Provision of Shallow-Water Vessel and Facilities to Support SCUBA at the Shannon Point Marine Center

西华盛顿大学的香农角海洋中心(SPMC)地理位置优越，提供从大陆到各种海洋和河口栖息地的直接通道，支持丰富和多样化的海洋生物群。地理位置和设施为沿海流域和湿地的生产力、营养循环和再生、微生物生态和底栖生物新陈代谢以及当地鱼类、无脊椎动物和大型植物的生活史现象提供了独特的面向过程的研究机会。为了促进在这些主题上的研究和培训，太平洋岛屿委员会开发了一个数据库，并建立了三个示范学习站点，以支持长期研究。最近的设施发展强调了分析基础。对SPMC的现场支持设施的分析显示，在研究船能力和支持潜水能力方面存在根本性弱点。这种弱点正在限制研究，如果不加以解决，将限制SPMC应对学生和科学家对其设施日益增长的兴趣的能力。该项目将支持购买一艘22英尺浅吃水考察船，该船将允许进入我们典型的模型研究场地的非常浅的区域。此外，该项目将支持购买一艘潜水支持船和翻新空间，以提供潜水柜和压缩机。

Western Washington University's Shannon Point Marine Center (SPMC) is strategically located, providing direct acces from the mainland to a wide variety of marine and estuarine habitats that support a rich and diverse marine biota. The location and facilities provide distinctive opportunities for process-oriented research on productivity of coastal watersheds and wetlands, nutrient cycling and regeneration, microbial ecology, and benthic metabolism and on life history phenomena of local fish, inverterbrates, and macrophytes. To promote research and training in these topics, SPMC has developed a database and has established three model study sites to support long-term research. Recent facilities development has emphasized the analytical base. Analysis of SPMC's field support facilities has revealed fundamental weakness in research vessel capacity and in the ability to support SCUBA. Such weakness is restricting research and, if not addressed, will limit SPMC's capacity to respond to growing interest in use of its facilities by students and scientists. This project will support the purchase of a 22' shallow draft research vessel that will permit access to very shallow areas that typify our model study sites. Additionally, the project will support the purchase of a dive support vessel and renovation of space to provide a dive locker and compressor.