Halter Marine Starts $38.3 Million Project

Halter Marine, Inc, a subsidiary of Friede Goldman Halter, has started construction of NOAA’s (National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration) newest vessel the M/V Oscar Dyson. The vessel is scheduled for delivery in 36 months at a price of $38.3 million. It is anticipated that options for additional vessels will be exercised as Congress incrementally appropriates funds. NOAA may build up to three additional Fishing Research Vessels (RFV) under the terms of the contract, pushing its value to more than $165 million.

The M/V “Oscar Dyson” is a state-of-the-art Fishing Research Vessel named in honor of Oscar Dyson, of Kodiak, Alaska Dyson, a well-known fishing activist served as an industry advisor to government officials, including a congressional delegation. Born in 1913 in Rhode Island, Dyson relocated to Alaska in 1940 following World War II where he worked as a commercial salmon and halibut fisherman. He pioneered the expansion of the commercial fishery of crab, shrimp, and pollock. He was a founding partner of Kodiak-based All Alaskan Seafoods (later sold to Tyson Seafoods), which became the first group of fishermen to own both the vessels and the canneries. He was a founding member of the Kodiak Shrimp Trawlers Association, which later became the Alaska Draggers Association. The vessel will be homeported in Kodiak, Alaska as part of the NOAA fleet. The Office of Marine and Aviation Operations will operate the vessel, with a crew composed of civilians and officers of the NOAA Commissioned Corps -- the smallest of the nation’s seven uniformed services. The completed vessel will be 208.6 ft. (63.6 m) in length, with a beam of 49.2 ft. (15 m) and a draft with the centerboard in an up position of 19.3 ft (5.9 m). The vessels will house multiple laboratories and is designed with a 40-day endurance.