 The Large Lakes Observatory operates the largest university-owned research vessel in the Great Lakes, the R/V Blue Heron.Built in 1985 for fishing on the Grand Banks, the Blue Heron was purchased by the University of Minnesota in 1997, sailed from Portland, Maine, up the St. Lawrence Seaway to Duluth, and converted into a limnological research vessel during the winter of 1997–98.The Blue Heron is part of the University National Oceanographic Laboratory System, and is available for charter by research scientists on any of the Great Lakes.