Fair winds and following seas, R/V Mako...

[senoritafish]

I knew this was coming, but the confirmation makes me sad still. I have many pleasant memories of being aboard the MAKO (such as this cruise here, which I need to post some pictures of), some anxious ones as well. This comes after getting our hopes up for the previous year; we were told the MAKO was coming out being mothballed and we were hopefully going to be able to use her to help with NOAA - SWFSC's juvenile shark survey/tagging program. I was rather excited about this as I'd been in charge of similar cruise when I was first hired. Then the whole budget situation collapsed and it turns out the Department can no longer afford her. At least she's going to another state agency which will hopefully make better use of her - the longer a boat is mothballed, the more expensive it is to get her going again.

NOAA's R/V DAVID STARR JORDAN (the one I went out on a couple of summers ago) has also gone away; she's in Seattle now, awaiting replacement by a newer, more fuel-efficient ship.

State Research Vessel Begins Second Life...