NOAA Teacher at Sea
Stephen Tomasetti
Aboard NOAA Ship Oregon II
August 11 – 25, 2014
Mission: Shark/Red Snapper Longline Survey
Geographical Area of Cruise: Gulf of Mexico
You can view the geographical location of the cruise here at anytime: http://shiptracker.noaa.gov
Date: Sunday, August 24, 2014
Weather Data from Bridge:
Air Temperature: 31.5 Degrees C
Water Temperature: 31.1 Degrees C
Wind Speed: 7.88 Knots
Barometric Pressure: 1009.4 Millibars
Science and Technology Log:
Today I’ll walk you through the sharks and other fish we’ve caught along leg two of the NOAA Oregon II longline survey. Unfortunately, due to red tide, many sharks had moved out of the areas we were in, so we caught substantially less sharks than usual. But, we still caught quite a few. Check them out:
Name: Atlantic sharpnose shark
Sci. Name: Rhizoprionodon terraenovae
Description: These sharks are very common both inshore and offshore. They often have white spots along the side. You can also tell them by their long labial furrows (grooves around the mouth).
Name: Blacktip shark
Sci. Name: Carcharhinus limbatus
Description: These sharks can be pretty feisty. They are surprisingly strong (even the little ones). You can identify them by the black marking on the tip of their pectoral fins and the lower lobe of their caudal fin.
Name: Florida smoothhound
Sci. Name: Mustelus norrisi
Description: These are my favorite sharks that we’ve caught. They are beautiful. They have small, blunt teeth and are missing a precaudal pit (before the caudal fin). They are long sharks, with second dorsal fins that are very large.
Name: Tiger shark
Sci. Name: Galeocerdo cuvier
Description: These sharks are known for being fierce hunters and apex predators. They are beautiful sharks with dark spots/stripes along the sides and dorsal fin. They can reach over five meters!
Name: Sandbar Shark
Sci. Name: Carcharhinus plumbeus
Description: We caught a lot of these sharks on our shifts. They were generally pretty large and we often had to use the cradle to get them close enough to take their measurements. One way to tell sandbar sharks is by their large dorsal fin.
For all the sharks we catch, we generally take length measurements, mass, sex and a fin clip/tissue sample (to look at genetic population structure). Then the shark is tagged with a tag and tossed back in the water. Occasionally, NOAA uses a satellite tag on sharks if they want to get additional data. On this cruise the night watch tagged a hammerhead shark with a satellite tag. This particular tag will transmit information when the dorsal fin breaks the surface of the water (often hammerheads and tiger sharks are tagged with these tags because they occasionally come up to the surface).
Personal Log:
Well we’re through fishing for this leg of the survey. We arrive back in Pascagoula, Mississippi tomorrow morning. There’s a lot to miss aboard the Oregon II. Below is a list of the top 5 things I’ll miss about life on the ship (in no particular order).
5) The Food: Three delicious meals a day. I’m not going to know what to do when I return to New York City and have to cook my own food again. Mac’ n cheese. Captain’s Platter. Eggs Benedict. Ice cream every night. I’ve been spoiled.
4) The Crew: I spent the majority of my time with the “day shift,” of scientists and fishermen. We would spend basically 11am-2am every day together. We’d eat together. Work together. Hang out between sets together. And finally watch movies together after shift.
In addition to the day shift there is an entire crew of interesting people I’ve spent time with: the NOAA Corps Officers, the Engineers, the Night Shift, and the Stewards. It takes a large crew to keep this ship running.
3) The Open Ocean: Picture cruising alongside dolphins at sunset, flying fish cutting through the water, a breeze on deck, and nothing but open ocean until the horizon line.
2) The Fishing: Before this trip it’d been a while since I had been fishing. I’ve never fished using longlines until the Oregon II. I learned a lot about fishing. Check out my earlier blog post here for more on that.
1) The Marine Life: You’ve already read a lot about some of the fish we caught. Here are more photos!
Today, on our way back to Pascagoula, we stopped for a while to test the emergency equipment. In case of an emergency, there are a variety of lifesaving resources to utilize. We shot off flare guns, smoke signals and line casters. I shot off a line caster which slightly resembles a rocket launcher that shoots a rope to another ship in the case that we’d need to get to them. It was sort of like the Fourth of July!
Did You Know? Japanese warriors used to use dried shark skin for the handles of their swords, to keep them from slipping out of their hands.
Stephen,
Excellent Blogs. I have enjoyed reading them.
I’m leaving in one week for the 2015 Shark/Red Snapper Survey on the Oregon II. I’d love to hear any suggestions you may have for making the most of this opportunity.
Kathleen Gibson
TAS 2015
Trumbull, CT