The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration commissioned the first of four state-of-the-art research vessels in Kodiak last week. Christened the Oscar Dyson in honor of the late Kodiak fisherman and fisheries industry leader, the 206-foot vessel will be home ported there. It was christened by Dyson's wife, Peggy Dyson-Malson, in a ceremony based on naval traditions. Sen. Ted Stevens, who was instrumental in obtaining funding for the ship and having it home ported in Alaska, was keynote speaker at the ceremony. The Oscar Dyson will support NOAA's mission to protect, restore and manage the use of living marine, coastal and ocean resources through ecosystem-based management. Its primary objective will be to study and monitor Alaskan pollock and other fisheries in the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska. The ship also will observe weather, sea state and other environmental conditions; conduct habitat assessments; and survey marine mammal and marine bird populations.

Built to NOAA specifications by VT Halter Marine Inc. in Moss Point, Miss., Oscar Dyson has a cutting-edge, low acoustic signature, which will enable it to study fish quietly without altering their behavior. Its hydroacoustic technology uses sound waves to "see" fish on a computer screen, which will make the use of nets less important in fisheries assessments once scientists learn the signatures of different fish populations. Also, the ship will be able to conduct bottom and mid-water trawls while running physical and biological oceanographic sampling during a single deployment — a combined capability unavailable in the private sector, according to a NOAA press release.

"Bringing the Oscar Dyson online is a big step forward in the modernization of the NOAA fleet," said Rear Adm. Samuel P. De Bow Jr., director of NOAA Marine and Aviation Operations, which operates and manages NOAA ships and aircraft. "It's the first new ship built specifically for NOAA in the past quarter century, and we're excited that three more new NOAA ships with the same capabilities will be built and operating off the U.S. East, West and Gulf coasts in the next few years." Oscar Dyson's commanding officer is Cmdr. Frank Wood, a NOAA Corps officer.

Skate fisheries in federal waters have spawned a series of studies to protect the resource, according to a recent report published by the Alaska Fisheries Science Center. As skates have emerged as a target species for commercial fishermen in recent years, federal fishery managers have begun to see the need for basic biological data on the species. A recent emphasis on ecosystem-level management of federally regulated marine fisheries has highlighted the importance of detailed information on the diversity and distribution of skates in Alaska waters. In response, scientists at AFSC have been involved in several projects that have advanced the knowledge of the skates of the North Pacific and Bering Sea. They have helped increase the accuracy of field identification of skates, documented their diversity in Alaska waters and enlisted federal fisheries observers aboard groundfish fishing vessels to collect detailed catch data. Other studies currently under way include research into skate nursery areas in the Bering Sea and an effort to develop a molecular assay that can be used to identify skates from tissue samples. AFSC stresses that accurate and reliable field identifications are essential to providing information about skate populations in Alaska necessary to fishery managers.

Skates are closely related to sharks and rays, and are found throughout the world's oceans from tropical to cold temperate latitudes, including about 280 known separate species. The most recent information in Alaska shows 14 species of skates occurring in the Gulf of Alaska, Aleutian Islands and Bering Sea from the inter-tidal zone to depths of more than 820 fathoms, or almost 5,000 feet. They can reach lengths of nearly seven feet and weigh more than 150 pounds, and represent a large portion of the groundfish biomass in Alaska waters, particularly on the Bering Sea shelf. The ASFC report points out that skates are important components of the food web dynamics and nutrient cycling in Alaska's marine ecosystems. Due to their large size, long life cycle and low fecundity, they are especially vulnerable to over-fishing.

In the past, skates have been regulated as part of the "other" species complex which includes sculpin, shark, octopus and squid. They are set at 5 percent of the total allowable catch of groundfish in the Gulf of Alaska. However, when fishermen in the Kodiak area began targeting skates, bumping the harvest from 20 tons in 2002 to 1,700 tons in 2003, NMFS developed a fishery management plan to manage skates as a separate species. The total allowable catch for skates in the Central Gulf of Alaska was set at 3,284 metric tons in 2004.

Cristy Fry has commercial fished in Homer since 1978 and has also designed and built gear for the industry. She currently longlines for halibut and sablefish, and gillnets salmon in upper Cook Inlet aboard the F/V Realist.