NOAA Takes Delivery of Pisces, New Fishery Survey Vessel
NOAA's new research vessel Pisces
Last Friday the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) took delivery of Pisces, the third of four new fisheries survey vessels and a significant achievement in the agency’s efforts to modernize its fleet of fisheries, oceanographic, and hydrographic survey ships.
The ship, which will carry a crew of 21 and up to 17 scientists, will support NOAA’s mission to protect, restore, and manage the use of living marine, coastal, and ocean resources. Her primary objective will be to study, monitor, and collect data on a wide range of sea life and ocean conditions, primarily in U.S. waters from the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean, and South Atlantic to North Carolina. This region includes important commercial and recreational fisheries, and is one of the world’s best known and most productive marine areas.
Piscesis the third in a series of four planned 208-foot fisheries survey ships replacing aging ships in the NOAA fleet. It was launched in December 2007 and delivered to NOAA on June 5, 2009 by VT Halter Marine Inc. It will be commissioned and placed into operation in October 2009, after several more months of outfitting and shakedown with its homeport in Pascagoula, Miss.
Read full release here.
Copyright © 2009 by Marine Science Today, a publication of OceanLines LLC
