A new campaign has been launched in Miami, Florida, US, to save a former Navy and Coast Guard icebreaker and transform it into a floating environmental museum at "The Notch".

Local residents Ben Koether and Charles Green of The Glacier Society, together with retired attorney Seth Stopek are leading attempts to secure the future of the USS/USCGC Glacier.

The Glacier Society, which has been established to preserve and restore historic US ships, is now looking to raise funding by 17 April in order to save the icebreaker from destruction

Approval is also needed from the Marine Administration. The Glacier is one of nearly 60 vessels earmarked for destruction and has been on 39 Arctic and Antarctic missions.

It is hoped that a new environmental-themed attraction will complement the new Patricia and Phillip Frost Museum of Science, which is currently being built close to The Notch - a deep-water slip south of Bicentennial Park.

Koether, chair of The Glacier Society, said: "We are at a critical time in Glacier's storied life, perhaps more difficult than any passage she has made.

"With support of the legislative right extended to us by Congress, we are confident that Glacier's historical significance and environmental importance will be recognised."

Green, leader of the museum initiative, added: "Glacier will be the most significant museum in the world for information on environmental, oceanographic, polar and earth-sciences."

Details: www.savetheglacier.org

Image: (c) The Glacier Society