SavingSeaFood - EPA research vessel in port for project and tours

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EPA research vessel in port for project and tours

PORTSMOUTH — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency hopes Seacoast residents will take a bold step and visit its only ocean-going research vessel when it opens to the public Labor Day weekend.

The 224-foot OSV Bold, currently docked at the Port of New Hampshire, will return Sunday, Sept. 4, following a six-day journey to Jeffries Ledge and back with researchers from federal, New Hampshire and Massachusetts agencies. The Bold travels across the country, studying the ocean's water quality as well as the health and diversity of sea life on the ocean floor.

While in this area of New England, the ship will be conducting two separate studies.

Closer to shore, the crew will be looking at dredge disposal sites. Jean Brochi, biologist and chief science officer on the Bold, said researchers will take digital images of the geological features of the ocean floor. They will also look at "historic disposal sites that were used before regulations were put in place" in the middle of the 20th century, to see if they can be used.

Read the complete story from The South Coast Today.

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