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NEWPORT, Ore. - Operations of the 85-foot-long Oregon State University research vessel Pacific Storm have been transferred from the Marine Mammal Institute at OSU to the university's College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences (CEOAS).

The transfer will put the university's three major research vessels under the same unit; CEOAS also operates the 177-foot R/V Oceanus and the 54-foot R/V Elakha.

The transfer will make the Pacific Storm available for year-round cruises - weather permitting - and improve access to the sea for OSU scientists, students and collaborators across the university, said Bruce Mate, director of OSU's Marine Mammal Institute.

"The Pacific Storm has been a great vessel for us, but it makes more sense logistically to operate all the vessels under a single unit," Mate said. "We'll continue to use the 'Storm' but this will allow many other researchers access to her."

In the past decade, the R/V Pacific Storm has hosted 52 cruises, including one that culminated in the National Geographic documentary, "Kingdom of the Blue Whale," which featured Mate's research on the largest animals to have ever lived on Earth. The vessel has been used for a variety of whale research, as well as to deploy wave energy buoys, conduct seafloor mapping off the Oregon Coast, and deploy and recover undersea gliders.

The Pacific Storm originally was a commercial trawler that was donated to the OSU Marine Mammal Institute by Scotty and Janet Hockema, and refitted for research. The fish hold was converted into three bunk rooms, two toilets and a shower, and the vessel was outfitted with a research laboratory. Private donations paid for the refitting of the $1.5 million vessel.

The Pacific Storm will be housed and operated by OSU Ship Operations at the university's Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, said Stewart Lamerdin, OSU's marine superintendent.

"As the university moves forward with its Marine Studies Initiative, there will be an increasing demand for access by students and scientists to research vessels," Lamerdin said. "Managing all three vessels in a single operation will help OSU maximize their usage."