Blue Heron

Blue Heron was built in 1985, is 87 feet long and flies a U.S. flag

Info
The Blue Heron, owned by the Large Lakes Observatory at the University of Minnesota at Duluth, is often on the lake working with water quality issues, fish populations and the geo physical structure of Lake Superior. It is the largest university-owned research vessel in the Great Lakes. Built in 1985 for fishing on the Grand Banks, the Blue Heron was purchased by the University of Minnesota in 1997. She sailed from Portland, Maine, up the St. Lawrence Seaway to Duluth, and was converted into a limnological research vessel during the winter of 1997-98.

She is outfitted with state-of-the-art research equipment. The Blue Heron has berthing for 9 crew and scientists, and can operate 24 hours per day for up to 14 days in between port calls. She is part of the University National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS), and is available for charter by research scientists on any of the Great Lakes. It served in the Grand Banks fishing fleet until the federal government bought it through an incentive program to protect the depleted fishery.