COOS BAY — The ocean survey vessel Bold made its inaugural visit to Coos Bay this past week, arriving at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ dock. For the ship’s chief scientist, passing under a fog-enshrouded McCullough Bridge wasn’t a trip into unfamiliar waters. It was a return home.

Chris McArthur is no stranger to the South Coast. Having moved to Coos Bay with his parents when he was 2, McArthur went to Coos Bay schools. He graduated from Marshfield in 1987. He fondly remembers his high school oceanography teacher, George Tinker, who encouraged his interest in the ocean.

“Great class. Lots of field trips,” said McArthur, his reddish hair blowing about his sunburned nose on the Army Corps’ dock Saturday.

His interests eventually took him to Atlanta, where he joined the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency office there as a regional ocean dumping coordinator.

His office is responsible for issuing permits for dumping materials at sea. Most materials that are dumped these days are dredge sediments, though larger objects, (yes, that included the bow of the New Carissa nine years ago) require EPA permission, too.

The Bold is normally stationed in his region, giving him opportunities to get out of the office and climb aboard the vessel since its transfer from the U.S. Navy in 2004. It is the EPA’s only ocean and coastal monitoring vessel, so when some testing was scheduled for the West Coast this summer, the Bold got the call. EPA scientists from West Coast offices were set to conduct the studies, but the EPA wanted staff familiar with the Bold and its crew to be on hand as well.

When McArthur learned the ship would be testing dredged material disposal sites on the Oregon coast, he volunteered.

“I really wanted to do these Oregon surveys,” he said. “I love the Oregon coast and I thought it was a great opportunity to come out here.”

There are two dredge spoil dump sites outside of Coos Bay, north of the North Jetty, both of which the Bold inspected last week. The near-shore site is just for sand, McArthur said, while the deeper-depth site can take finer grain materials.

The crews checked the sites for pollutants, such as pesticides and heavy metals, that might have gotten past inspectors the first time around. They also looked for macro-invertebrate communities, like bivalves, worms and arthropods, to make sure they were healthy. McArthur said sediment samples of the site were taken to Seattle and animals were sent to a taxidermist in Corvallis for further study.

McArthur assisted with the work, but he also got to have some fun. When the ship was on the Columbia River, they took some time to catch crab, McArthur said, though they had to throw them back, reluctantly.

McArthur also enjoyed the chance to see the Oregon Coast from a different perspective.

After making their way down to Brookings, the crew returned to Coos Bay, where the team of scientists from the EPA’s Seattle office demobilized. McArthur has a week off before he rejoins the Bold in Eureka, Calif., where scientists will study a disposal site before heading down to San Francisco. He plans to spend his free time visiting with his mom, Doralee Mortenson of Bend, and dad, Bob McArthur, who lives in Hauser.

When the surveying wraps up, the Bold will make its way back to the East Coast by way of the Panama Canal. McArthur will catch a plane.

“I’m already out here a long time,” he said. “My office misses me.”

McArthur said he took the job in Atlanta thinking it would be a good place to start a career. Sixteen years later, he has found the city to be to his liking, though he enjoys paying visits to the South Coast.

“It’s a lot warmer in Atlanta,” McArthur said. “But I don’t miss the wind.”

— Staff Writer Alexander Rich can be reached by calling 269-1222, ext. 234, or by e-mail at arich@theworldlink.com.