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SW Michigan

Saugatuck Firm Builds New DNR Vessel

WMUK | By Andrew Robins

Published February 23, 2015 at 2:49 PM EST

A company in southwest Michigan will build a new research boat for the state Department of Natural Resources.

The DNR says it has picked Anderson Boat Works in Saugatuck to build the 57-foot-long vessel. The R/V Tanner will take over fisheries research operations on Lake Huron from the R/V Chinook. It has been in service since 1947 and will be retired.

The new vessel is expected to be delivered in April next year. The D-N-R says the Tanner, which is named former DNR director and fisheries division head Howard Tanner, will be safer and more flexible than the older research vessel and is expected to remain in service for 50 years. Its design is modeled on the department's R/V Lake Char launched in 2007 that operates on Lake Superior.