Riobaldo

Built in 1969 in Louisiana (USA) as a shrimp trawler named M/V Kiwi, the vessel was bought by the Brazilian government and adapted for research under the name Riobaldo. From 1973 it carried out research cruises in the North, Northeast and Southeast of Brazil, covering experimental and exploratory fishing, fishery prospecting and oceanography, and it played a central role in the REVIZEE Program. In all it made more than 100 cruises; it then spent a decade at the CEPENE pier and was decommissioned in 2017. Idle and deteriorated, it was deliberately sunk on 16 September 2019, together with the Natureza, in an ICMBio operation supported by the Navy (Pernambuco Port Authority), UFPE Oceanography and the Federal Police, becoming an artificial reef for research and contemplative diving. About 50 people took part in the operation, which began at 5 a.m. and ended at 10:30 a.m., and the two ships came to rest 40 metres from each other.