The RAMOGE laboratory vessel and the first initiatives

Before the Agreement was signed and ratified, the three countries were already taking concrete action in the early 1970s. As early as 1971, the idea of an “international floating laboratory” emerged. It took shape in 1974 when the Prince, driven by a strong commitment to efficiency, purchased a vessel named RAMOGE and made it available to the Scientific Centre of Monaco (CSM). Fitted out by the CSM, which already operated a marine pollution response unit and had launched a seawater sampling program as early as 1966, in collaboration with the Oceanographic Museum, the RAMOGE became a fully operational unit equipped with advanced scientific instruments. Its first mission took place in 1975, and it remained in service for around fifteen years.

In the 1980s, under the leadership of Alain Vatrican, Secretary-General of the CSM and the first Executive Secretary of the Agreement, and Professor Raymond Vaissière, head of the vessel’s scientific team, several campaigns were conducted to assess marine pollution and improve knowledge of water quality, including studies of inputs from the Var and Roya rivers. The Agreement’s first joint campaign was carried out in 1984 and provided a detailed assessment of pollution sources, types, and dispersion, as well as analyses of river catchment areas and their influence at sea. At the same time, RAMOGE launched a survey of municipalities on the collection of floating waste, organized clean-up operations on beaches and at sea using “Pelican” vessels, and implemented monitoring programs on selected beaches.

These efforts led to concrete initiatives along the coastlines of the three countries, resulting by the late 1980s in the development of sanitation plans and the construction of wastewater treatment plants. RAMOGE was conceived as a tool for technical and operational cooperation, not merely institutional coordination, with the aim of achieving tangible results quickly.

Finally, the Agreement initiated major public awareness campaigns, notably under the theme “Respect the Sea”, to encourage collective responsibility.

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Public awareness poster, distributed in 1983. A.N.M., RAMOGE collection, 2025/36.
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Letter from Alain Vatrican, Executive Secretary of RAMOGE and Secretary-General of the CSM, to the mayors of the RAMOGE coastal area, requesting their support for the “Respect the Sea” poster campaign, April 23, 1985. A.N.M., RAMOGE collection, 2025/36.
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Letter from Alain Vatrican, Executive Secretary of RAMOGE and Secretary-General of the CSM, to the mayors of the RAMOGE coastal area, requesting their support for the “Respect the Sea” poster campaign, April 23, 1985. A.N.M., RAMOGE collection, 2025/36.
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Letter from Alain Vatrican, Executive Secretary of RAMOGE and Secretary-General of the CSM, to the mayors of the RAMOGE coastal area, requesting their support for the “Respect the Sea” poster campaign, April 23, 1985. A.N.M., RAMOGE collection, 2025/36.
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Letter from Alain Vatrican, Executive Secretary of RAMOGE and Secretary-General of the CSM, to the mayors of the RAMOGE coastal area, requesting their support for the “Respect the Sea” poster campaign, April 23, 1985. A.N.M., RAMOGE collection, 2025/36.
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“Respect the Sea” poster, mock-up of an intermediate version distinct from the one distributed for the 1985 RAMOGE poster campaign, initiated by the Monegasque Association for the Protection of Nature, of which Prince Rainier III was Honorary President, undated. A.P.M., A/655/17/8.
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First missions of the RAMOGE vessel in 1975, initial results and first joint campaign in 1984, Nice-Matin, May 26, 1975 and July 25, 1984. A.N.M., RAMOGE collection, 2025/36. In the 1984 photograph, Michel Boisson, then head of the oceanology-biology unit of the marine microbiology laboratory at the CSM, who later became head of the scientific team of the vessel after Professor Raymond Vaissière.
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PH1283
Prince Rainier III aboard the RAMOGE vessel, photographs by Georges Lukomski, June 5, 1975: on the upper deck with Professor Raymond Vaissière, head of the laboratory of marine microbiology and marine pollution studies at the CSM and Deputy Director of the Oceanographic Museum, head of the vessel’s scientific team and future first President of the RAMOGE Technical Committee, and Commander Jean Alinat, Deputy Director of the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco; inside, in the laboratory, with Commander Gervais de Lafond, his aide-de-camp, and Dr Roland Pucci, researcher at the CSM, explaining the operation of automated analyzers and the seawater sampling system that supplies them. A.P.M., PH 1283.
PH1283
Prince Rainier III aboard the RAMOGE vessel, photographs by Georges Lukomski, June 5, 1975: on the upper deck with Professor Raymond Vaissière, head of the laboratory of marine microbiology and marine pollution studies at the CSM and Deputy Director of the Oceanographic Museum, head of the vessel’s scientific team and future first President of the RAMOGE Technical Committee, and Commander Jean Alinat, Deputy Director of the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco; inside, in the laboratory, with Commander Gervais de Lafond, his aide-de-camp, and Dr Roland Pucci, researcher at the CSM, explaining the operation of automated analyzers and the seawater sampling system that supplies them. A.P.M., PH 1283.
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RAMOGE vessel (22 m cabin cruiser, formerly Le Koralon), Port Hercule, Monaco, photographs, one of which shows the plankton net at the stern of the vessel, 1977. A.N.M., RAMOGE collection, 2025/36.
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RAMOGE vessel (22 m cabin cruiser, formerly Le Koralon), Port Hercule, Monaco, photographs, one of which shows the plankton net at the stern of the vessel, 1977. A.N.M., RAMOGE collection, 2025/36.
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Captain Léon Gallinari and sailor Roger Fiquet-Albin in the laboratory of the RAMOGE vessel, in front of seawater sampling bottles used to measure temperature and water filtration devices for analysis, photograph, 1977. A.N.M., RAMOGE collection, 2025/36.
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“Hydra” probe, a prototype multi-parameter sequential analyzer designed to measure nutrients and heavy metals, built by the French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) and tested aboard the RAMOGE in the vessel’s laboratory, photograph, 1977. A.N.M., RAMOGE collection, 2025/36.
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Three deionized water production units used for chemical analyses aboard the RAMOGE laboratory vessel, photograph by Alain Vatrican, July 1984. I.A.M., AV-Fc-85
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Claude Emery, technician at the CSM, deploying a water sampling bottle from the RAMOGE (used to collect phytoplankton at a specific depth), photograph, 1984. RAMOGE Archives.
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Deployment of Argos geolocated buoys off the coast of Monaco, enabling the transmission of scientific data (temperature, currents) collected by underwater sensors. This was the first experiment in satellite data transmission. In the foreground, the deck of the RAMOGE. Photographs, April 1983. A.N.M., RAMOGE collection, 2025/36.
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Deployment of Argos geolocated buoys off the coast of Monaco, enabling the transmission of scientific data (temperature, currents) collected by underwater sensors. This was the first experiment in satellite data transmission. In the foreground, the deck of the RAMOGE. Photographs, April 1983. A.N.M., RAMOGE collection, 2025/36.
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The RAMOGE vessel leaving Port Hercule in Monaco, photograph by Alain Vatrican, August 1984. I.A.M., AV-Fc-82.
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Sea campaigns, waste management, jellyfish monitoring, harmonization of regulations, among other diverse early actions, Nice-Matin, February 21, 1982, June 5, 1985, December 3, 1987, and La Cronaca di Genova, August 2, 1983. A.P.M., A/655/17/2, and A.N.M., RAMOGE collection, 2025/36. All rights reserved.
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Sea campaigns, waste management, jellyfish monitoring, harmonization of regulations, among other diverse early actions, Nice-Matin, February 21, 1982, June 5, 1985, December 3, 1987, and La Cronaca di Genova, August 2, 1983. A.P.M., A/655/17/2, and A.N.M., RAMOGE collection, 2025/36. All rights reserved.
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Sea campaigns, waste management, jellyfish monitoring, harmonization of regulations, among other diverse early actions, Nice-Matin, February 21, 1982, June 5, 1985, December 3, 1987, and La Cronaca di Genova, August 2, 1983. A.P.M., A/655/17/2, and A.N.M., RAMOGE collection, 2025/36. All rights reserved.
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Sea campaigns, waste management, jellyfish monitoring, harmonization of regulations, among other diverse early actions, Nice-Matin, February 21, 1982, June 5, 1985, December 3, 1987, and La Cronaca di Genova, August 2, 1983. A.P.M., A/655/17/2, and A.N.M., RAMOGE collection, 2025/36. All rights reserved.
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Seas of Europe, Vol. II, 1990, publication of the results of the RAMOGE campaigns from 1984 to 1987: cover, map of sampling stations, and average monthly discharge of the Var and Roya rivers. A.N.M., RAMOGE collection, 2025/36.
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Seas of Europe, Vol. II, 1990, publication of the results of the RAMOGE campaigns from 1984 to 1987: cover, map of sampling stations, and average monthly discharge of the Var and Roya rivers. A.N.M., RAMOGE collection, 2025/36.

Digital exhibition

Exhibition Content

From the intuition of a prince to the signing of RAMOGE 01 From the intuition of a prince to the signing of RAMOGE The RAMOGE laboratory vessel and the first initiatives 02 The RAMOGE laboratory vessel and the first initiatives Active section From the Haven accident to the RAMOGEPOL Plan 03 From the Haven accident to the RAMOGEPOL Plan 1990s–2000s: Biodiversity and the coastline at the heart of the mission 04 1990s–2000s: Biodiversity and the coastline at the heart of the mission After 2009: a new strategy for a more comprehensive approach 05 After 2009: a new strategy for a more comprehensive approach Deep ecosystems, a still largely unknown world: exploration campaigns launched in 2015 06 Deep ecosystems, a still largely unknown world: exploration campaigns launched in 2015 Exemplary cooperation in addressing contemporary challenges 07 Exemplary cooperation in addressing contemporary challenges The RAMOGE Agreement in figures 08 The RAMOGE Agreement in figures Credits and acknowledgements 09 Credits and acknowledgements