Fellow volunteers Leah Rucker and Evan Pettis and I bid farewell to Galveston. Evidence of human influence, such as development, oil rigs, barges, and ships, is not hard to spot. Photo: Matt Ellis, NOAA
When I tell people about the Teacher at Sea program, they assume I teach high school or college, not second grade in rural Tillamook, Oregon. Yet spend a few moments with any seven or eight year old and you will find they demonstrate significant potential as scientists through their questions, observations, and predictions. Listen to them in action, documented by Oregon Public Broadcasting, at their annual Day at the Bay field trip.
Just as with language acquisition, exposing the young mind to the process of scientific inquiry ensures we will have a greater pool of scientists to manage our natural resources as we age. By inviting elementary teachers to participate in the Teacher at Sea program, NOAA makes it clear that the earlier we get kids out in the field, the better.
Each year, my students develop a science or engineering project based upon their interests. Here, South Prairie Elementary students survey invertebrates along a line transect as part of a watershed program with partners at Sam Case Elementary School in Newport, Oregon.
The NOAA Teacher at Sea program will connect my students with scientists Dr. Trey Driggers, Paul Felts, Dr. Eric Hoffmayer, Adam Pollock, Kevin Rademacher, and Chrissy Stepongzi, as they catch sharks, snapper, and other fish that inhabit the Gulf of Mexico. The data they collect is part of the Red Snapper/Shark Bottom Longline Survey that began in 1995. The survey, broken into four legs or parts each year, provides life cycle and population information about many marine species over a greater geographic distance and longer period of time than any other study of its kind.
Leg IV is the last leg of the survey. After a long season of data collection, scientists, sailors, and fishermen will be able to return to their families.
My twelve hour shift begins tomorrow, September 17, at noon, and will continue each day from noon until midnight until the most eastern station near Panama City, Florida, is surveyed. Imagine working 12 hour shifts, daily, for two weeks straight! The crew is working through the day and night, sleeping when they can, so shutting the heavy metal doors gently and refraining from talking in the passageways is essential. I got lucky on the day shift: my hours are closer to those of a teacher and the transition back to the classroom will be smoother than if I were on the night shift.
Approximately 200 stations, or geographic points, are surveyed in four legs. Assume we divide the stations equally among the legs, and the first three legs met their goal. Leg IV is twelve days in duration. How many stations do we need to survey each day (on average) to complete the data collection process? This math problem might be a bit challenging for my second graders, but it is on my mind.
Mulling over the enormity of our task, Skilled Fisherman Chuck Godwin and I discuss which 49 year old fisherman will end up with more wrinkles at the end of the survey. Currently, I am in the lead, but I bet he’s hiding some behind those shades. Photo: Mike Conway
I wonder what kind of sharks we will catch. Looking back at the results of the 2015 cruise report, I learned that there was one big winner. More than half of the sharks caught were Atlantic sharpnose (Rhizoprionodon terraenovae) sharks. Other significant populations of sharks were the blacktip (Carcharhinus limbatus) shark, the sandbar (Carcharhinus plumbeus) shark, and the blacknose (Carcharhinus acronotus) shark.
My fellow Teacher at Sea, Barney Peterson, participated in Leg II of the 2016 survey, and by reading her blog I learned that the shark they caught the most was the sandbar shark.
In this sample data sheet from the end of Leg III, all but one of the sharks caught were the blacknose sharks. Notice the condition of two of the fish caught: “heads only.” Imagine what happened to them!
Personal Log
My first memory of a shark was when my brother, an avid lifetime fisherman, took several buses across the San Francisco Bay area to go fishing. That afternoon, he came home on the bus with a huge shark he’d caught. I was mesmerized. We were poor at the time and food was hard to come by, but mom or dad insisted sharks were not edible, and Greg was told to bury the shark in the yard. Our dog, Pumpkin, would not comply, and dug that shark up for days after, the overpowering smell reminding us of our poor choice. I don’t have many regrets, but looking back on that day, I wish we had done something differently with the shark.
Since then, I’ve learned that shark is a popular source of protein in the diets of people around the world, and is growing in popularity in the United States. In our survey area, Fisheries Biologist Eric Hoffmayer tells me that blacktip and sandbar sharks are the two most commercially important species. Our survey is a multispecies survey, with benefits beyond these two species and far beyond our imagination. As demand increases, so too does the need for careful management to keep fisheries sustainable. I am honored to be part of a crew working to ensure that we understand, value, and respect our one world ocean and the animals that inhabit it.
NOAA Teacher at Sea
Denise Harrington
Aboard NOAA Ship Pisces (In Port)
May 04, 2016 – May 12, 2016
“Gross!”
“Is that an eyeball in its stomach?”
“Can I touch it?”
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I hear the inquiry skills of tomorrow’s scientists develop under the guidance of Fisheries Biologists Lisa Jones and Christian Jones during a recent shark dissection at the Pascagoula, Mississippi Laboratories of NOAA’s Southeast Fisheries Science Center. The NOAA mission of “Science, Service, and Stewardship” is taken very seriously as fishery biologists work with students of all ages to learn about our natural resources and how to understand and manage them wisely. But NOAA Fisheries doesn’t just educate people about science, they do research, provide national data collection, collaborate with other scientists, help make everything from nets to policies to help manage our scarce resources, and even sniff our fish to make sure it is safe to eat.
Science
Developing scientific methods to answer questions that can only be answered by collecting data, science, is the first of NOAA’s three part mission. Kevin Rademacher, a Fisheries Biologist, uses his understanding of scientific inquiry and standardized data collection to inspire students. He encourages students to consider characteristics, purpose, and habitat to expand their inquiry when they ask questions like why one shell spiky and the other one is smooth.
Kevin shows students the head of an Atlantic cutlassfish.
Kevin’s deep understanding of the diversity of life in the Gulf of Mexico is obvious as he inspires students from nearby Pascagoula, and as far away as Tillamook, Oregon to learn more about the ocean and its inhabitants.
One student asks “why is one shell spiky and the other one smooth?”
Kevin responds by challenging the student with deeper questions that focus on the animal’s characteristics and habitat.
Stewardship
While Kevin, Christian and Lisa teach science, other students head outside to learn about stewardship. Stewardship, using sound science to protect and manage people and resources, is another component of NOAA’s mission. The Harvesting Systems Unit helps develop and test more efficient and environmentally friendly gear used to catch fish and other seafood. For example, fishermen are happy to let other marine species like sea turtles escape from nets, leaving more room for the shrimp they are trying to catch and helping sea turtles at the same time.
Provide national fisheries gear engineering support in the development, fishery-dependent assessment and implementation of more efficient and environmentally friendly fishing gear;
Here, Fisheries Methods and Equipment Specialist Warren Brown builds and makes changes to a Turtle Excluder Device using generations of family history in the shrimp trawling industry to guide his work.
By 1978, all five species of sea turtles in the northern Gulf of Mexico were on endangered or threatened species list, in no small part because of shrimp trawling methods. Sea turtles, who need to take a breath of air at least every 55 minutes, would get caught in the nets and die. NOAA responded to this problem by designing new equipment and gear meant to decrease the amount of by-catch, or other living things, shrimp trawlers and fisherman pulled up in their nets. A Turtle Excluder Device, or TED, allows sea turtles to escape from shrimp nets. Learn more about sea turtles and what you can do to help them through NOAA’s great educational resources.
This sea turtle is escaping from a bottom opening TED! Photo Credit: NOAA
Andre DeBose, Fisheries Biologist, educates, inspires, and engages students of all ages as they learn what it feels like to be an endangered sea turtle crawling out of a shrimp net through the TED.
Andre DeBose shows students each component of the TED, how it was designed and how it works.
Students get caught in the trawl net…
…and escape safely through the TED.
Service
The three components of NOAAs service, science, and stewardship mission are inseparable. While most scientists work in the field or educate others, the scientists in National Seafood Inspection Laboratory (NSIL) use good science to make sure the seafood we eat is good.
Angela Ruple wears protective glasses to make sure the germs that grow in these petri dishes don’t get in her eyes!
Angela Ruple is the Lead Analyst at NSIL, keeping a close protected eye on any seafood that is tested for hazards like Salmonella and chemical contaminants. She works with other government agencies and encourages food safety education programs such as the Partnership for Food Safety Education’s FightBac program, which uses fun games and other tools, to educate us about food hazards like bacteria.
Shannara shows me her protein banding program.
Here she explains how Nemo takes a bite out of fish to help her identify the species.
Shannara Lynn is one of NOAA’s seafood detectives. Untrustworthy seafood dealers may sell fish that are easy to catch as more expensive fish. They will take a piece of less expensive ray or shark and pretend it is a scallop. But each species of fish has DNA and protein markers that make them unique. Looking at proteins, Shannara can run 72 fish in 1 day to see if they match their label, but only 8 fish in 2 days using DNA analysis. So, stores like Kroger, with lots of fish to test, might want to screen with protein banding first to make sure they aren’t getting hoodwinked.
This graph I made is similar to the ones Shannara uses on the computer. A shark (red line) has three characteristic protein peaks above the 500 unit line. The blue line represents a different species of fish. No match!
Cheryl Lassitter, Lead Chemist at NSIL, (pictured below) combined her mathematical, technological, and scientific skills, to make a library that makes the protein identification of each fish easy to find in a computer program.
Cheryl uses this machine to look closely at how molecules act. Based upon how the microscopic parts fall down the white tube behind her, after they are thrown up, she can find out if illegal drugs were used to make a fish live longer!
While Cheryl usually uses only the most advanced technology, I quickly snapped this picture of her using a paper and pen.
All senses are used at NOAA’s Seafood Inspection Program (SIP) to test fish. Susan Linn, Approving Officer for SIP, travels around the nation to teach seafood inspection testers to use the same vocabulary and methods when testing fish with their noses. If it smells like “dirty socks,” it’s gone bad.
Susan sniffs a salmon for freshness. Photo courtesy of Kevin Rademacher.
Patience and Tenacity
Patience and tenacity do not start with an “S,” but these two life skills are what fuel the “Science, Service, and Stewardship,” three part mission of NOAA aboard the Pisces.
When told there was a problem that would delay our departure, I asked to “see it.” What I learned over the next ten days is that science requires precision, complex tools, experts working in teams, and lots of money. Brent Jones, Chief Engineer and Augmenter William Osborn, showed patience and tenacity as they helped me understand some of the unique features of the power system for the Pisces.
CLICK ON PICTURES BELOW TO MAKE THEM BIGGER AND TO READ ABOUT PARTS OF THE POWER SYSTEM.
There are four Catterpillar diesel engines that turn the generators.
Here, Dana Reid and I take a break at the generator that produces AC electricty.
The SCR drives smooth out pulses and clean up the power. The 600 volts of electricity and millions of wires and plugs discourages the most advanced plugologist, someone who messes with the plugs to solve a problem.
For fisheries science, the boat has to be quiet in the water. A simple diesel engine would have been easy to fix, but would scare away many of the fish that scientists are trying to study. Second graders use their “fox feet” in our outdoor classroom, and Pisces scientists use a stealthy diesel electric engine, to sneak up on their specimens. The unique ship requires experts capable of finding problems in a maze of technology without major calamity.
Once again, the more questions I asked, the more questions I had. The problems were in the SCR drives, behind big gray panels. Diodes convert AC power to DC power and the SCR drives smooth out and clean up the pulses of power.
How fortunate I was to meet Eric Richards, from VT Halter Marine, who built Pisces and drew this block diagram, and gave me a builder’s perspective on how the ship operates.
Somewhere in a room of grey closets filled with live wires, pulsing with 600 volts of electricity, was the problem that kept Pisces from sailing. As long as I worked as a Teacher in Port, the problem hid like a second grader after the recess whistle blew.
Here Chief Engineer Brent Jones, “Chief,” sensing my desire to get my hands on the problem, tells me to stay away from the SCR drives. Photo credit: William Osborn
The Reef Fish Survey has four parts or legs. During the first leg, the motor died a couple times while at sea. Fortunately, the crew was able to shut down the engine and restart it. If something like this happened when pulling into a tight space, the ramifications could be scary.
Commanding Officer, Commander William Mowitt, Field Party Chief Scientist Kevin Rademacher, and Junior Officer Nathan Gilliam have one of many brainstorming meetings as they figure out how to tackle mechanical problems and reschedule surveys, so that they can collect the scientific data needed to complete the Reef Fish Survey on time.
Experts took a systematic approach to solving the intermittent problem, complicated by a limited budget, with equanimity. Yet they could not solve the problem fast enough to go on leg two or three of the survey. Now, Kevin Rademacher, the Field Party Chief Scientist has to negotiate other ways to collect the data required for the last two legs of the survey. Junior Officer Nathan Gillman summed it up as follows, “with science, nothing goes according to plan, but it gets done.”
Personal Log
While Pisces ultimately never left port, I imagine that I learned a broader scope of the role NOAA plays in protecting and managing our ocean resources on land than I would have at sea. Thank you, Kevin Rademacher, for showing me the port side of NOAA while juggling a crazy, changing schedule, and teaching me about many intriguing aspects of fisheries science. I also send a big thank you to the scientists in the lab who have inspired me to continue asking curious questions, and to encourage students to embrace science and technology. Thanks to the ship engineers who showed me how the ship works, and sometimes doesn’t. Thank you Keigm and Eric Richards, for showing me the path less traveled.
Thank you to Daeh Kujak, Second Grade Teacher, Karen Thenell, Principal, South Prairie Elementary, and our superintendent Randy Schild for being so flexible and supportive, allowing me to become inspired, ocean literate, and an advocate for our limited natural resources. Thank you TAS administrators for creating a life changing program that inspires teachers and students by getting us out in the field with scientists. It takes the whole team to manage our limited ocean resources, and to educate our leaders of tomorrow. Thanks to the team, I can see the significant, beneficial difference in how I learn and teach.
NOAA Teacher at Sea
Denise Harrington
Aboard NOAA Ship Pisces (In Port)
May 04, 2016 – May 12, 2016
Date: Saturday, May 11, 2016
Dr. Trey Driggers shares a great white shark jaw with me. Photo courtesy of Kevin Rademacher
My children sometimes complain when they find a bird in the freezer next to their frozen waffles. Yet in Pascagoula, Mississippi, relentless digging in the freezer is how discoveries are made.
Mark Grace, in his office.
Mark Grace has been a biologist with NOAA for 30 years. If he counted all his time at sea, excluding volunteer and international research, he spent “seven solid years floating.” Out of 200 surveys with NOAA, he was the field party chief for 41 of those projects. In all of those years, he had never discovered a new species, almost no one ever does. Yet, in 2013, he discovered an extremely rare, tiny species of pocket shark that had been identified only one other time, in 1979 off the coast of Peru.
This photo of the pocket shark shows its remarkable pocket, just behind the pectoral fin, and some skin damage in front of the eye that may have occurred from the pressure of being harvested from the depths. Credit J. Wicker NOAA/NMFS/SEFSC
Scientists happened to find the 5 ½ inch shark while doing research on sperm whale feeding habits in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. The pocket, unnoticed at first, is what makes this shark so unique. Jesse Wicker took this photo in 2010, aboard NOAA Ship Pisces during the whale survey while processing mountains of sea creatures. Scientists must pay meticulous attention to detail as they document and photograph specimens at sea. You never know when your photo may prove crucial to scientific discovery.
The Discovery
The specimens collected in 2010 were identified and then placed in freezers to preserve them for further analysis.
Photo courtesy of Mark Grace
Mark began to work through the specimens, but it took much longer than he had imagined. He’d undo a bag, and there would be a hundred fish to process. Each bag seemed bottomless. By the time Mark got to the last bags, the shark had been in the freezer for three years, eight months. Brrr…..
Yet he knew the fish weren’t worth much if they stayed in the freezer. He was particularly interested in the cookie cutter shark named after the cookie shaped bites they leave in their prey. He kept on.
NOAA photo The round mark left on the back of this toothed whale is a telltale sign of a cookie cutter shark, such as this one below.
A shark caught his eye. The shark was identified as belonging to the Dalatiidae family (kitefin sharks), many of whom share luminescent features.
Kitefin shark harvested in 2010 aboard Pisces. Credit: J. Wicker NOAA/NMFS/SEFSC 2010
Yet this shark did not look like the other cookie cutter sharks he had studied. It had a remarkable fold of skin behind the pectoral fin that did not look like an injury or parasite. Once Mark saw a matching feature behind the other fin, he realized this shark was like no other species he had ever seen. Looking in his reference books, he could not find this shark, because it did not exist in any book on his shelf.
Photo credit: Mark Grace – The pockets behind the pectoral fin of the 2010 specimen.
Over hundreds of millions of years, shark adaptations have helped them survive. They have become smoother, faster, and better at sensing out their prey. Many sharks have the hard, smooth, scales on their skin called denticles that increase their speed and reduce noise, just like my friend’s fast blue Sterling fiberglass kayak compared to my noisy, orange, plastic Avocet kayak.
Just below the snout, this shark had has a translucent denticle, or scale, at the center of surrounding denticles, giving the appearance of a flower.
Magnified photo of modified denticle.
Mark hypothesized that this unique adaptation might be a pit organ, used to sense currents, or prey. Scientists have many thoughts about the purposes for this organ. Each unique feature of the shark inspired Mark to research further.
Composite of images of bio luminescent species collected with pocket shark by Mark Grace.
One adaption many creatures of deep ocean waters is they glow. Small photophores, or organs on their body, emit light and signals to communicate with other animals. In this picture, Mark created a composite of several of the other glowing animals that were pulled up in the trawl net with the pocket shark (middle).
In 30 years, he had never seen a species this rare. A vitelline scar, like the belly button of a human, indicated that the five and a half inch fish was only a few days to no more than a few weeks old when it was born near the place it was harvested. It was a baby. There had to be at least one other fish like it somewhere in the world.
Connections to others
After a little research, Mark connected this pocket shark with the only other pocket shark ever recorded, in 1979 off the coast of Peru and Chile in the east Pacific Ocean. His research was particularly challenging because Dolganov, the scientist who first identified the new species pocket shark, wrote up his findings in 1984, in Russian. Mark had to find a Russian scientist to translate the document to English.
The only other known pocket shark, harvested in 1974, is not in great condition. Photo 2013, Boris Sheiko
The older pocket shark was a female, and probably an adult, at 20 inches long. Between the two sharks, there were many similarities, but also many differences.
In second grade, we like to make Venn Diagrams in situations such as these. So I drew this one, comparing the shark harvested in 1974 to the shark harvested in 2010.
Once again, I find myself swirling in a sea of questions. Are these two pocket sharks, which lived far away from each other, of the same species? Are their morphological (physical) differences enough to make them unable to reproduce with each other? Scientists ask similar questions to determine if they have found a new species.
What makes a species unique?
Species identification is no easy task. Mark reached out to experts, as we all do, with his questions. At the Hollings Marine Laboratory, Gavin Naylor began to collaborate with Mark as part of his global effort to collect DNA of all living things. He added the pocket shark to the portion of the tree of life he manages at Sharksrays.org. John Denton, of the American Museum of Natural History, and Michael Doosey and Henry Bart from the Tulane University Biodiversity Research Institute became part of this group of five scientists who would be connected for life through this 5 ½ inch shark. Together they read many books, sliced and diced the shark digitally, and traveled around the world to meet with other biological explorers. They determined that the specimen collected in the Gulf of Mexico, like specimen in the east Pacific, was a pocket shark, Mollisquama.
This three dimensional image obtained by Gavin Naylor through a high resolution CT scan at the Hollings Marine Laboratory allows Mark and Gavin to share their research digitally, with scientists around the world, while keeping the baby pocket shark intact.
The American Museum of Natural History in New York used a three dimension printer to obtain a model of the shark from the CT scan.
The most intriguing part of the scientists’ research lies in the title of their work, hidden in Latin: Mollisquama sp., the name for our Gulf of Mexico baby, and Mollisquama parini, its Russian relative. I notice that the second part of their name is different! Yet in order to establish our shark as a new species of Mollisquama, these scientists will have to write a paper that is “strong enough to withstand many layers of peer review,” says Mark. They will need to demonstrate that the physical differences (e.g. teeth and vertebrae) are significant enough to support a new species identification.
If they are successful in proving their pocket shark is different than its eastern Pacific Ocean relative, what should he name this species of shark? Mark suggests an international competition, as it will take many minds “to be good enough for NOAA.”
Mark reminds us that when we learn about this shark, we realize that the one great interconnected ocean and its inhabitants are a still a place of mystery and discovery. We have much more to learn about the ocean and its inhabitants than we know.
Personal Log
Often the greatest discoveries come when you least expect them, hiding in expectations dashed, problems, or the path less traveled. While the Pisces was scheduled to depart last week, the crew continues to work on long and short term projects on the ship and in the lab.
Photo courtesy of William Osborn
I am being supervised by Engineering Department Chief “Chief” Brent Jones, on one of many cameras around the ship, as I “assist” the engineering crew get through their list of duties. His words of wisdom? “Hands off!”
Here, Dana Reid, General Vessel Assistant, and I are opening up the aft valve, so that Travis Martin can switch out the strainers in the main water system. Dirty strainers get hosed out at least every other day. Today we caught a small eel in the strainer.
Photo Courtesy of William Osborn
Travis Martin, TAS Denise Harrington, and Dana Reid are switching out the strainer, while Farron “Junior” Cornell, Fisherman, photo bombs us.
Acronyms abound at NOAA, and teachers are affectionately referred to, not by our names, but as “TAS,” for Teacher at Sea. I’d like to name a new species of this family of adventuresome NOAA educators, “TIP” for those Teachers in Port who adapt by learning about all the amazing discoveries that take place on land following successful projects at sea. I want to extend a big thank you to Mark Grace and the fishery biologists in the lab who did not know they’d be hosting a TIP.
While in port, I have been able to explore the various land based habitats which are much easier to study than their underwater counterparts. Standing on the water’s edge at David Bayou, I wondered how the area would look from a kayak. I posted a message to the Mississippi Kayak Meetup Group. Both Eric and Keigm Richards and their friends responded, sharing their knowledge and boats, showing me parts of the watershed very few people see. Coincidentally, Eric was one of the talented NOAA Ship Pisces builders, and knows everything from the finest detail of an itty bitty kayak skeg, to the gigantic architecture and versatile features of the Pisces.
Here is a slideshow of the one of the most unspoiled, diverse and scenic estuaries I’ve paddled.
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Most of the were taken by Eric. Notice the changes in vegetation as we travel away from mouth of the Pascagoula River, up the estuary. The decreasing salinity has a remarkable effect on the flora and fauna of the area. Mississippians are proud of the Pascagoula, “the last unimpeded river system in the continental United States.” http://ltmcp.org/pascagoula-river-watershed.
DID YOU KNOW?
Most, around 80%, of the creatures in the water column are bio-luminescent, or emit light. They can vomit out the glowing liquid, hold and release it from a pouch, and/or send it out through photophores (organs like eyes which emit light instead of collecting it).
NOAA Teacher at Sea
Denise Harrington
Aboard NOAA Ship Pisces (In Port)
May 04, 2016 – May 17, 2016
Mission: SEAMAP Reef Fish Survey
Geographical Area of Cruise: Gulf of Mexico
Date: Saturday, May 7, 2016
Tenacity helps NOAA manage our seafood supply.
Tenacity, otherwise known as perseverance or stamina, is a required skill at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Aboard NOAA Ship Pisces, we are all anxious to head out to collect data about the type and abundance of reef fish along the continental shelf and shelf edge of the Gulf of Mexico. However, things don’t always go as planned. Much like the animals we study, scientists must rapidly adapt to their changing circumstances. Instead of waiting for a problem to be solved, fisheries biologists of all ages and experience work in the lab, using the newest, most sophisticated technology in the world to meet our demand for seafood.
As I ate dinner tonight in the mess (the area where the crew eats), I stared at the Pisces’ motto on the tablecloth, “patience and tenacity.”
The Pisces is a “quiet” ship; it uses generators to supply power to an electric motor that turns the ship’s propeller. The ship’s motor (or a mysteriously related part) is not working properly, and without a motor, we will not sail. This change of plans provides other opportunities for me, and you, to learn about many fascinating projects developing in the lab. Sound science begins right here at the Southeast Fisheries Science Center Laboratory in Pascagoula, Mississippi.
Kevin Rademacher, a fishery biologist in the Reef Fish Unit, meets me at the lab where he works when he isn’t at sea. As he introduces me to other biologists working in the protected species, plankton, and long line units, I begin to appreciate the great biodiversity of species in the Gulf of Mexico. I get a glimpse of the methods biologists use to conduct research in the field, and in the lab.
While it looks like a regular old office building on the outside, the center of the building is filled with labs where fish are taken to be discovered. Mark Grace, a fisheries biologist in the lab, made one such discovery of a rare species of pocket shark on a survey in the gulf. The only other specimen of a pocket shark was found coast of Peru in 1979. Mark’s discovery raises more questions in my mind than answers.
When I met Mark, he explained that capability of technology to gather data has outpaced our ability to process it. “Twenty years ago, we used a pencil and a clipboard. Think about the 1980s when they started computerizing data points compared to the present time… maybe in the future when scientists look back on the use of computers in science, it will be considered to be as important as Galileo looking at the stars” he said. It’s important because as Mark also explains, “This correspondence is a good example. We can send text, website links, images, etc…and now its a matter of digital records that will carry in to the future.”
How do fishery biologists find fish?
Charlie McVea, a retired NOAA marine biologist, and his trusty assistant Scout, pictured above, learned they may need more sophisticated equipment to locate fish.
Earth has one big connected ocean that covers the many features beneath it. Looking below the surface to the ocean floor, we find a fascinating combination of continental shelves, canyons, reefs, and even tiny bumps that make unique homes for all of the living creatures that live there. Brandi Noble, one of 30-40 fishery biologists in the lab, uses very complicated sonar (sound) equipment to find “fish hot spots,” the kinds of places fish like to go for food, shelter and safety from predators. Fisheries sonar sends pulses of sound, or pings, into the water. Fishery biologists are looking for a varied echo sound that indicates they’ve found rocky bottoms, ledges, and reefs that snapper and grouper inhabit.
The sonar can also survey fish in a non-invasive way. Most fish have a swim bladder, or a gas filled chamber, which reflects sonar’s sound waves. A bigger fish will create a returning echo of greater strength. This way, fisheries biologists can identify and count fish without hurting them.
The circular image shows a three-dimensional map NOAA scientists created from the sonar data they collected about the seafloor and a school of fish.
Ship Pisces uses a scientific methods to survey, determining relative abundance and types of fish in each area. They establish blocks of habitat along the continental shelf to survey and then randomly sample sites that they will survey with video cameras, CTD (measures temperature, salinity, and dissolved oxygen in the water), and fishing. Back in the lab, they spend hours, weeks, and years, analyzing the data they collect at sea. During the 2012 SEAMAP Reef Fish Survey, the most common reef fish caught were 179 red snapper (Lutjanus campechanus), 22 vermillion snapper (Rhomboplites aurorubens), and 10 red porgy (Pagrus pagrus). Comparing the 2012 data with survey results from 2016 and other years will help policy makers develop fishing regulations to protect the stock of these and other tasty fish.
How do fishery biologists manage all the information they collect during a survey?
Scientists migrate between offices and labs, supporting each other as they identify fish and marine mammals from previous research expeditions.
Kevin Rademacher, at work in the lab.
Our mission, the SEAMAP Reef Fish Survey has been broken into four parts or legs. The goal is to survey some of the most popular commercially harvested fish in the Gulf of Mexico. Kevin Rademacher is the Field Party Chief for Leg 1 and Leg 3 of the survey.
Last week, he showed me collections of frozen fish, beetle infested fish, and fish on video. At one point the telephone rang, it was Andrew Paul Felts, another biologist down the hall. “Is it staying in one spot?” Kevin asks. “I bet it’s Chromis. They hang over a spot all the time.”
We head a couple doors down and enter a dark room. Behind the blue glow of the screen sits Paul, working in the dark, like the deep water inhabitants of the video he watches. Paul observes the physical characteristics of a fish: size, shape, fins, color. He also watches its behavior. Does it swim in a school or alone? Does it stay in one spot or move around a lot? He looks at its habitat, such as a rocky or sandy bottom, and its range, or place on the map.
As you watch the video below, observe how each fish looks, its habitat, and its behavior.
To learn about fisheries, biologists use the same strategies students at South Prairie Elementary use. Paul is using his “eagle eyes,” or practiced skills of observation, as he identifies and counts fish on the screen. All the scientists read, re-read and then “read the book a third time” like a “trying lion” to make sense out of their observations. Finally, Paul calls Kevin, the “wise owl,” to make sure he isn’t making a mistake when he identifies a questionable fish.
Using Latin terminology such as “Chromis” or “Homo” allows scientists to use the same names for organisms. This makes it easier for scientists worldwide, who speak different languages, to communicate clearly with each other as they classify the living things they study.
I appreciate how each member of the NOAA staff, on land and at sea, look at each situation as a springboard to more challenging inquiry. They share with each other and with us what they have learned about the diversity of life in the ocean, and how humans are linked to the ocean. With the knowledge we gain from their hard work and tenacity, we can make better choices to protect our food supply and support the diversity of life on Earth.
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Spined Pygmy Shark Jaw (Squaliolus laticaudus)
Personal Log
Crew members tell me that every day at sea is a Monday. In port, they are able to spend time with family and their communities. I have been able to learn a bit about Pascagoula, kayak with locals, and see many new birds like the least tern, swallow tailed kite, eastern bluebird and clapper rail. Can you guess what I ate for dinner last night?
NOAA Teacher at Sea
Denise Harrington
(Almost) aboard NOAA Ship Pisces
May 04, 2016 – May 17, 2016
Greetings from Garibaldi, Oregon. My name is Denise Harrington and I teach Second Grade at South Prairie Elementary School in Tillamook, Oregon, along the north Oregon coast. There are 300 amazing second and third graders at our school who can prove to you that no matter how young you are, you can be a great scientist. Last year they were caught on camera by Oregon Field Guide studying the diversity of life present in our ocean.
I applied to become a NOAA Teacher at Sea because I wanted to work with scientists in the field. I seem to learn best by doing. In 2014, I joined the crew of NOAA ship Rainier, mapping the ocean floor near Kodiak Island, Alaska. I learned how vast, connected, and undiscovered our oceans are. Students watched in disbelief after we discovered a sea floor canyon. I learned about the technology and skills used to map the ocean floor. I learned how NOAA helps us stay safe by making accurate nautical charts. It was, for our students and myself, a life changing experience.
As an avid sea kayaker, I was able to share my deeper understanding of the ocean with fellow paddlers. Photo courtesy of Bill Vonnegut
Now, I am fortunate enough to participate in another NOAA survey. On this survey aboard NOAA ship Pisces, scientists will be collecting data about how many fish inhabit the area along banks and ledges of the Continental Shelf of the Gulf of Mexico.
NOAA believes in the value of sharing what they do with the public, and students in particular. The crew of Pisces even let fifth grader students from Southaven, Mississippi name the ship after they won a writing contest. Maybe you can name the next NOAA ship!
On May 3, 2016, Ship Pisces will begin Leg 3 of their survey of reef fish. I have so many questions. I asked Chief Scientist Kevin Rademacher why the many survey partners chose snapper and grouper to survey. He replied “Snapper and grouper are some of the most important commercial fisheries here in the Gulf of Mexico. There are 14 species of snapper in the Gulf of Mexico that are good to eat. Of those the most commercially important is the red snapper. It is also currently over-fished.” When I hear “over-fished” I wonder if our second graders will have many or any red snapper to eat when they they grow up. Yikes!
Another important commercial catch is grouper. My brother, Greg, who fishes along the Kenai River in Alaska understands why grouper is a focus of the survey. “It’s tasty,” he says. I can’t believe he finds grouper tastier than salmon. NOAA is making sure that we know what fish we have and make sure we save some for later, so that everyone can decide which fish is the tastiest when they grow up.
I have so many questions keeping me up at night as I prepare for my adventure. What do I need to know about fish to do my job on the ship? Will I see evidence of the largest oil spill in U.S. history, the Deepwater Horizon spill? How crowded will we all be aboard Ship Pisces? If I dissect fish, will it be gross? Will it stink? Will I get sea sick? With my head spinning with questions, I know I am learning. Yet there is nothing more I can do now to prepare myself for all that I will learn, except to be early to the airport in Portland, Oregon, and to the ship in Pascagoula, Mississippi, on May 3rd.
I will get home in time to watch my daughter, Elizabeth, graduate from high school. Ever since I returned from the NOAA cruise in Alaska, she has been studying marine biology and even competed in the National Ocean Sciences Bowl.
During research in the Gulf of Mexico with the crew of Ship Pisces, I will learn about the many living things in the Gulf of Mexico and about the technology they use to protect and manage commercial fisheries. Soon, you will be able to watch me collect data about our ocean critters. Hope for fair winds and following seas as I join the crew on Ship Pisces, “working to protect, restore, and manage the use of our living ocean resources.”
