanges, the agreement identifies eight large promising research areas: integrated coastal management and ecosystems, bivalves, shellfish, marine molluscs, aquaculture systems, marine animal diseases, fisheries oceanography, marine genomics, toxic microalgae, bycatches, and bio-logging.

New Zealand: multiple partnerships

IFREMER cooperation activities with New Zealand have strengthened over the past few years along with an interest in regional cooperation with New Caledonia.

IFREMER established strong ties with four New Zealand research institutes:

  • NIWA (National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research): joint projects on seafloor mapping (data from multi-beam data) and fisheries;
  • GNS Science: in 2015, cooperation in marine geosciences fostered the oceanographic cruises TECTA (Tectonic Event of the Cenozoic in the Tasman Area) and VESPA (Volcanic Evolution of South Pacific Arcs) in an area located between the Exclusive Economic Zones of New Caledonia, New Zealand and Australia;
  • Cawt Institute: partnership on aquaculture and mollusc diseases, algae and biotechnology, coastal environment and ecotoxicology;
  • ESR (Institute of Environmental Science and Research): exchanges on shellfish contamination by enteric viruses.