Capable of conducting multidisciplinary oceanographic operations in support of biological, chemical, and physical process studies, Reuben Lasker was commissioned as the fifth of a class of five of the most advanced fisheries research vessels in the world, with a unique capability to conduct both fishing and oceanographic research. She is a stern trawler with fishing capabilities similar to those of commercial fishing vessels. She is rigged for longlining and trap fishing and can conduct trawling operations to depths of 3,500 meters. Her most advanced feature is the incorporation of United States Navy-type acoustic quieting technology to enable NOAA scientists to monitor fish populations without the ships noise altering the behavior of the fish, including advanced quieting features incorporated into her machinery, equipment, and propeller. Her oceanographic hydrophones are mounted on a retractable centerboard, or drop keel, that lowers scientific transducers away from the region of hull-generated flow noise, enhancing the quality of the data collected. To take full advantage of these advanced data-gathering capabilities, she has the Scientific Sonar System, which can accurately measure the biomass of fish in a survey area. She also has an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler with which to collect data on ocean currents and a multibeam sonar system that provides information on the content of the water column and on the type and topography of the seafloor while she is underway, and she can gather hydrographic data at any speed up to 11knots. Reuben Lasker has a traction-type oceanographic winch with a maximum pull weight of 30,000 pounds which can deploy up to 4,000 meters of 17.3-mm electromechanical cable. She also has two CTD winches with a maximum pull weight of 7,700 pounds, each of which can deploy 4,000 meters of 9.5-mm electromechanical cable, two trawl winches with a maximum pull weight of 50,000 pounds, each of which can deploy 4,000 meters of 25.4-mm wire, and a net sonde winch with a maximum pull weight of 8,100 pounds which can deploy 4,000 meters of 11.4-mm electromechanical wire. She has a 65-foot telescopic boom with a lifting capacity of 1,000 pounds at full extension and of 10,000 pounds when extended 23 feet and a 23-foot telescopic boom with a 1,000-pound lifting capacity. She has a movable A-frame on her starboard side with a maximum safe working load of 2,000 pounds and a large A-frame aft with a maximum safe working load of 8,000 pounds that serves as a stern gantry. The oceanographic winch and large after A-frame work in conjunction to serve her stern sampling station, while two winches work with the starboard-side A-frame to service her side sampling station, and Reuben Laskers configuration allows her to have three scientific packages ready for sequential operations. One of her winches also can deploy lines and equipment over her stern. In addition to trawling, her sampling stations can deploy smaller sampling nets, longlines, and fish traps. Her winches can deploy CTD instruments to measure the electrical conductivity, temperature, and chlorophyll fluorescence of sea water. Reuben Lasker also can deploy specialized gear such as Multiple Opening/Closing Net and Environmental Sensing System frames, towed vehicles, dredges, and bottom corers, and she can deploy and recover both floating and bottom-moored sensor arrays. While trawling, Reuben Lasker uses wireless and hard-wired systems to monitor the shape of the trawl net and to work in conjunction with an autotrawl system that sets trawl depth and trawl wire tension and adjusts the net configuration. Reuben Lasker has a 630-square-foot wet laboratory, a 300-sq.-ft. dry laboratory, a 287-sq.-ft. biology and chemistry laboratory, a 445-sq.-ft. electronics and computer laboratory, and an 85-sq.-ft. hydrographic laboratory. She also has a 57-sq.-ft. climate-controlled space, a walk-in scientific freezer, a 360-sq.-ft. staging bay, and a 134-sq.ft. scientific ready room. She has open deck space aft for fishing and scientific operations and another area of open deck space at the side sampling station on her starboard side. All of her discharge pipes empty off her port side so that fluids disharged will not contaminate samples collected at the station on her starboard side. She has an ice-strengthened hull for operations in polar waters. Reuben Lasker carries two 26.4-foot rigid-hulled inflatable boats, each with a 270-horsepower motor and a capacity of 18 people, and a SOLAS-approved 15.5-foot rescue boat with a 32-horsepower motor and a capacity of six people. In addition to her crew of 24, Reuben Lasker can accommodate up to 15 scientists.
Service history
Officially classified as a "fisheries survey vessel," Reuben Lasker replaced NOAAS David Starr Jordan, decommissioned in 2010 after over 44 years of service and the last NOAA ship based at San Diego. Like David Starr Jordan before her, Reuben Lasker operates in support of the Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla, California - a component of NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service - and primarily conducts surveys of fish, marine mammals, and sea turtles off the United States West Coast and in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. Her commissioning in 2014 freed the NOAA fisheries survey vessel NOAAS Bell M. Shimada from these duties, freeing Bell M. Shimada to focus on other high-priority projects - including studies of the California Current Large Marine Ecosystem and of salmon populations all along the U.S. West Coast - that prior to Reuben Laskers arrival had been allocated no dedicated sea time.
