Purchase of vessel OKd

JACKSON, Miss. —The State College Board on Wednesday approved the University of Southern Mississippi's purchase of a new research vessel. Southern Miss is buying the Point Sur from the San Jose State University Research Foundation for $875,000. It will cost another $125,000 and three weeks for the 135-foot vessel, built in 1980, to travel from Monterrey, Calif., to Gulfport, through the Panama Canal. Funding came in a grant from the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality. The purchase provides the school with a vessel that can be used for research projects in the Gulf of Mexico. The ship can accommodate 13 researchers and technicians and a crew of eight. (Sources: University of Southern Mississippi, 02/25/15, Hattiesburg American, 02/26/15)