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Panel hears bill to add Oregon Institute of Marine Biology vessels to state research-vessel program and funds
Summary
A public hearing on House Bill 3486 heard requests to add University of Oregon research vessels to the state's ocean-going research vessel program, add a UO scientist to the Research Vessel Council, and provide state funds for vessel research days and dive-vessel infrastructure.
Representative Boomer Wright introduced House Bill 3486 at a public hearing, requesting expansion of the ocean‑going research vessel program to include research vessels operated by the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology (OIMB), addition of a University of Oregon scientist to the Research Vessel Council, and modest appropriations to support vessel operations and infrastructure.
Committee staff explained the bill would require at least one Research Vessel Council member to be a trained scientist from the University of Oregon with at least five years of marine research experience, appropriate $306,000 from the General Fund to the Higher Education Coordinating Commission to pay for 30 research days per year on two OIMB-operated research vessels, and appropriate $110,000 for purchase of a dive vessel and construction of a dock and dive platform.
OIMB interim director Aaron Galloway and instructor-researcher Caitlin Plowman described the scientific and training benefits of OIMB vessels for fisheries assessments, monitoring kelp forests, ocean acidification studies, and student training. Dean Tuba Askan Haller of Oregon State University's College of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences supported the bill with a small amendment to ensure proposals for use of state funds for UO vessels are reviewed by the existing council process and noted the recently launched research vessel Tani will increase operating costs and may prompt additional funding requests in 2027.
Witnesses urged the committee to support HB 3486 to broaden access to nearshore and estuarine research platforms and to maintain Oregon's capacity for marine science, education and coastal monitoring. The committee closed the public hearing; no committee vote occurred during the session.
