KUWAIT CITY, Sept 27: Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR) recently announced its need for a ship captain, ten navigators, and other marine crew members to operate the Explorer Research Ship for a period of two years, reports Al-Qabas daily. This announcement has been made a year after the institute launched the research ship as one of the development projects of the Secretariat General of the Supreme Council for Planning and Development.

The Central Agency for Public Tenders (CAPT) recently agreed to extend the closing date of the tender to provide trained and specialized marine labor to operate the ship. During the meeting, KISR highlighted the ongoing coordination with the Public Authority for Manpower (PAM) to allow the registration of residency and work permits for the 11 required cadres, with a maximum of three months from awarding, adding that it also pledged to issue port entry permits.

KISR will be responsible for them in terms of issuing permits and transferring residences. The failure to approve any of the crew members required by the concerned authorities necessitates that the company responsible for recruiting them will replace them with others. One of the conditions set by KISR is that the candidates should include a captain with the qualification of “Master Mariner”, which is the highest rank, and has the highest professional qualification among sailors and navigation staff on deck, has undergone 102 months of field and theoretical studies, has five years of experience as a captain of a fishing or a research vessel, and is fluent in Arabic and English. Also requested are candidates for positions of assistant captain, second class and fourth class engineers, marine electrician, mechanic, sea captain, chef and assistant chef, and two sailors.

Those applying for the position of undergraduate marine engineers in the field of mechanics and electricity, they should have five years of experience and must be proficient in English. Objectives of the Explorer Research ship are: 1. Sustainability of marine resources as part of food security 2. Caring for biodiversity, stability and ecological balance 3. Assess the dynamics of the marine ecosystem in the country 4. Study climate change and its impact on the ecosystem 5. Study the algal blooms and their harmful effects 6. Develop management policies for the exploitation of marine resources 7. Create databases to benefit from them locally and globally