The University of Hawaii submersible program, already hit by federal budget cuts, is trying to line up research and commercial dives next year to keep the 32-year-old program afloat but has no contracts yet, officials said.
The Pisces IV and V are the only U.S. deep-diving science submersibles in the Pacific.
"We can certainly see that (financial brick) wall coming," said Sandy Shor, associate dean for research in the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology. "We are looking hard to find other projects."
To that end, UH’s Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory is reactivating a 50-foot submersible barge to launch and retrieve the Pisces IV and V, and is looking for a 70- to 100-foot support vessel to tow the barge, known as the LRT-30a.
The undersea research lab is expecting to lose the use of its main support ship, the 223-foot UH research vessel Ka‘imikai-o-Kanaloa, beginning next month.
The ship, operated by the UH Marine Center, likely will be working on a separate project to service National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration buoys around the Pacific, officials said.
Asked about the outlook to get research and commercial dive contracts in 2013, Terry Kerby, the undersea research lab’s director of facilities and submersible operations, said, "Right now we don’t have anything, but we haven’t given up hope."
He added, "There’s been a lot of drive to save these subs because they are a unique capability, and there’s still a chance that there could be other (financial) support. We haven’t given up on that. The good thing that we have is the university actually wants to support the operation and keep it going."
UH owns the Pisces IV, while NOAA owns the Pisces V and the submersible barge, but NOAA is expected to turn over the Pisces V and barge to the university, officials said.
NOAA, which funded the bulk of the undersea research lab’s efforts, zeroed out funding in fiscal 2013 for the National Undersea Research program, which includes the Hawaii lab.
The Hawaii program saw its NOAA funding drop to $1.4 million from $2.9 million for fiscal 2012, officials said.
Past dives have yielded the discovery that some deep-sea corals up to 10,000 years old are some of the oldest living organisms on the planet, according to the undersea lab.
The lab and its submersibles have been part of the long-term study of Loihi, the submarine volcano southeast of Hawaii island, documenting the growth of a new Hawaiian island.
A U.S. Senate spending committee proposed devoting $4 million in 2013 to "consolidate" undersea operations in Hawaii and Mississippi, but no appropriations bill has yet been adopted.
"It’s a big challenge," Shor said. "It’s a couple million dollars a year to really support this (the submersible program) the way it needs to be supported. Certainly a million and change. And it’s difficult."
With that uncertainty, and the expected loss of the Ka‘imikai-o-Kanaloa, or KOK, the undersea lab is reactivating the submersible barge for use with a smaller support vessel yet to be identified.
Kerby said the barge, which hasn’t been used for 16 years, can be towed by Navy, Coast Guard or other vessels.
A crew of three divers sinks the barge to a depth of 60 feet to launch and retrieve the submersibles.
"What that does, is if there is no funding coming from NOAA and we don’t have any science groups out there that can get funding to afford (a ship like the KOK), we still have an option to do science dives with the submersible with the LRT," said Kerby, the chief submersible pilot.
Most of the daily cost for submersible use is in the use of the KOK, he said. The cost for use of the submersibles and KOK is about $35,000 to $40,000 daily, which is a bargain basement price for the sub industry, Kerby said.
Use of the Navy-owned Alvin deep-diving sub, which is in Massachusetts, costs about $55,000 a day with its support ship, Kerby said. The Japanese Shinkai is probably double that cost, he said.
With UH needed to help finance a new support vessel, the cost would have to be a fraction of that paid for the KOK, Kerby said.
"We’ve been pounding the docks, our own crew, trying to find a vessel that is suitable," Kerby said.
The Army paid about $3 million for recent dives about 10 miles southeast of Pearl Harbor looking for chemical weapons dumped during and after World War II.
UH submersibles tested water, sediment and marine life near mustard agent bombs. The results are due in 2015.
The funds went to the undersea lab and daily ship costs, officials said.
Shor said the Army work "helped fill in some (funding) gaps, but we would need almost a dozen projects like that annually to really support the (submersible) project if we didn’t have the base of support (from NOAA)."
UH officials are hoping the undersea research lab people can take on other work within the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, he said.
