Shannon Point receives $162K to buy new academic vessel

Western Washington University’s Shannon Point Marine Center has received a $162,300 grant from the National Science Foundation to obtain a new academic vessel.

According to Stephen Sulkin, SPMC director, the vessel will permit the marine center to meet the growing needs of the instructional and research programs at the marine center by permitting more coordinated use of the SPMC’s vessel fleet, while also providing new capabilities for field work.

Specifically, the vessel will serve as a platform for on-site measurements of water quality, nutrient dynamics and food web interactions among organisms that form the base of the food web. Other projects that will benefit from the new vessel include studies of the causes and effects of algal blooms and impacts of ocean acidification.

The grant to SPMC was the result of the highly competitive process to which proposals to NSF are subjected.

“We are pleased that NSF continues to support our efforts to enhance the facilities we can provide in support of student and faculty academic activities at Western Washington University,” Sulkin said.

Since 1995, NSF has provided grants that have supported the purchase of the three other vessels that make up the SPMC fleet.

The Shannon Point Marine Center is a facility of WWU located in Anacortes, whose mission is the support of academic programs in the marine sciences at the university. More information about the marine center, its programs and facilities, can be accessed at www.wwu.edu/spmc.