The Whale Center of New England has purchased a 42-foot commercial-grade former fishing boat as a new research vessel. And center officials are asking you to help name it.

The Whale Center's research vessel is designed to help the nonprofit center — based on Harbor Loop — to collect a variety of data unavailable from other platforms. Long-term studies of endangered humpback whales, right whales and fin whales involve identifying individual animals by photographing natural markings. While some of this information can be collected from local whale-watching vessels, the research boat allows longer times at sea and access to areas that take too long for whale-watching boats to reach, officials said.

"The larger boat will greatly increase our research capacity, by allowing us to reach new areas and to work safely in rougher seas than does Silver II, our current 27-foot boat," Mason Weinrich, the center's executive director and chief scientist, said in a prepared statement. "We get a real picture of what is going on over a wide area by working on our boat."

In addition, The Whale Center's boat can be used to obtain small skin samples, called biopsy samples, from whales using a small metal punch dart.

"From the skin, we can learn about who is related to whom from genetics, determine the pollutant burden these animals carry, and even figure out what they have been eating through a chemical analysis," Weinrich said.

Dave Wiley, chief scientist at the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary — one of The Whale Center's primary study areas — said, "The addition of this boat to the local research field offers great promise of new and important information and findings."

The vessel can also be used to aid in tagging and acoustic studies. Center officials did not release the cost of the new vessel.

One of the first orders of business for the center is to find a new name for the research boat. To that end, the center is holding a naming contest for it.

Area residents are invited to submit their ideas for the best whale-related boat name to the center, 24 Harbor Loop, Gloucester MA 01930 or to info@whalecenter.org. The winner will receive a free whale adoption, a Whale Center t-shirt, a whale photo, and a ride on the boat. The deadline for entry is April 16.

The Whale Center of New England was founded in 1979 to study the whales frequenting waters off the Massachusetts coast — especially on Stellwagen Bank and Jeffreys Ledge, southeast of Gloucester. The center's mission is to conduct research on whales and their habitat and to actively engage in marine conservation and education. In addition to conducting field research from the new research vessel, center scientists collect data and narrate trips with Capt. Bill & Sons Whale Watch and Seven Seas Whale Watch — both out of Gloucester — and with Boston Harbor Cruises Whale Watch out of Boston.

The Whale Center's work is highlighted at the visitor center on Harbor Loop in Gloucester. During the summer, The Whale Center also offers small groups of passengers an up-close experience with whales and an opportunity to participate in data collection.