New Zealand’s Stabicraft Marine has delivered nine custom 659 Wheel House vessels to Alaska where they will be used to monitor the gill net fishery and the fishery’s interaction with sea mammals and sea birds.
The vessel orders came at a special request from Saltwater Inc, a private organisation that gathers data on wild life and fish stocks for the Alaskan Department of Fish and Game and by the National Marine Fisheries Service.
"Saltwater, Inc. located in Anchorage, Alaska, has ordered the vessels as part of a US federal government contract with national marine fisheries. It will last for the next two summers and will be located in the Petersburg-Wrangell area of southeast Alaska,” says Stabicraft Marine managing director, Paul Adams.
Each boat will have an operator and observer onboard. Some days the vessels and their operators will need to travel a total of 80 miles in all conditions and will be observing fishing vessels in the gill net fishery.
The vessels will be used in a variety of roles, mainly based around rivers and estuaries and offshore work.
“This is a significant order for Stabicraft,” said Mr Adams. “It has traditionally been very difficult for non-US boat manufacturers to supply vessels to be used in government projects. It’s a real coup.”
Each of the nine 659 Wheel House vessels had to meet stringent design and performance requirements such as visibility, stability and strength to cope with the often treacherous water conditions of Alaska.
