NOAA Teacher at Sea
Kimberly Scantlebury
Aboard NOAA Ship Pisces
May 1-May 12, 2017
Mission: SEAMAP Reef Fish Survey
Geographic Area of Cruise: Gulf of Mexico
Date: May 6, 2017
Weather Data from the Bridge
Time: 19:00
Latitude: 2821.0766 N, Longitude: 09228.2796 W
Wind Speed: 3 knots, Barometric Pressure: 1013.0 hPa
Air Temperature: 19.3 C, Water Temperature: 24.13 C
Salinity: 35.6184 PSU, Conditions: 25% cloud cover, little to no wind or waves
Science and Technology Log
When the Bandit reel lines go down, it becomes a fun game to guess what, if anything, is going to come up. Even at their shallowest, we are dropping thirty baited hooks (ten per reel) down 50 meters, deep enough to not see any action going on. Many times these vertical long lines are dropping over 100 meters to the seafloor.
There is a lot more radio communication than you might expect when we fish. Today, scientists Joey and Kevin swapped jobs and Kevin ran controls inside the dry lab. That person chooses what locations we are fishing and runs the operations when we do. He tells the people outside when to drop their baited lines, when there is a minute left before reeling them back, and when to “take them home.” Each of the three reels has a deckhand who radios when each step is complete such as attaching each hook to the line and lowering it to the bottom. The bridge is also in radio communication. There can also be some playful banter about who is not catching fish lately.
Sometimes you know a fish or two are on. The arc on top of the Bandit reel bends down under the stress of whatever is fighting and the orange top buoy bobs up and down against the normal flow of the waves. James, the deckhand I fish with, usually says, “I hope it ain’t no shark.” (Today we did indeed get three sharks attacking out bait when it hit the water). My reel also got seven fish the first time we tried today. This is much better than how we were doing earlier in the week. Each fish gets a numbered tag that correlates to the hook on its reel and each reel has different colored tags. Everything is written down. So far we have caught the following fish species:
- Red snapper (Lutjanus campechanus)
- Vermilion snapper (Rhomboplites aurorubens)
- Greater amberjack (Seriola dumerili)
- Gray triggerfish (Balistes capriscus)
- Goldface tilefish (Caulolatilus chrysops)
- Spinner shark (Carcharhinus brevipinna)
- Sharksucker (Echeneis naucrates)
According to the NOAA Fisheries Economics of the United States (2014) commercial fishermen in the Gulf of Mexico Region landed 1.1 billion pounds of finfish and shellfish, earning $1 billion for their harvest that year. In 2013, the red snapper fishery alone brought in a value of over $21 million dockside. On top of that, approximately 2.9 million recreational anglers fished in the Gulf of Mexico Region in 2014 as well. There are also fish-related industries that compound the economic effects of fisheries in the Gulf. The work that is being done is more than just understanding the ecology. Our gilled neighbors downstairs of NOAA Ship Pisces affect a lot of human lives too. It is refreshing to remember everything that is connected to our dinner.
Personal Log
Today was a beautiful day on NOAA Ship Pisces. The wind was slight and the water was as close to mirror as I expect to see. Kevin told me that the geography of the Gulf makes for fast changing weather. It may storm up quickly, but it also means it calms down overnight too. No queasiness for anyone today!
After another delicious and varied dinner by the talented stewards we were treated to a Man Overboard drill. It was entertainment to us, but serious practice for the crew. Lieutenant Noblitt and deckhand Junior were lowered in the ship’s Zodiac boat. On the other side of the vessel Ensign Rock was suited in a wetsuit & snorkel and jumped overboard as the person to rescue. After the lookouts on the Zodiac found her, Ensign Brendel jumped in for the practice rescue.
Quote of the Day:
Kevin: “Joey, don’t go too far.”
Joey: “Where am I going to go!?!”
Life on a boat summed up…
Did You Know?
Sometimes we get other neat things on board. Rhodolith (from the Greek “rhodo=red” and “lithos=stone”) are red algae colonies that build up upon older, dead rhodoliths over time. We also got dead man’s fingers. This is the common name for Codium sp.
