New Release--USGS Awards Contract for Fisheries Vessel

[Ann_Zimmerman@usgs.gov (Ann Zimmerman)]

     U.S. Department of the Interior            
     U.S. Geological Survey 
     
     News Release               Address: Great Lakes Science Center      
                                         1451 Green Road   
                                         Ann Arbor, MI 48105  
     
     June 10, 1998     Contact           Phone           Fax           
                       Nancy Milton or   734-214-7200    734-994-8780    
                       John Gannon       734-214-7237
     
     
     USGS Awards Contract for New Lake Superior Fisheries Research Vessel
     
     The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has awarded a $2,825,000 contract 
     to Patti Shipyard, Inc., in Pensacola, Fla, to build a new vessel 
     for Lake Superior fisheries research.
     
     The new vessel will replace the Siscowet, which is now the oldest 
     (built in 1946) and slowest (maximum speed 8.7 knots) vessel in the 
     USGS Great Lakes research fleet. The new vessel will be larger and 
     faster than the Siscowet and will allow for an expanded research 
     program on Lake Superior by USGS scientists and partners.
     
     The new research vessel, to be homeported near Bayfield, Wis., will 
     provide a mobile base for research, monitoring and assessment of 
     fish populations and their habitats throughout Lake Superior, the 
     world's largest lake by surface area.  Scientists with the USGS 
     Great Lakes Science Center in Ann Arbor, Mich.,  and its Lake 
     Superior Biological Station in Ashland, Wis. will use the vessel to 
     expand long-term research on Lake Superior fish populations in 
     partnership with state, tribal, provincial, and other federal 
     agencies.
     
     "Effective management of lake trout and other top predators in Lake 
     Superior requires information on the distribution, survival and 
     growth of naturally produced and stocked fishes," said Dr. Nancy 
     Milton, director of the USGS center. "This vessel will enable us to 
     provide that information more effectively."
     
     In addition, said Milton, "concurrent information is needed on prey 
     fishes such as lake herring, chubs, alewife, and sculpins that the 
     top predator fishes feed upon".  A team of fishery biologists and 
     technicians will deploy nets and acoustic technology from the new 
     vessel to obtain accurate and timely scientific information on the 
     interactions between predator and prey fish species so that 
     resource managers can develop appropriate management strategies.
     
     USGS is the only agency in the U.S. or Canada operating fishery 
     research vessels with offshore capability on each of the five Great 
     Lakes.  Although the new vessel's home port will be near Bayfield, 
     Wis., it will operate out of ports throughout Lake Superior as 
     dictated by fishery and habitat research needs. 
     
     In Pensacola, Fla., an estimated 40 people will help build the new 
     fishery research vessel for Lake Superior.  Construction should be 
     completed in June 1999, and the vessel is expected to be delivered 
     to Lake Superior in November 1999.
     
     As the nation's largest water, earth and biological science and 
     civilian mapping agency, the USGS works in cooperation with more 
     than 2000 organizations across the country to provide reliable, 
     impartial, scientific information to resource managers, planners, 
     and other customers. This information is gathered in every state by 
     USGS scientists to minimize the loss of life and property from 
     natural disasters, to contribute to the conservation and the sound 
     economic and physical development of the nation's natural 
     resources, and to enhance the quality of life by monitoring water, 
     biological, energy, and mineral resources. 
     
     ***USGS***
     
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