The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is awarding a $38.3 million contract to Halter Marine Inc. of Gulfport, Miss., to design and build a new fisheries research vessel, NOAA announced today.

The state-of-the-art ship, which will be NOAA's first acoustically quiet fisheries research vessel, will become operational in three years. It will be capable of conducting a wide variety of scientific missions, including fisheries stock assessments, physical and biological oceanography, marine mammal research, atmospheric and sea surface research, and development of advanced technologies for fisheries research and assessment.

The contract includes options for three additional fisheries research ships, which are needed to modernize NOAA's aging fisheries research fleet. The fleet supports NOAA fisheries science, stock assessment and management missions.