By With a new boat in their fleet, graduate students in the Cal State Long Beach marine biology program can now better conduct their research of sharks, turtles and fish, said marine biology professor Chris Lowe.
A crowd of students, faculty and alumni arrived at the christening ceremony Friday for the Seriola, a 22 ft. Twin Vee Ocean Cat. The ceremony involved breaking a champagne bottle over the boat’s bow.
Lowe said the addition to the fleet will help reduce scheduling conflicts between researchers and allow more research time and newer technological accessories needed for accuracy.
“The boat [that] this boat replaced was one that we bought in 1997, and we used her for 10 good years; she was a good boat,” Lowe said. “We started having a few problems with her and … we decided it was costing us more to maintain, and it was time for a new boat.”
He said the new boat, complete with emblems and CSULB’s university seal, has a customized engine configuration program and a useful electronics package, including a bottom finder and GPS, which will help track marine life and conduct research more accurately.
Lowe said in total, it cost about $80,000 to purchase and deliver the boat from Florida to Long Beach. A great portion of the money was collected by selling the old boat and extra equipment such as replaced engines at state auctions.
“We begged, borrowed and almost stole to get the funds to replace this boat,” Lowe said.
Other funding also came from alumni, grants and other contributors, including supporters of the marine biology program. Lowe said Brian Livingston, chair of the biological sciences department, had naming rights over the boat because he helped raise the money to fund the purchase.
Livingston chose the name Seriola, which is a general name for yellowtail, a local species that people like to fish for and eat, Lowe said.
“Yellowtail are very popular fish, but they’re known for being very graceful swimmers, very fast swimmers, and it seemed appropriate that we name this boat after a fast and graceful fish,” Lowe said.
He said many graduate students in the department will likely spend more than 1,000 hours conducting coastal-related research on the Seriola over the next couple of years.
With that much boat time logged in, he said, some students will be eligible for a U.S. Coast Guard captain’s license.
Because each student has his or her own project, the variety of boats available is beneficial to students’ research needs. The current fleet includes a 26-foot Parker, a 17-foot Boston Whaler and an easily portable 13-foot tin boat.
“The great thing about our fleet is that it’s used to train students. In addition we use our boats for a lot of research, so our grad students absolutely need these boats to do their research,” Lowe said.
He said among the first projects they have planned for the Seriola is conducting research at San Onofre, the largest artificial reef in the Pacific Ocean.
“We’ll be doing some research there, tagging fish and seeing how attracted they are to artificial reefs, and we’ll be trailering this boat down and using that as a research platform,” Lowe said.
He also said they have plans to take the Seriola out for their first trip to Catalina Island in early June for a new research project.
