Marine science's new boat arrives

The University of Otago's new research vessel 'Toppa' (right) and the university's larger research vessel 'Polaris II' on Otago Harbour, near the Portobello Marine Laboratory. Photo by Stephen Jaquiery.

The new boat arrived by sea from Nelson last Sunday, and is berthed beside the 21m Polaris II near the university's Portobello Marine Laboratory.

"It's fantastic," Prof Gary Wilson, the Otago head of marine science, said.

"We struggle to get out and do the research that's so important to do and we struggle to give the students access to do their work. This just doubles our opportunities."

Otago University researchers were lucky to have such facilities and "we're very lucky to have these donors who can help us".

The new boat, Toppa, will later be renamed after her benefactor, the late Beryl Brewen, an Auckland University science graduate who worked as a zoologist at Otago in the late 1930s, and also studied at earlier marine research facilities at Portobello.

The new boat has been fitted out to carry up to 20 people in enclosed waters such as Otago Harbour, and up to eight people during coastal work outside the harbour.

Built by Challenge Marine in Nelson nine years ago, it was formerly used for mussel industry work around Picton.

Polaris II returned to the marine laboratory yesterday after undergoing repairs at Bluff as a result of hitting part of a concrete fuel wharf in late January.

Demand for local, short expeditions to support regular teaching requirements at the university had become exceedingly high, Prof Wilson said.

The smaller boat would free up the ocean-going Polaris II for work it was designed for, such as expeditions to Fiordland and Stewart Island.