The National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration (NOAA) ship Oscar Dyson is docked in Kodiak as the crew prepares for another research trip.

The ship, which is homeported in Kodiak, conducts a wide variety of fisheries and oceanographic research. The current project is a fish survey.

“This project they’re working on is a walleye Pollock survey,” said chief of operations at NOAA Demian Bailey.

The research isn’t too different from what the ship has been doing in past years.

“She’s conducting the same project she does most every year,” Bailey said. “Right now, she is doing fisheries research near the Shelikof Strait by measuring fishery stock abundance.”

The ship uses acoustic quieting technology to look at fish biomass — making it possible to conduct research without altering fish behavior, Bailey said.

“They have an acoustic transducer for research, and also do trawling and other sampling methods like that,” he said.

The main component of this system is the Scientific Sonar System, which can accurately measure the biomass of fish in the survey area.

The ship carries about 15 scientists and about 20 crewmembers. So far, the ship has faced some difficulties getting out on the water.

“They were one of the first ships out this year and have been dealing with some bad weather,” Bailey said. “Not only do they work out of Kodiak, but they go out into the Bering Sea when the weather opens up.”

The Oscar Dyson was the first fisheries support vessel built for the NOAA. It is a stern trawler designed for fisheries and oceanographic research.

The ship’s fishing operations and capabilities match those of the commercial trawler fleet. It is capable of conducting trawling operations to a depth of 1,800 meters, and has smaller sampling nets and tows fishing gear that can be deployed from various winches.

There are a total of four support vessels, and each supports NOAA’s mission to protect, restore, and manage the use of living marine, coastal and ocean resources.

Each ship conducts projects for NOAA’s Alaska Fisheries Science Center and the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory.

Aside from monitoring fish, the ship also is used to observe weather, conduct oceanographic research, habitat assessments, and survey marine mammal and bird populations.

The ship, named after Alaskan fisherman Oscar Dyson, will be at sea 202 days this year.