Second NOAA vessel launched

VT Halter Marine and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) recently launched the second of four planned NOAA fisheries survey vessels. The ship was christened ?Henry B. Bigelow?.

The newbuilding and its sister ships will provide higher quality data to fisheries managers about targeted fish populations and the environment that sustains them. The vessel is the second of four planned 64 metre fisheries survey vessels to be built by VT Halter Marine that will either augment or replace ageing ships in the NOAA fleet. They are being built to meet specific data collection requirements of NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service as well as to meet tough standards for a low acoustic signature set by the International Council for Exploration of the Seas. This feature will allow the ship to study fish quietly without altering their behaviour.

Construction of the third fisheries survey vessel has started at VT Halter Marine’s Moss Point shipyard at a base cost exceeding $39 million.