Chris Murdock: Let The Adventure Begin! June 5, 2017

NOAA Teacher at Sea
Chris Murdock
Aboard NOAA ship Oregon II
June 7^th – June 20^th, 2017

Mission: SEAMAP Groundfish Survey

Geographic Area of Cruise: Gulf of Mexico

Date: May 30, 2017

Weather Data from the Bridge

Weather in Iowa can be crazy! Just last week we went from 90 degrees and sunny all the way down to 50 degrees and rainy in the course of three days. We have been lucky this week to have sunny skies and a very comfortable temperature of 75. Perfect running weather!

Science and Technology Log

I will be joining the crew of the Oregon II on leg one of the SEAMAP (Southeast Area Monitoring & Assessment Program) Summer Groundfish Survey in the Gulf of Mexico. Some of the objectives of this survey are to monitor the size and distribution of shrimp and other groundfish (fish that live near the sea bottom), as well as to provide information on shrimp and groundfish populations within the Gulf of Mexico. In order to accomplish these objectives, large quantities of groundfish are collected using a long net called a trawl net. All shrimp species will be sorted from the catch in order to be weighed and sexed. A total of 200 shrimp from each catch will be documented, and this information will be extrapolated out to determine estimated total numbers from each area studied. This process will be repeated for other selected species of groundfish through the course of the study. Research like this is vital to the long-term sustainability of these fish populations.

 

Personal Log and Introduction

My name is Chris Murdock and I teach Biology, AP Biology, and Biomedical Science at Regina High School in Iowa City, Iowa. I have been lucky to call Regina home for the past 4 years. Regina is such a unique place for so many different reasons, and I could probably spend this entire post explaining what Regina means to me and how it has made me into the teacher/person I am today. I will forever be grateful to Regina for allowing me opportunities like this one to better myself both personally and professionally.

Throughout my entire life, I have always considered myself a very curious person. Even at an early age, I would constantly ask questions about how this and that worked, or why certain phenomena happen the way that they do. As a result, I have always been fascinated by the wonderful world of science. That hunger for knowledge led me to Mrs. Mazucca’s honors biology class my sophomore year of high school. Never before have I had a teacher more passionate, more engaging, and one that genuinely got you excited for a topic you knew nothing about. I loved every second of that class, and I can honestly say that without having Mrs. Mazucca I would not be in the position I am today. It was in that moment I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up. From that day on, everything I did was to better prepare myself to be the best educator I could be.

I have always been fascinated by the oceans and the life within them. Growing up in the Midwest, I was confined to exploring local rivers and lakes. While I loved exploring the bodies of water around me, there was always something about the ocean that drew me in. From the vastness of the oceans, to the diversity of life within them, I was awestruck. After all, life has been evolving in the oceans for hundreds of millions of years! Every vacation I took near an ocean, I would spend as much time as possible in and around the water. It is amazing to me that something so prominent in all of our lives can go unchecked for such a long period. During my time at the University of Iowa, I took every marine science class I could. There was even a period where I contemplated leaving the college of education to pursue a career in marine biology. The more I learned, the more I fell in love with the ocean. Unfortunately, one thing became increasingly clear to me throughout college: the oceans and the life within them are in danger like never before. While I could do plenty to educate the masses as a marine biologist, I knew that teaching was where I could make the greatest impact. I decided that as a teacher, I was going to do everything I could to foster an environment to make my students more environmentally and globally aware. In order for this to be successful, I myself needed to embark on a journey to do the same.

Fast forward to December of 2015 when my girlfriend notified me of the NOAA Teacher At Sea Experience. “This is absolutely perfect for you!” she said, “You have to sign up for this”. The more I researched, the more I thought this was too good to be true. I spent nearly the entire next year thinking about the potential of this trip until the time finally came to fill out my application. At the end of November, after all the forms were turned in, I received the email “you will receive notification of your application status via the email address listed on your application by February 2017”. It was going to be a long wait.
Then came February 1st, and as I was walking out of the door to go to school I got an email from NOAA. I nearly spilled my coffee all over me as I fumbled over my phone to open the document as fast as I could. Ever since last December, I had prepared myself for a rejection letter. While I was very confident in my application, I just didn’t believe it would work out. It was too perfect of an experience for me to actually happen. With my heart pounding out of my chest, I began to read the document. To my utter amazement I was accepted! Me. Accepted into the experience of a lifetime. Words cannot describe the pure joy I felt as I drove to work that day. I was going to get the chance to live out my childhood dream, without sacrificing my true passion of teaching. To say I am lucky is an understatement.

From that day on, my life revolved around NOAA Teacher At Sea. I read dozens of blog posts, I read about every ship in the fleet, and I filled out all the required paperwork as fast as my printer would spit it out. While any cruise would have been an unbelievable experience, I could not be happier with being selected for the SEAMAP survey in the Gulf. Living in Iowa and the heart of farmland, USA, my actions and the actions of my neighbors have a direct impact on the health of the Gulf ecosystem. It is my hope that once I return from my cruise, I will be able to get my community to be more conscious of the oceans and how we positively (or negatively) affect them. Writing this blog, I am still in a state a shock that this is really happening. June 7^th cannot get here fast enough! I am so excited to be able to spend two amazing weeks on board the Oregon II learning from some of the best scientists in the world.

Did You Know?

The Gulf of Mexico is the ninth largest body of water on the planet, covering an area of 600,000 mi²! (Source-Encyclopedia Britannica)

Fact of the Day

In my classroom, we start class every day with a “Fact of the Day” where I share new and upcoming research from the scientific community. Today’s fact comes from NOAA Research Vessel Okeanos Explorer.

This NOAA team has been exploring the depths of the Central Pacific Basin to explore deep water ecosystems before they become impacted too greatly by climate change. On this expedition, the NOAA team captured some truly amazing footage, some of which had previously not been seen except for in the fossil record! Some examples include Sea snails basically eating the poop of crinoids (sea lilies), and usually inactive brittle stars attacking swimming squids! Several videos from this expedition are posted below.

All of this amazing research sheds light on a largely unexplored region of the oceans, and the data collected from this expedition will help create a baseline to measure the effects of climate change moving forward. (Source-Ocean Explorer.noaa.gov) (Videos of these interactions can be found here!- http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/explorations/ex1705/logs/photolog/welcome.html)