fisheries
Fishery can mean either the enterprise of raising or harvesting fish and other aquatic life or, more commonly, the site where such enterprise takes place ( a.k.a., fishing grounds). Commercial fisheries include wild fisheries and fish farm ...
and
oceanographic
Oceanography (), also known as oceanology, sea science, ocean science, and marine science, is the scientific study of the ocean, including its physics, chemistry, biology, and geology.
It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of top ...
research vessel
A research vessel (RV or R/V) is a ship or boat designed, modified, or equipped to carry out research at sea. Research vessels carry out a number of roles. Some of these roles can be combined into a single vessel but others require a dedicated ...
in commission in the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA ) is an American scientific and regulatory agency charged with Weather forecasting, forecasting weather, monitoring oceanic and atmospheric conditions, Hydrography, charting the seas, ...
(NOAA) fleet since 2009.
Construction and commissioning
''Pisces'' was built by
VT Halter Marine
VT Halter Marine, Inc. was a shipbuilding company and an American subsidiary of ST Engineering. It was located in Pascagoula, Mississippi. It specialized in ship design and construction and served both public and private clients, including the Un ...
at
Moss Point, Mississippi
Moss Point is a city in Jackson County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 12,147 in 2020, a decline from the figure of 13,704 in 2010. The Moss Point Historic District and several individual buildings are listed on the National Reg ...
, and was launched on 19 December 2007, sponsored by Annette Nevin Shelby, the wife of
United States Senator
The United States Senate consists of 100 members, two from each of the 50 U.S. state, states. This list includes all senators serving in the 119th United States Congress.
Party affiliation
Independent Senators Angus King of Maine and Berni ...
Richard Shelby
Richard Craig Shelby (born May 6, 1934) is an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States senator from Alabama from 1987 to 2023. First elected to the U.S. Senate in 1986 as a Democrat, Shelby switched to the Republican Party i ...
of
Alabama
Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...
. The ship was commissioned into service as NOAAS ''Pisces'' (R 226) on 6 November 2009.noaa.gov NOAA Ship ''Pisces'' /ref>
To name the ship and promote interest in science, NOAA held a regional contest requiring submission of a proposed name and an accompanying essay supporting the choice of name. The winning entry, submitted by five
seventh grade
Seventh grade (also 7th Grade or Grade 7) is the seventh year of formal or compulsory education. The seventh grade is typically the first or second year of middle school. In the United States, kids in seventh grade are usually around 12–13 years ...
Southaven
Southaven is a city in DeSoto County, Mississippi, United States. It is a principal city in Greater Memphis. The 2020 census reported a population of 54,648, making it the 3rd most populous city in Mississippi and the largest suburb of Memp ...
, Mississippi, was ''Pisces''.
Characteristics and capabilities
Capable of conducting multidisciplinary oceanographic operations in support of
biological
Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, and distribution of ...
,
chemical
A chemical substance is a unique form of matter with constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Chemical substances may take the form of a single element or chemical compounds. If two or more chemical substances can be combin ...
, and physical process studies, ''Pisces'' was commissioned as the third of a
class
Class, Classes, or The Class may refer to:
Common uses not otherwise categorized
* Class (biology), a taxonomic rank
* Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects
* Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used d ...
of five of the most advanced fisheries research vessels in the world, with a unique capability to conduct both fishing and oceanographic research. She is a stern trawler with
fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...
capabilities similar to those of commercial
fishing vessel
A fishing vessel is a boat or ship used to fishing, catch fish and other valuable nektonic aquatic animals (e.g. shrimps/prawns, krills, coleoids, etc.) in the sea, lake or river. Humans have used different kinds of surface vessels in commercial ...
s. She is rigged for
longlining
Longline fishing, or longlining, is a commercial fishing angling technique that uses a long ''main line'' with baited hooks attached at intervals via short branch lines called ''snoods'' or ''gangions''.trap fishing and can conduct
trawling
Trawling is an industrial method of fishing that involves pulling a fishing net through the water behind one or more boats. The net used for trawling is called a trawl. This principle requires netting bags which are towed through water to catch di ...
operations to depths of . Her most advanced feature is the incorporation of
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...
-type acoustic quieting technology to enable NOAA scientists to monitor fish populations without the ships noise altering the behavior of the fish, including advanced quieting features incorporated into her machinery, equipment, and
propeller
A propeller (often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon a working flu ...
. Her oceanographic
hydrophone
A hydrophone () is a microphone designed for underwater use, for recording or listening to underwater sound. Most hydrophones contains a piezoelectric transducer that generates an electric potential when subjected to a pressure change, such as a ...
s are mounted on a retractable centerboard, or drop
keel
The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element of a watercraft, important for stability. On some sailboats, it may have a fluid dynamics, hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose as well. The keel laying, laying of the keel is often ...
, that lowers scientific
transducer
A transducer is a device that Energy transformation, converts energy from one form to another. Usually a transducer converts a signal in one form of energy to a signal in another.
Transducers are often employed at the boundaries of automation, M ...
s away from the region of hull-generated flow noise, enhancing the quality of the data collected. To take full advantage of these advanced data-gathering capabilities, she has the
Scientific Sonar System
Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...
, which can accurately measure the
biomass
Biomass is a term used in several contexts: in the context of ecology it means living organisms, and in the context of bioenergy it means matter from recently living (but now dead) organisms. In the latter context, there are variations in how ...
of fish in a survey area. She also has an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler with which to collect data on
ocean current
An ocean current is a continuous, directed movement of seawater generated by a number of forces acting upon the water, including wind, the Coriolis effect, breaking waves, cabbeling, and temperature and salinity differences. Depth contours, sh ...
s and a multibeam
sonar
Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigate, measure distances ( ranging), communicate with or detect objects o ...
system that provides information on the content of the water column and on the type and
topography
Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the landforms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps.
Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary sci ...
of the seafloor while she is underway, and she can gather hydrographic data at any speed up to 11
knots
A knot is a fastening in rope or interwoven lines.
Knot or knots may also refer to:
Other common meanings
* Knot (unit), of speed
* Knot (wood), a timber imperfection
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
* ''Knots'' (film), a 2004 film
* ''Kn ...
(20 km/h).
''Pisces'' has a traction-type oceanographic
winch
A winch is a mechanical device that is used to pull in (wind up) or let out (wind out) or otherwise adjust the tension (physics), tension of a rope or wire rope (also called "cable" or "wire cable").
In its simplest form, it consists of a Bobb ...
which can deploy up to of wire rope, electromechanical cable, or
fiberoptic
An optical fiber, or optical fibre, is a flexible glass or plastic fiber that can transmit light from one end to the other. Such fibers find wide usage in fiber-optic communications, where they permit transmission over longer distances and at ...
cable. She also has two hydrographic winches, each of which can deploy of electromechanical cable, two
trawl
Trawling is an industrial method of fishing that involves pulling a fishing net through the water behind one or more boats. The net used for trawling is called a trawl. This principle requires netting bags which are towed through water to catch di ...
winches, each of which has a 35- metric-ton pull and can deploy of warp wire, and a Gilson winch. She has a telescopic boom and an articulated boom, each with a lifting capacity of . She has an
A-frame
An A-frame is a basic structure designed to bear a Structural load, load in a lightweight economical manner. The simplest form of an A-frame is two similarly sized Beam (structure), beams, arranged in an angle of 45 degrees or less, attached a ...
on her starboard side and a large A-frame aft. The oceanographic winch and large after A-frame work in conjunction to serve her stern sampling station, while the two hydrographic winches work with the side A-frame to service her side sampling station, and the two hydrographic winches together give ''Pisces'' the capability to have three scientific packages ready for sequential operations. One of her hydrographic winches also can deploy lines and equipment over her stern. In addition to trawling, her sampling stations can deploy smaller sampling nets, longlines, and fish traps, and she has modified
outrigger
An outrigger is a projecting structure on a boat, with specific meaning depending on types of vessel. Outriggers may also refer to legs on a wheeled vehicle that are folded out when it needs stabilization, for example on a crane that lifts he ...
s for
shrimp
A shrimp (: shrimp (American English, US) or shrimps (British English, UK)) is a crustacean with an elongated body and a primarily Aquatic locomotion, swimming mode of locomotion – typically Decapods belonging to the Caridea or Dendrobranchi ...
trawling and gear testing. The hydrographic winches can deploy CTD instruments to measure the
electrical conductivity
Electrical resistivity (also called volume resistivity or specific electrical resistance) is a fundamental specific property of a material that measures its electrical resistance or how strongly it resists electric current. A low resistivity in ...
, temperature, and
chlorophyll fluorescence
Chlorophyll fluorescence is light re-emitted by chlorophyll molecules during return from Excited state, excited to non-excited states. It is used as an indicator of photosynthetic energy conversion in plants, algae and bacteria. Excited chlorop ...
of sea water. ''Pisces'' also can deploy specialized gear such as Multiple Opening/Closing Net and Environmental Sensing System (
MOCNESS
The MOCNESS (acronym for ''Multiple Opening/Closing Net and Environmental Sensing System'') is a towed net system for plankton and particles in the ocean. Consisting of 5-20 nets of variable mesh sizes, it is useful for collecting samples at multi ...
) frames, towed vehicles,
dredge
Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing ...
s, and bottom corers, and she can deploy and recover both floating and bottom-moored sensor arrays. While trawling, ''Pisces'' uses wireless and hard-wired systems to monitor the shape of the trawl net and to work in conjunction with an autotrawl system that sets trawl depth and trawl wire tension and adjusts the net configuration.
''Pisces'' has a
wet laboratory
A wet lab, or experimental lab, is a type of laboratory where it is necessary to handle various types of chemicals and potential "wet" hazards, so the room has to be carefully designed, constructed, and controlled to avoid spillage and contaminatio ...
, a dry
laboratory
A laboratory (; ; colloquially lab) is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which scientific or technological research, experiments, and measurement may be performed. Laboratories are found in a variety of settings such as schools ...
, a
chemistry
Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...
computer
A computer is a machine that can be Computer programming, programmed to automatically Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (''computation''). Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic set ...
laboratory. She also has a walk-in scientific
freezer
A refrigerator, commonly shortened to fridge, is a commercial and home appliance consisting of a thermally insulated compartment and a heat pump (mechanical, electronic or chemical) that transfers heat from its inside to its external enviro ...
, a controlled environment room, and a preservation alcove. She has of open deck space aft for fishing and scientific operations and another of open deck space at the side sampling station on her starboard side. All of her discharge pipes empty off her port side so that fluids discharged will not contaminate samples collected at the station on her starboard side.
In addition to her crew of 21, ''Pisces'' can accommodate up to 17 scientists.
Service history
Operated by NOAAs Office of Marine and Aviation Operations and with
Pascagoula
The Pascagoula (also Pascoboula, Pacha-Ogoula, Pascagola, Pascaboula, Paskaguna) were an indigenous group living in coastal Mississippi on the Pascagoula River.
The name ''Pascagoula'' is a Choctaw term meaning "bread eater". Choctaw native Am ...
, Mississippi, as her
home port
A vessel's home port is the port at which it is based, which may not be the same as its port of registry shown on its registration documents and lettered on the stern of the ship's hull. In the cruise industry the term "home port" is also oft ...
, ''Pisces'' collects, monitors, and studies data on a wide range of sea life and ocean conditions, primarily in the waters of the United States
exclusive economic zone
An exclusive economic zone (EEZ), as prescribed by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, is an area of the sea in which a sovereign state has exclusive rights regarding the exploration and use of marine natural resource, reso ...
in the
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico () is an oceanic basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States; on the southw ...
,
Caribbean Sea
The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere, located south of the Gulf of Mexico and southwest of the Sargasso Sea. It is bounded by the Greater Antilles to the north from Cuba ...
, and
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...
as far north as
North Carolina
North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...
. The ship collects data that scientists use to study variations in ocean conditions and sea life – including shrimp and other
marine invertebrate
Marine invertebrates are invertebrate animals that live in marine habitats, and make up most of the macroscopic life in the oceans. It is a polyphyletic blanket term that contains all marine animals except the marine vertebrates, including the ...
s,
reef fish
Coral reef fish are fish which live amongst or in close relation to coral reefs. Coral reefs form complex ecosystems with tremendous biodiversity. Among the myriad inhabitants, the fish stand out as colourful and interesting to watch. Hundreds ...
, and
groundfish
Demersal fish, also known as groundfish, live and feed on or near the bottom of seas or lakes (the demersal zone).Walrond Carl . "Coastal fish - Fish of the open sea floor"Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Updated 2 March 2009 They oc ...
noaa.gov NOAA Deepwater Horizon Archive /ref> – to better understand the sustainability of fisheries, the structure and function of
ecosystem
An ecosystem (or ecological system) is a system formed by Organism, organisms in interaction with their Biophysical environment, environment. The Biotic material, biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and en ...
s, fish habitats and habitat restoration,
coral reef
A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in group ...
s, and the status of
protected species
An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, invasiv ...
. She also makes weather and sea state observations, reports on other environmental conditions, conducts habitat assessments, and surveys
marine mammal
Marine mammals are mammals that rely on marine ecosystems for their existence. They include animals such as cetaceans, pinnipeds, sirenians, sea otters and polar bears. They are an informal group, unified only by their reliance on marine enviro ...
and
seabird
Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adaptation, adapted to life within the marine ecosystem, marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent ...
populations.
During the latter half of 2010, ''Pisces'' conducted several cruises in the Gulf of Mexico to assess the effect of the BP ''Deepwater Horizon'' oil spill on marine life there and to monitor the water column in the vicinity of the ''
Deepwater Horizon
''Deepwater Horizon'' was an ultra-deepwater, Dynamic positioning, dynamically positioned, Semi-submersible platform, semi-submersible offshore drilling Oil platform, rig owned by Transocean and operated by the BP company. On 20 April 2010, ...
'' wellhead during post-spill wellhead testing.
See also
*
NOAA ships and aircraft
The Office of Marine and Aviation Operations (OMAO) is a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) which operates a wide variety of specialized ships and aircraft to carry out the environmental and scientific missio ...