Her United States Government service ended when she was sold into private hands in 1972, and she remained extant as of 2018.

Seattle, Washington, naval architect Harold Cornelius Hanson designed a number of vessels for the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries, and Pelican was among them.

[2] He designed her to meet a BOF requirement for a research vessel which could conduct scientific work on the continental shelf along the United States East Coast at depths of up to 600 feet (183 m).

[2] Some of the deckhouse compartments were separated from one another, with self-sealing, high-threshold doors to her outer side decks providing access between them.

[2] After her engine overhaul was complete, Pelican underwent repairs and alterations at Fairhaven, Massachusetts, in 1936, including the installation of deck fittings, a 25-kilowatt (34 hp) electric generator, and a hydrographic winch with 5,000 feet (1,524 m) of steel cable for oceanographic work.

[2] Although her small size limited her to operations within 100 nautical miles (190 km; 120 mi) of the United States Gulf Coast and precluded lengthy stays at sea, Pelican arrived at New Orleans well equipped for deep-water hydrographic and biological surveys thanks to the work performed on her at Fairhaven, Curtis Bay, and Brunswick.

[2] Searching for evidence to support a theory that shrimp move to deeper waters in the winter after disappearing in the autumn from fishing grounds closer to shore, Pelican found brown shrimp (Farfantepenaeus aztecus) in deeper water off the coast of Louisiana in 1938; this discovery allowed the development of a viable commercial shrimp-fishing industry in the Gulf of Mexico.

In early 1941, Pelican was loaded aboard the United States Navy cargo ship USS Vega at Newport News.

[2] In addition to patrol duties, she often serviced FWS trap and stream watchmen – temporary FWS employees in Southcentral and Southeast Alaska who patrolled important fishing grounds and maintained lights and free-floating fish traps[5] – with supplies.

[2] In late 1941, she towed the FWS fishery patrol vessel USFS Eider, which had suffered damage when she ran aground on 24 October 1941 – from Prince Rupert, British Columbia, Canada, to Seattle, Washington, for repairs.

[2] Under a major reorganization in 1956, the FWS became the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, and a new Bureau of Commercial Fisheries (BCF) was created as a component of the USFWS.

[2] On 3 October 1970, a major reorganization occurred which formed the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) under the United States Department of Commerce.