Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet Assessment Project

The U.S. Maritime Administration maintains a fleet of vessels that serve as a reserve of ships for national defense and national emergency purposes. The reserve fleet program was begun in 1946 at the end of World War II. At its peak in 1950, the program had more than 2,000 ships in lay-up. One of the reserve fleet storage sites is in Suisun Bay, the northern portion of San Francisco Bay. More than 70 vessels currently make up the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet.

Click to enlarge map.

The State of California and several environmental groups have raised concerns about the environmental impacts of the fleet. Potential concerns include heavy metals and antifouling agents in the paint that is peeling off of the vessels, as well as PCBs and other hazardous materials that may have been released. Congress responded to these concerns by funding NOAA to design and implement a study of contaminants in the vicinity of the fleet.

The NOAA Project Team, with assistance from local stakeholders, completed a year-long study to characterize contaminant levels in sediments and tissues of mussels and clams near the National Defense Reserve Fleet in Suisun Bay, California. Their findings are detailed in the NOAA report—Assessment of Environmental Contaminants Associated with the National Defense Reserve Fleet in Suisun Bay, California. The report concludes that contaminant concentrations in the vicinity of the Reserve Fleet are comparable to those at other locations throughout the greater San Francisco Bay. Consequently, the NOAA scientists are not recommending specific cleanup actions at this time.

The final report includes excellent background information about the physical properties of the system and movements of water and sediments, and valuable comparisons of data from numerous studies within the larger San Francisco Bay Delta system, and a series of maps depicting NOAA’s analysis. It is available for downloading in PDF format from the document links on this page.

Related software and data on our site

Query Manager and MARPLOT Applications, Data, and Maps Downloadable database that is available in the Query Manager Application. It includes data from the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet study as well as many additional San Francisco Bay contaminant studies. Download the San Francisco database and Maps as well the Query Manager Application in order to view.

Final Report

Assessment of Environmental Contaminants Associated with the National Defense Reserve Fleet in Suisun Bay, California Full body of the report text, should be downloaded with Tables, Maps, Figures, and appendices which were broken out due to file size. (Document format: PDF, size: 10.9 M)

Report Tables Contains all data tables referred to in the report text. (Document format: PDF, size: 2.4 M)

Report Maps Contains all data maps referred to in the report text. (Document format: PDF, size: 5.9 M)

Report Figures Contains all data Figures referred to in the report text. (Document format: PDF, size: 669.8 K)

Report Appendices Contains all data Appendices referred to in the report text. (Document format: PDF, size: 7.7 M)

Google Earth Project File This is a KMZ file that can be run via Google Earth and shows sampling locations and field sampling photos. Users must already have downloaded Google Earth to their machines in order to view this file. (Software format: Windows Executable, size: 22.4 K)