One of my favorite fish – Moon Fish (Selenesetapinnus)
Had a pretty good sleep tonight, still not able to sleep straight thru. I usually wake up around 1700 hrs, so I went ahead and jumped out of bed and had some clam chowder in the galley. Yummy.It is now 0300 hrs and I can hear the crane warming up to bring in our next catch.
The other day we were non-stop working and someone said, “I hope this next catch is low”. Then we all looked at each other and realized what was said. If we hope for a low catch that means less work, however, that also means a poor ecosystem. So we really should hope for large catches…… funny when you think about what you wish for sometimes when you are tired. See ya later,
NOAA Teacher at Sea Kimberly Lewis NOAA Ship: Oregon II July 1 -July 16 2010
Mission: SEAMAP Summer Groundfish Survey Geographical Area of Cruise: Gulf of Mexico Date: Sunday, July 9, 2010
Scientist first, Teacher at Sea second
Here I am with two other volunteers working the FSCS station. I am measuring shrimp. You can see the other two identifying one of the many species we caught.
Weather Data from the Bridge Time: 1630 (4:30 pm) Position: Latitude = 28.20.93 N; Longitude = 095.58.98 W Present Weather: Could cover 100% Visibility: 4-6 nautical miles Wind Speed: 18 knots Wave Height: 6-8 feet Sea Water Temp: 28.9 C Air Temperature: Dry bulb = 27.2 C; Wet bulb = 25.3 C Barometric Pressure: 1011.56 mb
Science and Technology Log
As you can tell from our previous blogs, we spend a lot of our time on the Oregon II counting, measuring and weighing our catch and loading the data into FSCS. These data are critical to NOAA and the states in managing fish stocks and the Gulf ecosystem. In addition to knowing population size, weights, and lengths of individuals it’s also important to know the sex of the organisms. Information on the male:female ratio helps NOAA and the states assess the ability of the population to reproduce, and to establish sustainable catch levels.
But how do you determine the sex of marine organisms? For most fish and invertebrates you can only tell the sex by internal anatomy, which of course requires cutting the animal open. This is time consuming and not always practical when we have a large catch to process and other tasks take priority, such as preparing samples to be analyzed for contamination from the oil spill which is our top priority right now.
For some organisms, however, sex can be determined externally. One of the things we’ve learned in the past week is how to determine the sex of shrimp, flatfish, crabs, sharks, skates and rays. Here’s how:
Shrimp: the males have a pair of claspers (called petasma) on their first set of legs. The petasma are absent in females. The males use the petasma during mating to grasp the female and transfer the sperm sac.
Male – arrows show the petasma
Female – petasma are absent
Crabs: On most crab species females have wide plates curving around the rear of the abdomen, while males have a long narrow plate or plates. On females, the eggs develop under the curved plate.
Male
Female
Female with eggs
Flatfish: When you hold a flatfish up to the light you can see through it, which enables you to do an internal examination without cutting it open. On female flatfish, the gonad extends in a dark red, curved wedge which is absent in the male.
Male
Female
Personal log:Thursday was slow for the scientists on board as the waves continued to rock the boat too much to drop our nets. The rest of the crew followed their normal duty schedule. It is hard going from night shift to day shift for meetings and then back to nights. I feel like I have spent too many hours in my bunk trying to get back on schedule. Trying to do Yoga on a ship doesn’t work so well, I will be glad to get back to that when I get home.Chef Walter did another fine job with dinner. Prime Rib and scalloped potatoes. I am usually not a prime rib person, but this was excellent. I also found where the ice cream drumsticks are stored…mmmmm.
One of the scientists I work with on night shift said, “we think of you guys as scientific volunteers first, then teachers at sea second”. I will say that is the job I feel like I have been doing. The first few days I barely got my camera out b/c we were so busy. We collected a sea horse one night and I missed taking the photo before the catch was dumped. I was in the next room doing a titration and forgot to tell the rest of the shift to save it for me. 🙁 Since then I have kept my camera close by in a drawer in the wetlab. I am learning and seeing many new things…….. if anyone is a zoology teacher this is the trip for you!
NOAA Teacher at Sea Kimberly Lewis NOAA Ship: Oregon II July 1 -July 16 2010
Mission: SEAMAP Summer Groundfish Survey Geographical Area of Cruise: Gulf of Mexico Date: Sunday, July 8, 2010
July 8, shallow trawls to deep trawls to no trawling today
My view from lab at sunrise
Weather Data from the Bridge
Time: 2015 (8:15pm) Position: Latitude = 27.20.39 N; Longitude = 096.35.21 W Present Weather: Could cover 90% Visibility: 4-6 nautical miles Wind Speed: 15 knots Wave Height: 2-4 feet Sea Water Temp: 28.6 C Air Temperature: Dry bulb = 28.5 C; Wet bulb = 26.7 C Barometric Pressure: 1008.27 mb
Science and Technology Log
Since setting out on Friday we’ve headed south along the Gulf coast of Texas almost to the Mexican border, and now we’re heading back north but farther offshore, in deeper water. As a result our trawls are pulling up a deep-water assemblage of species different from those we saw in shallower waters a few days ago. There is still no sign of oil in this part of the Gulf, but we’re still taking samples of fish and shrimp for analysis to make sure there’s no contamination here from the BP- Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
Ten-foot seas are predicted for tonight so we’re heading north along the Texas coast, away from the storm, and we’ve put away the fishing gear until it gets calmer.
Last log we talked about FSCS (Fisheries Scientific Computer System). So what is it, how is it used, and what is so great about it?
FSCS, commonly pronounced ‘fiscus’, is an automated system for recording the massive amount of biological and oceanographic data generated 24 hours a day by NOAA scientists during fisheries surveys. During a trawl survey, fish and invertebrates from each haul are sorted, counted and weighed by species. Scientists record data from individual fish, such as sex, weight, length and even stomach contents, resulting in tens of thousands of new data points every day. Before NOAA rolled out FSCS in 2001 aboard the NOAA ship Albatross IV, scientists recorded all data by hand, an incredibly tedious process. With FSCS, however, data are recorded digitally which is much faster, allows integration of biological and oceanographic data, and enables NOAA to obtain critical real-time information to assess and manage the health of the marine ecosystem and individual fish stocks.
Here I am entering data at one of the two FSCS stations aboard the Oregon II.
FSCS uses a Limnoterra FMB4 (fish measuring board) which has a magnetic pen to upload the length of an organism within a millimeter (mm) range, and computer software that annotates all of the data with information such as length, mass, sex, etc. The software also lists species scientific names which can be selected into a short list so scientists can more quickly select organisms from a list. Special labels can be printed for specimen samples that are to be shipped to other scientists and to the National Seafood Inspection Laboratory which was started in Pascagoula, MS.
Personal Blog:
My last shift Wednesday 0000-1200 hrs. was very good. I was over my sea sickness, I had 8 hours straight of good sleep, and we did a good job on night shift with keeping up with our stations.
This photo shows a brown shrimp being measured for length. The magnetic pen to the right of the shrimp marks the spot, the measurement is then sent to the computer.
Our chef, Walter has been feeding us very well. The portions are so big that I can’t clean my plate. As you can guess, we have had shrimp several times, and after measuring and identifying shrimp every night for 12 hours I don’t know if I will be that anxious to eat shrimp for a while!My Thursday 0000-1200 shift was canceled due to weather as mentioned in the earlier part of today’s blog. So now I am catching up on emails, blogs, and laundry. We should be trawling again within the next 24 hours.
NOAA Teacher at Sea Kimberly Lewis NOAA Ship: Oregon II July 1 -July 16 2010
Mission: SEAMAP Summer Groundfish Survey Geographical Area of Cruise: Gulf of Mexico Date: Sunday, July 7, 2010
July 7, Science is dirty 🙂
Here I am getting ready to enter data about one of the MANY shrimp that I have seen over the past few days.
Personal Log:
This was the first night (day) that I actually slept straight thru. 8 hours of sleep has never felt so good!The scientist aboard the Oregon II have a very important job to do and they work very hard. Sometimes when people think of scientist they think of a nice clean lab with everyone wearing white coats. Not the case here! It not uncommon to be shoveling fish into buckets.
Here is a photo of a bucket of organisms that are being measured.
Our ship’s tracker has not been updated since we left Galveston so if you see we are still there, we are not. Hopefully it will be updated soon.
Well, I do have to go because my shift started 35 minutes ago and there are things to do. I will try to remember to take photos tonight. We collected a sea horse yesterday, but I didn’t get to take my photo before it was discarded, I was out doing a titration.
NOAA Teacher at Sea Kimberly Lewis NOAA Ship: Oregon II July 1 -July 16 2010
Mission: SEAMAP Summer Groundfish Survey Geographical Area of Cruise: Gulf of Mexico Date: Sunday, July 5, 2010
Weather Data from the Bridge Time: 1000 hours (10:00am) Position: Latitude = 27.58.38 N; Longitude = 096.17.53 W Present Weather: partly cloudy, haze on the horizon Visibility: 8-10 nautical miles Wind Speed: 17 knots Wave Height: 2-4 feet Sea Water Temp: 28.6 C Air Temperature: Dry bulb = 29.2 degrees Celsius; Wet bulb = 26.1 C Barometric Pressure: 1011.1 mb
Science and Technology Log
The purpose of the SEAMAP Summer Groundfish Survey is to collect data for managing commercial fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico. SEAMAP stands for Southeast Area Monitoring and Assessment Program.
Right now we’re working along the Gulf Coast of Texas, far from the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill, so we’re not seeing any effects of oil here. However, part of our mission is to collect fish for testing to make sure that oil spill has not impacted the marine life in this area and that the fish and shrimp from Texas are safe to eat. We’re also collecting water samples from this area to use as baseline data for the long-term monitoring of the impact of the oil spill in Gulf.
There are four main ways the Oregon II is gathering SEAMAP data on this cruise, and we’ve already learned how to use all of them. The main way we collect data is by trawling, and this is where we do most of our work on the Oregon II. In trawling, we drag a 42’ net along the bottom for 30 minutes, haul it up, and weigh the catch. We then sort the haul which involves pulling out all of the shrimp and red snapper, which are the most commercially important species, and taking random samples of the rest. Then we count each species in the sample and record weights and measurements in a computer database called FSCS (Fisheries Scientific Computer System).
Here on the Texas coast, where we’re working now, the SEAMAP data is used to protect the shrimp population and make sure that it’s sustained into the future. Since 1959, Texas has been closing the shrimp fishery seasonally to allow the population to reproduce and grow. The SEAMAP data allows Texas to determine the length of the season and size limits for each species. Judging by our trawls, the Texas shrimp population is healthy.
Here I am flushing out the CTD to prepare for the next use.
Another method of data collection is the CTD, which stands for Conductivity, Temperature, and Depth. The CTD takes measurements from the surface to the bottom, creating a CTD profile of the water column at our trawling locations. These data are important to assess the extent of the hypoxic “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico, and to relate the characteristics of our trawling hauls to DO levels. SEAMAP data collected since the early 1980s show that the zone of hypoxia in the Gulf has been spreading, causing populations to decline in hypoxic areas.
We also use Bongos and Neustons to gather data on larval fish, especially Bluefin Tuna, Mackerel, Gray Triggerfish, and Red Snapper. The Neuston is a rectangular net that we drag along the surface for ten minutes to collect surface-dwelling larval fish that inhabit Sargassum, a type of seaweed that floats at the surface and provides critical habitat for small fish and other organisms. We drag the Bongos below the surface to collect ichthyoplankton, which are the tiny larvae of fish just after they hatch. The Neuston and Bongo data on fish larvae are used for long-term planning to maintain these important food species and keep fish stocks healthy.
In this photo I am untying the knots at the bottom of the Neuston to gather the ‘catch’. You can see a lot of Sargassum in this haul.
Personal Log
Day 1: docked
Day 2: we left the port in Galveston (July 2). My shift started immediately but by the time we actually left port and reached the first station my shift was over 1200 noon. So far so good!
Day 3: 2400 hrs or Day 4: 00:00 hrs.
– the sea sickness is getting me a little now. The rough seas are most likely the main culprit, however, I have not been out to sea for this period of time before. Once the seas calm down I should have a better idea. I do know this, my shift leader Alonzo and the chief scientist Andre have both been very understanding of my adjustment to sea life. The entire staff on board for that matter are very understanding and concerned for everyone’s well being.
– This was my first full shift. We are BUSY aboard the Oregon II ! A catch will come in for processing, which I will explain processing on my next blog, and we sometimes are still processing the last batch or we are up front taking CTD samples and bringing in our bongos/neustrons. I have learned a lot of things in a short period of time.
July 4, 2010 – Lots of stations (places where we deploy our nets) tonight. We actually got a little backed up. There are five people on my shift and it takes all 5 of us working non-stop to get the job done.
July 5, 2010 – I am feeling better today, so much that I uploaded my blog! I keep waking up at 5pm and unable to go back to sleep, but I am going to try now to catch a couple more hours as my shifts starts again in 3 hours.
