NOAA Teacher at Sea
John Schneider
Onboard NOAA Ship Fairweather July 7 – August 8, 2009
Mission: FISHPAC Geographical Area: Bering Sea Date: August 2-3, 2009
Position
Bristol Bay, AK
Weather Data from the Bridge
Weather System: Low pressure
Barometer: falling rapidly afternoon of the 3rd (as low as 994 mB)
Wind: building through the 3rd to 45 kts
Low Temperature: 8.6º C
Sea State: 10-15 feet afternoon of the 3rd
I was wondering when . . . It’s now!!!
Science and Technology Log
One of the aspects of hydrographic surveying and research out of sight of land for extended periods of time is that the days and nights blur into an uninterrupted continuum. At breakfast today, LT Andrews said, “It’s Tuesday.” I said, “Is it?” and he responded that “It’s always Tuesday at sea.” I asked “Why not Wednesday, at least then it’s ‘hump day’ to the weekend?” He answered that sometimes it seems you’re never closer to anything. It was a fun exchange, but as the FISHPAC leg continues, I am realizing that the idea is spot-on accurate. Coupling the “sameness” of the days, with the fact that the ship is on 24-hour operations, it’s easy to get confused!
SeaBoss on the deck. In the background, the wave tops are being blown off the waves!
We’re using SeaBoss to grab samples every three to five hours and I’m learning about some of the relationships between bottoms and infauna. Significant, however, is the fact that almost regardless of sea state, SeaBoss gets deployed. I say “almost” for a reason.Legs 9 and 10 of the FISHPAC survey (as shown on a previous log) are in a North Easterly direction. Two days ago we received a weather update anticipating a strong low pressure system approaching. As we went through the day of the 3rd, the barometer was falling rapidly, the wind ramped up continuously and seas grew to 10-15 feet. By early afternoon it became impossible to deploy SeaBoss safely and the CO ordered us to suspend operations and head for Hagemeister Island in order to anchor behind it.
Notice to the right of the SeaBoss – that’s a wave breaking onto the fantail!
We arrived there at 2000 hours (8 pm) and anchored. I took about a 10 minute video of the waves and the ship getting tossed around. I’ll try to post it when I get home next week. In the early 1800’s, Sir Francis Beaufort devised a scale to estimate wind speed based on the appearance of the ocean’s surface. It is a scale from 1-12 that correlates the appearance of the ocean surface with wind speed. It is called, appropriately enough, the Beaufort Scale and we experienced a solid 7 on the scale.
Personal Log
Commissioned mariners
Exhausting but exhilarating! Anyone who takes the majesty and power of the sea for granted should undergo a thorough psychological exam! The officers on the Fairweather are commissioned mariners. In order to join the NOAA Corps of officers, one needs to be less than 42 years old and a college graduate. It is preferred that the undergraduate major be in the physical sciences, math, engineering or computer science. These are exceptionally qualified uniformed servicemen and women of the United States. A career with NOAA as an officer is rewarding and in service to the nation. It is a career I will certainly discuss with my future students.
Something to Think About
Just about everybody has heard of Latitude and Longitude, but what do they mean and how are they measured?
NOAA Teacher at Sea
Kathryn Lanouette
Onboard NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson
July 21-August 7, 2009
Mission: Summer Pollock Survey Geographical area of cruise: Bering Sea, Alaska Date: August 1, 2009
This sonar-generated image shows walleye pollock close to the sea floor. The red line at the bottom of the image is the sea floor. The blue specks at the top of the image are jellyfish floating close to the water’s surface.
Weather Data from the Ship’s Bridge
Visibility: 10+ nautical miles
Wind direction: variable
Wind speed: less than 5 knots, light
Sea wave height: 0 feet
Air temperature: 7.9˚C
Seawater temperature: 8.6˚C
Sea level pressure: 30.1 inches Hg
Cloud cover: 7/8, stratus
Science and Technology Log
In addition to the Aleutian wing trawl (which I explained in Day 5 NOAA ship log) and Methot (which I explained in Day 8 NOAA ship log), scientists also use a net called an 83-112 for bottom trawls. The 83-112 net is strong enough to drag along the sea floor, enabling it to catch a lot of the animals that live in, on, or near the sea floor. This afternoon, we conducted the first bottom trawl of our cruise. Bottom trawls are usually conducted in two situations: if the walleye pollock are too close to the sea floor to use an Aleutian wing trawl or if the scientists want to sample a small amount of fish (because the 83-112’s net opening is smaller than the Aleutian wing trawl’s net). From the looks of the sonar-generated images, it appeared that most of the walleye pollock were swimming very close to the bottom so the scientists decided it would be best to use the 83-112 net.
Here I am holding one of the skates that was caught in the bottom trawl
Once the fish were spotted, we changed our course to get ready to trawl. Usually the trawl is made into the wind for stability and net control. Once the ship reached trawling speed, the lead fisherman was given the “OK” to shoot the doors. Slowly, the net was lowered to 186 meters below the surface, the sea depth where we happened to be. The water temperature down there was about 1˚C (compared to 7˚C on the sea’s surface). I had heard from a previous Teacher At Sea that bottom trawls brought up a wide variety of animal species (compared to the relatively homogenous catches in mid-water trawls). And sure enough, when the net was brought up, I couldn’t believe my eyes!
All told, we sorted through over 7,000 animals, a total of 36 different species represented in the total catch. It took 4 of us over 4 hours to sort, measure, and weigh all these animals. There were over 350 walleye pollock in this catch as well as skates, octopi, crabs, snails, arrowtooth flounder, sea anemones, star fish, and dozens of other animals. Some of them were even walking themselves down the table.
During this catch, I also learned how to take the ear bones, or otoliths, out of a walleye pollock. Why ear bones you might ask? Using the ear bones from a walleye pollock, scientists are able to determine the exact age of the fish. Misha Stepanenko, one of the two Russian scientists on board the Oscar Dyson, showed me how to cut partially through the fish’s skull and take out two large ear bones. Once they were taken out, I put them in a solution to preserve them. Back in NOAA’s Seattle lab, the ear bones are stained, enabling scientists to count the different layers in each ear bone. For every year that the fish lives, a new layer of bone grows, similar to how trees add a layer for each year that they live. By learning the exact age of a fish, scientists are able to track age groups (called “cohorts”), allowing more precise modeling of the walleye pollock population life cycle.
A diagram of an otolith, or ear bone, of a fish. You can see that it’s a lot like looking at tree rings!
Personal Log
So far this trip, we have sailed within 15 miles of Cape Navarin (Russia) on at least two different occasions but fog and clouds prevented any glimpse of land both times. It was a frustrating feeling knowing that land was so close, yet impossible to see. After 12 days of looking at nothing but water and sky, seeing land would have been a welcome treat.
Despite not seeing land, I still felt like I was in Russia just from listening to different fishing vessels communicate with one another. On our first night in Russian waters, we sailed through a heavy fog, with 7 or 8 different boats fishing nearby. I was impressed with how Ensign Faith Opatrny, the Officer on Deck at the time, communicated with various vessels, using collision regulations (“the rules of the road”) to navigate safely. On a culinary note, I got my first chance to eat some of a catch. After most trawls, we discard remaining inedible specimens overboard. After our bottom trawl however, one of the scientists filleted some of the cod. The next day, the stewards cooked it up for lunch. It tasted great and it felt good to be eating some of the fish that we sampled.
A graph showing the adult walleye pollock biomass estimates from 1965 to 2008.
As the cruise starts to wind down, I also want to express my gratitude to all the NOAA scientists and Oscar Dyson crew. Everyone in the science group took time to explain their research, teach me scientific techniques, and answer my many questions. On numerous occasions, the deck crew explained the mechanics of fishing nets as well as the fishing process. The engineering crew gave me a tour of the engine rooms, describing how four diesel engines power the entire boat. The survey techs explained how different equipment is operated as well as the information it relays back to the scientists. The NOAA Corps officers showed me how to read weather maps, take coordinates, and explained ship navigation. The ship’s stewards described the art and science behind feeding 33 people at sea. And the USFWS bird observers patiently showed me how to identify numerous bird species. From each of them, I learned a tremendous amount about fisheries science, fishing, boats, sailing, birding, and life in the Bering Sea. Thank you!
Answer to July 28 (Tuesday) Log: How has the walleye pollock biomass changed over time?
In the past few years, the walleye pollock biomass has decreased (according to the acoustic-trawl survey, the survey that I joined.) It should be noted that there is a second complementary walleye pollock survey, the eastern Bering Sea bottom trawl survey. This survey studies walleye pollock living close to the sea floor. As walleye pollock age, they tend to live closer to the sea floor, thus the bottom trawl survey sometimes shows different biomass trends than the acoustic-trawl survey. Both surveys are used together to manage the walleye pollock stock.
An up-close look at one of the squid’s tentacles
Animals Seen
Auklet, Arrowtooth flounder, Basket star, Bering skate, Cod, Hermit crab, Fin whale, Fur seal, Octopus, Sculpin, Sea mouse, Sea slug, Shortfin eelpout, Snow crab, Squid, and Tanner crab.
New Vocabulary: Bottom trawl – fishing conducted on and near the bottom of the sea floor. Catch – fish brought up in a net. Shoot the doors – a fishing expression that means to lower the 2 metal panels that hold open the fishing nets in the water. Stewards – the name for cooks on a ship. Table – nickname for the conveyor belt where the fish are sorted for sampling. Vessels – another word for ships.
NOAA Teacher at Sea
John Schneider
Onboard NOAA Ship Fairweather July 7 – August 8, 2009
Mission: FISHPAC Geographical Area: Bering Sea Date: August 1, 2009
Position
Bristol Bay, AK
Weather Data from the Bridge
Weather System: nice all 3 days
Barometer: steady
Wind: light and variable
Temperature: low 7.0º C
Sea State: < 3-4 feet
This is the bottom sample after it has come straight from the water and into the collection bin.
Science and Technology Log
We have made about 30 stops along the tracklines for bottom samples as described in a prior log. When the SeaBoss comes to the surface, the scientists check to see if it grabbed an adequate sample. Sometimes it will strike the bottom at a bad angle, land on a rock, release prematurely or catch a big piece between the halves of the grabber and lose the sample on the way up. But on the 90% of deployments that are successful, the sample is emptied into a large bin and taken to the sifting table. It is washed with salt water and the critters within the sample are collected.
The bottom sample has been moved from the collection bin into a sifter box.
It looks pretty gross when you pull it up and the scientists estimate how full the sampler was, how deep it went into the bottom and describe the color and texture of the sediment. All of these criteria go into the evaluation of the bottom. This is the sample in the sifter box. The screen at the bottom has a 1 millimeter mesh which allows anything less than 1 mm to be washed through and overboard. It can take anywhere from 2-6 minutes to screen out the sample depending on the sediment grain size.
After it has been sifted out, the bottom sample reveals all the things it was hiding.
This is a screened sample from a relatively shallow grab (probably <150 feet.) One of the interesting things that Dr. McConnaughey and his team have determined is that the wave energy in the Bering Sea in the winter extends down to almost 250 feet! This wave action carries away the finer sediments which leaves a coarser bottom. The coarse bottom has interstitial spaces that allow for animals to burrow and survive. The “cashew-looking” critters are members of the Phylum Echinodermata, Class Holothuroidea (Sea Cucumbers). They represented a significant portion of several of our samples.
By establishing this correlation between sediment and animals present, and integrating that with gut analyses done on other ships catching target species at other times and cross-referencing that information with hydrographic survey information, it may be possible in the future to be able to predict what species will inhabit what areas. This type of data is absolutely essential to maintain a sustainable yield in the fishery and avoid depletion of the resource. It is environmental stewardship at the highest level.
Personal Log
Starboard breezeway in the dark
I’ve been very fortunate in my life that this is my third time out to sea for more than just a day or so. The first time was almost 30 years ago in grad school in California (about 2 weeks), the second time in January of 1991 going from SC to the US Virgin Islands (a week) and not these legs with the Fairweather. One of the things I had forgotten was how dark it gets at sea at night. Even though dawn this leg is about 0615 and sunset is around 2300, we have been conducting 24-hour ops for most of the time. So we’ll be deploying the SeaBoss at all hours. I took one of these pictures with a flash and then turned the flash off and took the second. No explanation necessary. IT’S REAL DARK! SCARY DARK! As you can see, there’s plenty of light on the fantail to work, but outside our little orb of light, it’s real dark!
Renoud and Argento deploying the MVP fish.
Questions for You to Investigate
The conversion formula for changing ºC to ºF is really quite simple. ºF = 1.8 (ºC) + 32. For example, 10ºC would be converted thus: ºF = 1.8 (10 ºC) + 32 → 18 + 32 → 50ºF
By the way, 10ºC is a warm day here!
Something to Think About
This line is laid out in a figure 8. Why would this be a good way to have a line arranged if it has to be paid out gradually rather than in a coil?
The next couple days should be interesting. CO says we have some weather coming!
