More government vessels. Jamaica Bay is an aquatic weed harvester. I’ve seen these on freshwater lakes and rivers, but this was my first sighting transiting the East River. Anyone know where it operates? Jamaica Bay maybe?
S/V Moritz uses Reson Seabat systems to map the harbor bottom.
Hayward is a debris remover and dump truck.
Profile view of Hayward with its 84-foot crane that can lift a whale, a helicopter, a floataway container… you name it. But who was “Hayward” so honored?
Buoy tender Katherine Walker maintains channel markers. Her namesake is shown at this link.
All photos by Will Van Dorp.
tugster: a waterblog 
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August 21, 2007 at 6:53 pm
bonnie
I did see an aquatic weed harvester in Jamaica Bay not long ago. However I did not see whether it was the Jamaica Bay.
One boat I would like to see but haven’t run across yet is the Puffin that you showed back in the Spring sometime. Brian says they are mostly out on weekdays, though.
October 22, 2010 at 4:32 pm
Jane
The Jamaica Bay is actually a special trash skimmer, not a weed harvester. Due to its low draft it can be used in the shallow waters found in the estuaries, as well in the open river where it can travel at 10 knots fully loaded, and withstand Sea State IV.
August 25, 2011 at 3:50 pm
Anonymous
I does look very similar to an aquatic weed harvester/a> although after looking more closely at the picture, I can see that there aren’t any cutters.
August 27, 2011 at 8:01 am
tugster
glad you pointed that out, anon . . . i wonder if the “light debris collector” vessel and the aquatic weed harvester could be the same basic machine with interchangeable bow attachments??
November 7, 2011 at 12:38 pm
aquaticweedharvester
Mmmmmmmm, interesting thought. The Jamaica Bay was actually manufactured by Aquarius Systems and it is certainly a one of a kind boat built to very detailed specifications. We have quite a list of standard weed harvesters we manufacturer but typically they are all customized to the needs and problems of our customers. If presented with such a remarkable request we would certainly consider production and engineering of such a vessel.