In early November, senior NOAA officials commissioned NOAA Ship Pisces, the nation’s most advanced fisheries research vessel, and dedicated a new fisheries laboratory in Pascagoula, Miss.
The vessel and the NOAA laboratory will support fisheries research in the Gulf of Mexico, southeastern United States and the Caribbean.
Pisces, built by VT Halter Marine, is equipped with high tech research equipment and quiet-hull technology. The vessel is so quiet and so advanced that scientists can study fish populations and collect oceanographic data with minimal impact on fish and marine mammal behavior.
The 208ft ship is the third of four newly constructed NOAA fisheries survey vessels of the same class.
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. Its primary objective will be to study, monitor, and collect data on a wide range of sea life and ocean conditions, primarily in US waters from the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean, and South Atlantic to North Carolina.
The new Southeast Fisheries Science Center’s Pascagoula laboratory replaces the laboratory that was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. At approximately 55,000 square feet, the building contains office space for 104 scientists, a library, and meeting rooms. This enables NOAA to consolidate several previously dispersed programs in the Pascagoula area including the Pascagoula Laboratory; National Seafood Inspection Laboratory; and the Documentation, Approval and Supply Services office.
One new feature at the facility is an environmental laboratory that will allow scientists to analyse environmental data such as temperature/depth profiles, oxygen data, and other environmental data collected on all survey cruises. This data will be useful in monitoring environmental factors such as hypoxia, but also will be incorporated into ecosystem models.
The structure is also designed to be more hurricane resistant, with a first floor elevation of 17 feet and is capable of withstanding winds up to 150 mph.
