By Amanda Roberson
Tico Times Staff | aroberson@t…

Communication between boats at high sea and base camps is about to become easier for the Costa Rican Coast Guard, thanks to a donation of equipment made yesterday by Christian Albrechts University in Germany, according to a statement from the Public Security Ministry.

The equipment, valued at an estimated $5,000, will allow Coast Guard officials at sea to communicate more quickly with nine central stations around the country, explained Public Security Ministry spokeswoman Patricia Meléndez.

“The equipment the Coast Guard was working with was very antiquated; this is a lot more modern,” she said.

Christian Albrechts University is recognized worldwide as a center of scientific research, and students from about 100 countries, including Costa Rica, have studied there.

About a year ago, one of the university’s research boats anchored at the Pacific port of Caldera for an exchange between German and Costa Rican scientists. The Coast Guard also helped place buoys in Costa Rican waters to provide data for university scientists.

The donation was made yesterday during a ceremony attended by Vice-Minister of Public Security Gerardo Láscarez, German Ambassador Volkner Fink and Costa Rican Coast Guard Director Carlos Alvarado