CSIRO's $120m research ship sitting in port half the year due to lack of funding

The 94-metre vessel, Investigator, is capable of spending 300 days a year at sea but will remain docked in Hobart for much of that time unless private funding sources can be found

Australia's new state-of-the-art marine research vessel is being wasted because it is only funded for half of the year, scientists claim, as the government looks to private sources of finance to get the ship to sea.

The $120m vessel, Investigator, is a 94-metre research facility capable of carrying 40 scientists and support staff and spending 300 days a year at sea undertaking atmospheric, oceanographic, biological and geoscience work.