Marine Experts Criticize Report on L.A. Ship : Government: Controversial report about city’s $5.5-million ocean-monitoring vessel draws fire from biologists who use less-expensive craft off Southern California.

Marine biologists for three government agencies say that Los Angeles city officials made a number of errors in a report that aims to justify $5.5 million the city spent on a new ocean-monitoring vessel.

In recent interviews, the biologists say the report by the Los Angeles Bureau of Sanitation misrepresents the capabilities of less-expensive boats bought by the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts, the city of San Diego and the state Department of Fish and Game.

In addition, biologists with two of the agencies say the report misstates or omits many important facts about their ocean-research programs.

“No objective person with experience in ocean-monitoring vessels and programs would accept the claims and conclusions in the city’s comparison of the agencies,” said Joe Meistrell, who directs the ocean-monitoring program for the county Sanitation Districts.

Harry Sizemore, an assistant director of the city’s sanitation bureau, said his staff compiled the information to explain the city’s ocean-monitoring program, not to suggest that other agencies and their vessels are less comprehensive and capable than Los Angeles’. The information about other agencies, he said, was compiled by his staff and was “an honest attempt” to compare the responsibilities of the agencies, not their vessels.

“I’m not in a contest with any agency,” Sizemore said.

The report was requested by a Los Angeles council member after The Times reported in February that the city had spent $5.5 million over five years to design and build a vessel for ocean monitoring of Santa Monica Bay. The 85-foot vessel, called La Mer, has so far cost the city more than three times its original estimates and has been plagued by design and construction problems, which delayed its use until this week.

While the other agencies bought their vessels from available hull designs at shipyards, The Times reported that the city of Los Angeles had La Mer custom designed by a company owned by a city harbor commissioner, Robert Rados Sr. The company was paid $1.2 million to design the boat and oversee its construction.

The Times’ story also reported that the vessel, while primarily designed for day trips in local waters, has sleeping quarters for a crew of seven and many sophisticated navigational features, including two radar systems and closed-circuit monitors for the engine room and the aft deck.

Although Meistrell and others declined comment on Los Angeles’ vessel or oceanographic research, they disputed assertions in the report that the city’s program is far more complicated than others and requires a more sophisticated and safer ship than those used by other agencies.

To the contrary, officials from San Diego and the county Sanitation Districts say, their ocean-monitoring programs are based on the same basic Environmental Protection Agency guidelines as Los Angeles’ program.

Moreover, officials of San Diego, the county Sanitation Districts and the state Department of Fish and Game said their vessels, none of which cost more than $800,000, have more than met standards of durability and safety.

In the report, city sanitation officials said Los Angeles’ ocean-monitoring was far more extensive than those of other agencies and required a sturdier and more sophisticated vessel to assure a quality program and safety for La Mer’s crew. As evidence, sanitation officials detailed their ocean program and compared it and La Mer with the other agencies’ programs and vessels.

For example, sanitation officials said that Los Angeles’ program covers an offshore area of 150 square miles, where weekly water samples are collected at 39 locations. By comparison, the report says, the city of San Diego covers 36 square miles and samples 27 sites, and the county Sanitation Districts sample only 11 sites in an area of 40 square miles.

But Meistrell, field supervisor for the county sanitation program, said its ocean monitoring aboard the $750,000 Ocean Sentinel includes weekly sampling at 32 sites. And Tim Rothans, who directs San Diego’s program, said that agency’s area is 90 to 100 square miles.

In addition, Meistrell and Rothans said, Los Angeles’ report also misstates or underestimates the extent of water quality sampling, bacterial testing and other scientific research done by their vessels.

The city’s report also emphasized that La Mer will be required to be at sea about 220 days each year and must be versatile, because it will be the only one used by the city. The county Sanitation Districts and the city of San Diego, the report says, each use two vessels for their oceanographic research.

But Meistrell said his agency’s program runs 285 days a year, and Rothans said San Diego’s marine biologists are out to sea 205 to 220 days a year.

Meistrell and Rothans also said that their programs employ small second boats--priced at about $50,000 each--because they are more efficient for certain research.

“We like the efficiency of our boats,” said Rothans, whose program includes the $350,000 Monitor III and a smaller second vessel. “Everybody would like to have a big boat with high-tech equipment. But we don’t need that and couldn’t justify that.”

Los Angeles sanitation officials also said La Mer was designed and built to meet special American Bureau of Shipping construction standards--at an added cost of $1 million--to assure the safety of its crew and to produce a vessel that would last 35 years, rather than the 15 years expected of ships built to “lesser standards.”

The report also says that the 80-foot, $800,000 vessel Mako, used by the state Department of Fish and Game for research along the coast and up to 200 miles at sea, was built from a reconditioned hull.

But Dave Parker, who directs Fish and Game’s ocean research, said the vessel was new when it was purchased last July. And officials of all three agencies said their boats are safe and strong enough to last 25 to 35 years.

Moreover, they said the ABS standards applied to La Mer are costly and seemingly unnecessary for oceanographic vessels operating close to shore.

“I don’t want to criticize their selection of ABS, but we didn’t see the need . . . and safetywise, I feel we are as safe as anyone in the business,” said San Diego’s Rothans.

Added Meistrell: “It’s not desirable and it is not necessary, and it is certainly not the common practice of boats in this size range. There is just no justification for it, even if you ignore the costs.”

But Sizemore, the Los Angeles sanitation official, disputed that contention Thursday, insisting that city officials still believe the ABS standards are necessary to provide a top-flight oceanographic vessel. “We felt that following those standards makes our boat safer,” he said.