MANITOWOC, Wis. — A Manitowoc boat company plans to add up to 50 jobs to build a large fisheries research vessel.
The U.S. Geological Survey is paying Burger Boat Co. nearly $5.6 million to replace the existing 38-year-old Grayling. It will be 78-foot, steel-hulled vessel with an expected launch into the Manitowoc River in fall 2014.
HTR Media in Manitowoc reports (http://htrne.ws/16uJEzv) it's expected to have a 40- to 50-year service life. Among crew members' tasks will be dragging nets along the lake bottom, catching fish and using sound waves to detect fish and assess their abundance.
Burger Boat Co.'s vice president of sales and marketing, Ron Cleveringa, says they will reach out to former employees as well.
