Contact:  Jeanne Kouhestani                  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
                                             8/20/98

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration research ship FERREL this week will be checking for toxic substances in Baltimore Harbor that could affect environmental health and seafood safety, NOAA said today.

The FERREL, docked in Baltimore Harbor next to the Aquarium, will hold an open house on Saturday, Aug. 22, from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. to give the public an opportunity to see the NOAA research vessel and learn more about its current work.

The ship will be sampling bottom sediments, fish, and invertebrates - including blue crabs - throughout the Chesapeake Bay during the next month as part of NOAA's long-term National Status and Trends program. The program evaluates long-term changes and trends in pollution and the impacts of pollution on marine organisms.

"Baltimore Harbor is one of the critical ongoing sampling sites in the northern Chesapeake Bay that has been periodically sampled for pollutants," said Lt. Cmdr. Paul Moen, NOAA Corps, commanding officer of the FERREL. "We'll be sending out small launches from the ship to measure levels of toxic organic and inorganic substances in sediments and tissues, along with the prevalence of associated fish disorders, to compare with similar measurements that have been collected over the past 15 years."

The National Status and Trends program is sponsored by NOAA's National Ocean Service and involves cooperative work with the National Marine Fisheries Service.

The FERREL is a 133-ft. coastal and estuarine oceanographic research vessel homeported in Charleston, S.C., that operates along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. This past summer the ship supported dive operations on the wrecked Civil War ironclad ship U.S.S. MONITOR National Marine Sanctuary, sea turtle tagging and fish surveys in Grays Reef National Marine Sanctuary, sediment coring and seismic surveys off Long Island, hydrographic survey and resource assessment in the Dry Tortugas, and estuarine sediment and fish sampling in Florida and Georgia.

As part of NOAA's fleet of ships and aircraft, the FERREL is operated and managed by officers and civilians of the Office of NOAA Corps Operations. The NOAA Corps is a uniformed service of the United States, composed of officers all scientists or engineers who provide NOAA with a useful blend of operational, management, and technical skills that support the agency's programs at sea, in the air, and ashore.

NOTE TO EDITORS: The media are invited to tour the FERREL during its open house on Saturday, Aug. 22, 10 a.m. - 2 p.m., at the pier next to the Baltimore Aquarium. NOAA scientists; shipboard personnel; Jim Murray, director of the National Sea Grant program; and participants from the Baltimore Aquarium will be available to answer questions.