PROPOSED R/V MARTIN VITOUSEK
180' Maritime Research Ship
ex-USCG Planetree WLB-307

On July 3rd, 2008, the Atoll Institute executed a Vessel Conveyance agreement with the CAS Foundation, Inc. of Indiana for title to and possession of ex-USCG Planetree WLB-307, which in turn is pursuant to a Conveyance Agreement dated December 1, 2006 and executed by the CAS Foundation and the United States Coast Guard (USCG). The ship is presently moored at the Suisun Bay Ready Reserve Fleet (aka the "mothball fleet"). Our plans are to recommission and put her into service as a maritime and oceanographic research vessel, as well as a serving as a merchant marine training vessel while providing logistical support to a planned pilot program for sustainable dredging and filling to combat sea level rise on Tabuaeran (Fanning) Atoll, which is located midway between Hawaii and Tahiti in the Northern Line Chain of the Republic of Kiribati. Other duties may include search and rescue, pollution control and fire fighting, for which she was originally designed and is very well suited.

The Planetree will be renamed and documented as the "R/V Martin Vitousek" in honor of the late Dr. Martin Vitousek, Ph.D., a University of Hawaii geophysicist who established in the 1960s the Pacific Equatorial Research Laboratory (PERL) at the former undersea telegraphic Cable Station on Tabuaeran (Fanning) Atoll, located midway between Hawaii and Tahiti. However, in honor of his nickname "Marty" she would be affectionately referred to as such.

Plans are underway to secure a Permit to Proceed from the USCG for the "Marty" to be towed from the mothball fleet to a dry dock located on the west coast for bottom painting, repairs and upgrades prior to a planned repositioning cruise to Tabuaeran (Fanning) Atoll. Alternatively, if the Atoll Institute is able to secure and recommission a 109' ocean going tug, the ex-USN Tuscumbia YTB-762 (to be named the R/V PERL), from the Maritime Administration (MARAD) then it might be used to tow the "Marty" from Suisun Bay to Tabuaeran or Kiritimati (Christmas) Atoll in the Republic of Kiribati for mooring and later recommissioning there.

A tour of the "Marty" will be conducted at Suisun Bay on July 22, 2008, for the directors, some patrons, and a ship surveyor to assess her condition and presumed serviceability. USCG officers and crew members who served on her or her sister ships are cordially invited to participate in the tour and, moreover, are wanted to help in the recommissioning of her.

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