After competitive bidding, Sound Ocean Metal Fabricators, Ltd. was selected to provide the Fish Handling System to NOAA for the vessel FSV Pisces. This contract was particularly challenging as the specifications required handling items as small as 5mm (3/16”) diameter through all transfer points and conveyors. After fabrication, and before shipping, the complete line was erected at the SOMF manufacturing facility and tested with fish. NOAA personnel were present to observe and approve. After testing the equipment was shipped to the NOAA South East Research Center (SEFSC) in Pascagoula, MS, for installation on board the vessel by SOMF personnel.
SOMF also supplied the Fish Handling Systems for the NOAA vessel FSV Oscar Dyson, based in Kodiak, AK, and for the NOAA vessel Bell M. Shimada. On Aug. 25, 2010, federal officials commissioned NOAA Ship Bell M. Shimada, a state-of-the-art research vessel that will study a wide range of marine life and ocean conditions along the West Coast.
Tags: Design
