Vessel Construction: R/V Fulmar

A new 65' vessel is being built as a sister ship - hence the name Fulmar - to the highly successful R/V Shearwater working in the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary in southern California. This vessel will be home ported in Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, but will also serve the adjacent Cordell Bank and Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuaries.

This new catamaran will be nearly identical to the Shearwater in layout, although the Fulmar will be slightly longer to provide for a larger aft deck. In addition to a Markey oceanographic winch with A-frame, a state-of-the-art NITROX dive air system will be installed which will provide added safety for NOAA divers and scientists. As funding allows additional upgrades in scientific equipment and control electronics will be installed on this vessel.

This vessel will is expected to be heavily utilized, averaging approximately 200 days at sea. Primary missions for this are identified in the newly drafted management plans for the Central California Sanctuaries, highlights include:

• Utilizing ROV's and towed cameras for habitat characterization
• Oceanographic monitoring and sampling
• Sustained scientific diving operations at remote coastal sites which are inaccessible from land (i.e., Big Sur)
• Bird and marine mammal studies
• Education events including teacher training

Please visit the manufacturer, All American Marine, for more info.

NITROX: In diving terminology; any mixture of nitrogen and oxygen, where these two gases represent the major constituents of the gas mix, is termed nitrox.