NOAA Teacher at Sea Sarah Boehm Aboard NOAA Ship Oregon II June 23 – July 7, 2013
Mission: Summer Groundfish Survey Geographic area of cruise: Gulf of Mexico Date: July 10, 2013
Personal Log
The Oregon II pulled into port Sunday morning after a successful 2 week leg of the summer groundfish survey. The first thing I wanted to do when we got to land was to go for a walk. It did feel great to stretch my legs and move more than 170 feet at a time. Being on land again felt funny, as if the ground was moving under me. I thought this “dock rock” would pass quickly, but even two days later I had moments of feeling unsteady. On Monday I made my way back home to Massachusetts, arriving after 12 hours of planes and cars to a delightfully cool evening (although I hear it had been very hot while I was gone.)
I still have some photos and videos I wanted to share, so I thought I’d put together one more blog post with some amazing and fun creatures we saw.
We saw sharks swimming near the boat a few times, but this video shows the most dramatic time. This group of at least 8 sharks attacked the net as it brought up a bunch of fish, ripping holes in the net and spilling the fish. They then feasted on all that easy food floating in the water.
Adult puffer fish on the left from a groundfish trawl and a baby puffer from a plankton tow on the rightIcicles? Nope. Those are jellies that got caught in the net.A very small flying fish with its “wings” extended.
One of my favorite fish is the flying fish. These fish have very long pectoral fins on the side of their bodies that act like wings. They can’t really fly, but they can soar an impressive distance through the air. We sometimes caught them in the Neuston net as it skimmed the top of the water. They are great fun to watch as groups of them will take to the air to get out of the way of the boat. Even more fun was watching dolphins hunting the flying fish! I was unsuccessful at getting a video, but you can watch them in this BBC clip.
It must be the end of watch. Me with a flying fish.
Another cool animal we found were hermit crabs. The ones we caught were bigger than any I had found at a beach. The shell they live in was made by a gastropod (snail). As the hermit crab grows it has to find a bigger shell to move into.
A large hermit crab in its shell.We had to take the hermit crab out of its shell to weigh it. The head and claws have a hard shell, but the back part is soft and squishy.This hermit crab has sea anemones living on its shell.
Look closely at the spots of color on this video of a squid. You can see how the color and patterns are changing.
A few more cool critters we found:
This stargazer looks like a dragon, but fits in the palm of your hand. It buries itself in the mud and then springs out to grab prey.We found many mantis shrimp. It gets its name because those front legs are similar to those of the praying mantis. Those legs are incredibly fast and strong to kill its prey.
I knew there were many oil rigs out in the Gulf of Mexico, but I was surprised by just how many we passed. There are almost 4,000 active rigs in the waters from Texas to Alabama. While we went through this area there were always a few visible. They reminded me of walkers, the long legged vehicles from the Star Wars movies, with their boxy shapes perched above the water. By comparison, the waters near Florida were deserted because offshore oil drilling is not allowed and there were few other ships.
Oil rigsWork on an oil rig also goes on 24 hours a day.
It was fabulous spending this time out on the groundfish survey with the scientists and crew of the Oregon II. Now I have a greater understanding of the Gulf ecosystem and science in action. I truly appreciate the time people on board spent to teach me new things and answer all my questions. I also have enjoyed all my students’ comments and questions. Keep them coming!
NOAA Teacher at Sea Sarah Boehm Aboard NOAA Ship Oregon II June 23 – July 7, 2013
Mission: Summer Groundfish Survey Geographic area of cruise: Gulf of Mexico Date: July 6, 2013
Weather at 21:21 Air temperature: 27°C (81°F)
Barometer: 1016 mb
Humidity: 82 %
Wind speed: 5 knots
Water temp: 26°C
Latitude: 30.13° N
Longitude: 87.96° W
Science and Technology Log
The daily ritual of cleaning up the wet lab
We are steaming our way to port now after 14 days at sea. We will pull in to Pascagoula, Mississippi tomorrow morning. Research has finished and our last task today was to clean up the wet lab. Even though we haven’t had fish in the wet lab in days, a slight fishy smell lingers there and on the stern deck where the nets are stored. My nose must be fairly used to it by this point though, because it was far more noticeable the first days on the boat. A few students asked if the boat was smelly – I think at this point my shoes are the smelliest things on board, despite my efforts to wash off the fish slime and salty crust.
We finished all our trawling stations a few days ago and switched to plankton stations. So instead of pulling up big fish, we used smaller nets to pull up the tiny organisms that float about on ocean currents. We sample with two types of nets: the Neuston net skims the surface of the water and the bongo nets have a weight that pulls them down into deep water.
The Neuston net gathering plankton at the surfaceThe bongo nets being lowered into the water.This batch of plankton has a lot of tiny shrimp and a few little fish
A lot of plankton is microscopic algae and protists that are the base of the ocean food web. This study is more interested in ichthyoplankton – baby fish. Most fish and marine invertebrates actually start life as plankton, floating about until they are big and strong enough to swim against the current. We collect plankton in the nets, transfer them over to glass jars and preserve them in alcohol. Back in the lab scientists will use microscopes to identify and study the little guys.
Tiny planktonic crittersSargassum floating by
Sometimes the Neuston goes through sargassum, a free floating seaweed. The sargassum sometimes floats as small clumps, and sometimes vast mats cover the water. I watched a few pieces float by with fish seeking protection by carefully positioning themselves directly underneath the seaweed. The sargassum is great refuge for little critters and we have to pick through it carefully to pull out all the plankton, many of which are well camouflaged in the tangle of orange.
Tiny fish living in the protection of floating sargassum. Notice how well they camouflage with the orange/brown of the sargassum.
Personal Log
The folks on board the Oregon II are knowledgeable, professional, and a whole lot of fun. I’d love to introduce you to everyone – but I’m out of time, so let’s go with the day watch science team.
The science day watch team – Mara, Joey, Andre, Sarah, and CaitlinAndre measures a sting ray.
Andre, our watch leader, is a biologist with the groundfish survey at the NOAA Pascagoula lab. He can identify and give the scientific names for an impressive amount of fish and invertebrates we pull up in the nets. Joey is also a biologist at the labs and while he works mainly with reef fish, he also knows a lot about everything from plankton to sharks. Andre and Joey are also good teachers who helped us learn those scientific names through lots of jokes and nicknames (Celine Dion, Tom Hanks, and Burt from Sesame Street each are now associated with a specific species of fish in my mind, and Mel Gibson is a lovely crab with purple legs).
Mara and Caitlin filling a jar with plankton
Also on our watch are two interns. Caitlin graduates at the end of the summer from University of Texas at Corpus Christi and is on the groundfish survey as part of her summer internship with the Center for Coastal Studies. As part of her internship she dissected a few larger fish to examine their stomach contents, determining if that partially digested thing was a squid, crab, fish, etc. The other member of our team is Mara Castro, from Puerto Rico where she is a graduate student at the University of Puerto Rico in San Juan working on her Environmental Health Masters degree. She is doing an internship at the Pascagoula labs this summer and came out for this leg of the groundfish survey. Her favorite part of being on the boat is working with the fish, especially trying to identify them. She also loves the unusual fish we pull up, from transparent plankton to large shark suckers.
I have loved being out at sea for two weeks, but sometimes I felt a little trapped in such a small space. Then I would go up to the top deck, the flying bridge, and enjoy the view and the wind. It is a great place to watch the water and clouds and look for dolphins and birds. On a regular day on land I would move my body a lot more through normal activities like walking around the grocery store or climbing the stairs to the 3rd floor office at school. When I found myself with pent up energy I’d drag out the rowing machine or yoga mat that are stored up on the flying bridge to get some exercise. I have mixed feelings about reaching port tomorrow. I am ready to be on land again, but will miss all the people I have gotten to know and the beauty of the sea.
CDCPS Science Students –
Where do you think the bongo nets got their name?
What does ” ichthyo” mean? Two words that use this root are ichthyoplankton and ichthyologist.
NOAA Teacher at Sea Sarah Boehm Aboard NOAA Ship Oregon II June 23 – July 7, 2013
Mission: Summer Groundfish Survey Geographic area of cruise: Gulf of Mexico Date: July 5, 2013
Weather at 19:13 Air temperature: 26°C (79°F)
Barometer: 1017mb
Humidity: 93%
Wind direction: 135°
Wind speed: 18 knots
Water temp: 27°C
Latitude : 28° 44’ N
Longitude: 85° 32’ W
Science and Technology Log
Mr. Cummiskey, the other science teacher at CDCPS, asked if we saw an influence from farming along the Mississippi River in the Gulf ecosystem. At first it seems crazy that something happening over a thousand miles away can have an impact on an ecosystem as vast as the Gulf of Mexico, but it really is happening and part of our research is to monitor the effects. The first clue I had that something was changing was the color of the water. In the deep waters off Texas the water was a beautiful clear blue. As we got closer to the Mississippi delta the sea water turned a murky brown–a mix of mud brought down by the river and the phytoplankton that was thriving in the nutrient dense waters. Just like eating too much food is bad for people’s health, too many nutrients is actually bad for an ecosystem.
The CTD instrument. The bottles on the top collect water and the instruments on the bottom take measurements.
Each time we get to a sampling station we start by taking measurements of the water quality with the CTD (conductivity temperature and depth). From the bridge the officers control the ship to keep it in one place. Then the deck crew uses a winch and pulley system to move the heavy CTD equipment overboard and down into the water almost to the sea floor. All the way down and back up the machine is taking dozens of readings a second that are transmitted back to a computer in the dry lab.
The CTD records the depth, water temperature, the salinity (how salty the water is), and the dissolved oxygen. We are most concerned with the oxygen level because it greatly impacts the organisms living in the water. Fish and marine invertebrates breathe oxygen molecules that are mixed in with the water. Without enough dissolved oxygen in the water they will suffocate and die. Healthy levels in the Gulf of Mexico are 4 to 6 milligrams of O2 per liter of water. If there is less than 2 mg/L it is considered hypoxic, meaning there is not enough oxygen. This map uses the data we have collected this cruise to show dissolved oxygen levels in the bottom waters of the Gulf. The green and yellow colors shows the healthy areas, the orange areas are hypoxic.
Click on the map for a larger version. The map is updated as new data comes in.
See those orange areas in close to the coast of Louisiana? That is known as the Dead Zone. Runoff of fertilizer and other nutrient sources wash down rivers and out to sea where they contribute to algae blooms. When the algae dies it sinks and is decomposed, a process that uses up a lot of oxygen. Check out this video to learn more. All my 6th graders should notice similarities between this situation and the virtual pond we worked with this spring.
Hypoxia video
Not only do the oxygen levels change, but the composition of the fish trawls changed dramatically too. At station #144 we had an oxygen reading of 3 mg/L and an average sized trawl (26 kg) with a variety of species. At station #146 we had an oxygen reading of 1 mg/L (which is hypoxic) but pulled up a huge net of fish that filled 18 buckets. The total weight was 340 kg, but over 300 kg was just two species – croaker and butterfish. We were surprised by this catch and so did another oxygen reading and found while our nets started in hypoxic waters, during the 30 minute trawl we moved into better water with 3 mg/L of oxygen . At station #147 we had a very low oxygen reading of only 0.2 mg/L. Our trawl only brought up 1.7 kg, most of which were jellies and crabs with just a few little fish. There just wasn’t enough oxygen to support more life. Why was station #146 so huge? As the low oxygen waters spread out from the Mississippi River delta, critters were fleeing the hypoxia zone and moving to better water. So along the edge of the dead zone is an area with high population density; the oxygen refugees and the fish swooping in to eat them. However, not all creatures can move themselves out of the way. Creature like bivalves and gastropods (clams and snails) don’t have the capability to move much and so get caught in the annual hypoxic zone of the Gulf.
Bringing up the big catch at station 146
Hypoxia zones caused by nutrient runoff from fertilizer and other man-made sources do not just happen in the Gulf of Mexico. They have also been recorded in the Chesapeake Bay, Long Island Sound and at the mouths of rivers around the world. They can also happen in fresh water ponds and lakes.
The CTD is our main method of recording oxygen levels, but we need to make sure it is functioning properly. So each day we also take a water sample and use a titration method to find the amount of dissolved oxygen. Check out the colorful chemical reactions in this video.
Personal Log
People, like fish, need oxygen and water to survive. Out on the ship oxygen in the air is easy to come by, but fresh water is another story. We are surrounded by water of course, but cannot drink the salt water. I tracked down out Chief Engineer, Sean Pfarrer, to find out more about where all the fresh water on board comes from.
The reverse osmosis machine
Down in the engine room there is a reverse osmosis machine that processes salt water and turns it into fresh water. The salt water is pumped into the machine under 950 psi of pressure. The pressurized water is forced through a selectively permeable membrane that lets water molecules through, but not the larger salt molecules. (My 6th graders should find this all sounding familiar) The super salty water left behind is pumped back out to sea, and the fresh water is used on board. Our sinks, showers and laundry all use fresh water. We go through about 1,000 gallons a day, which is close to the 1,200 gallon limit of the RO system (but only about half what 30 average Americans would use on land). To conserve fresh water the heads (toilets in sailor speak) flush with salt water.
A rod from the RO machine. Water is pumped in the tube and forced through the yellow filter.
Which brings me to one of my favorite science teacher topics – poop. Thirty people over the course of fifteen days generate a fair amount of waste. What happens to all that poop? Just emptying it into the water would be harmful to the marine environment, so we have a little waste water treatment system right on board. When you flush, it all goes down to the marine sanitation device where poop eating bacteria consume our waste. The waste water then passes by chlorine tablets that kill any bacteria before it gets dumped into the sea. I’ll admit I’m a little fascinated by the systems and technology that keeps our floating community operating in a rather comfortable fashion.
We completed our science work this afternoon and are now heading back to port. Check out the Ship Tracker to see where we have been.
CDCPS Science Students:
How did sailors long ago during the age of exploration deal with the drinking water problem?
What do you think we could do to lessen the hypoxia problem in the Gulf?
NOAA Teacher at Sea Sarah Boehm Aboard NOAA Ship Oregon II June 23 – July 7, 2013
Mission: Summer Groundfish Survey Geographic area of cruise: Gulf of Mexico Date: July 3, 2013
Weather at 22:40 Air temperature: 27.7°C (81.7°F)
Barometer: 1018 mb
Humidity: 79 %
Wind direction: 142°
Wind speed: 18 knots
Water temp: 28°C
Water Depth: 20.5 m
Latitude: 28° 43’ N
Longitude: 83° 19’ W
Science and Technology Log
Currently there are 30 people on board the Oregon II. Eleven of us are on the science team, led by Brittany Palm our Field Party Chief. The majority of people on board are the NOAA Corps officers and Wage Mariners (engineers, deck hands, and stewards) who actually operate the ship. These men and women will spend 202 days at sea this year, bringing various teams of scientists out to conduct research from February to November.
LTJG Matt Griffin standing a Bridge watch
The Captain of the ship is Civilian Master Dave Nelson. He and the four NOAA Corps officers are responsible for navigating and controlling the ship, as well as coordinating operations on board. They work on the bridge which is on the upper level where the visibility is better.The bridge has at least 12 screens displaying different information, including our location in latitude and longitude, radar showing boats and rigs in the area, a bathymetry display showing water depth, video monitors of the decks, and a weather map. There is a paper copy of a nautical chart as well as an electronic version that looks a bit like a big brother of the GPS navigator you may have in your car.
The team of engineers keeps the engines, generators and mechanical systems operating correctly. There is also a computer technician who keeps all the electronics up and running, including the navigation systems, the science equipment, and the internet connection. These jobs are essential, because keeping the ship running takes constant attention and you can’t just call in the repairman out here.
Brian Thomas our electronics technician
The deck department is responsible for running the heavy equipment that makes our research possible. They operate the cranes and winches that lower the nets and scientific equipment into the water and lift them back out. They do regular maintenance of the boat and fishing gear. They also stand lookout in the bridge in reduced visibility at night or during stormy weather.
Deck hands Buddy and Mike bring the CTD on board
Several students asked about safety on the boat in a series of “what if” questions. Safety is an important part of operations here, and there is a plan (and a backup plan) in place for each of your “what if” scenarios. Just like we do fire drills at school, we do safety drills here on the boat. One major difference is that if a fire were to break out on board, the crew would have to fight the fire themselves. We practiced putting on our survival suits that would keep us warm if we needed to abandon the ship. They are supposed to go on quickly over clothes, but take a minute to figure out the first time. Definitely not comfortable or fashionable, but I would want one if I ended up floating in the water for hours waiting to be rescued.
Mara and I try on our survival suits. Photo by Brittany Palm
I asked Captain Dave Nelson about what we would do in the event of a storm. With a length of 170 feet and a width of 34 feet, the Oregon II is large enough to handle normal summer storms like the one we sailed through today. But a tropical storm or hurricane is just too big to mess with. The officers keep a constant watch on the weather forecasts, and would steer us in to port if anything big was headed our way.
One of the life rafts
I took a tour of the safety features of the Oregon II with the officer in charge of safety, Navigation Officer LTJG Brian Adornato to learn more about what would happen in case of an emergency. There are 6 life rafts on board and each can hold 16 people. (This sounds like the beginning of a math problem, doesn’t it?) There are 3 positioned on each side of the boat and they will automatically float free and inflate if that side of the boat goes under water. There is also an orange rescue boat which would be used if someone fell overboard. It is more regularly used when crew members SCUBA dive to perform ship maintenance.
The rescue boat ready to launch if needed
It there ever was an emergency on the ship, it would be essential to send out a call for help. First they would try the radio, but if that didn’t work we also have a satellite phone, Epirbs (satellite beacons), and a radar reflector (that lets ships nearby know there is an emergency). On the lower tech end of things there are emergency flares and parachute signals that would be launched into the air so other ships could locate us.
A case of emergency parachute signals
Personal Log
We had wonderful weather for the first 9 days of the cruise with partly cloudy skies, gentle breezes and calm waters. I had gotten my “sea legs” and was used to walking and working on the constantly moving boat. Last night the weather turned and today we have been rocking and rolling through waves and rain. Now that the seas are rough I am unsteady on my feet again, staggering about and clutching onto railings. We can’t move as fast in stormy seas, so the time between stations has stretched out. The weather was particularly bad this morning and it wasn’t safe to be out on deck operating the nets, so they had to skip a few stations. This weather is supposed to continue tomorrow, too.
Calm seas last weekRough seas today
CDCPS science students – G0 ahead and do those math problems. How many total people can fit in the life rafts? How many life rafts would we need to fit everyone on board? Why do you think there are extra life rafts?
NOAA Teacher at Sea Sarah Boehm Aboard NOAA Ship Oregon II June 23 – July 7, 2013
Mission: Summer Groundfish Survey Geographic area of cruise: Gulf of Mexico Date: June 30, 2013
Weather at 20:40 Air temperature: 29.8 °C (85.64° F)
Barometer: 1007 mb
Humidity: 65 %
Wind direction: 221 °
Wind speed: 8.4 knots
Water temp: 29.2° C
Latitude: 29.05° N
Longitud: 88.69 ° W
Science and Technology Log
I have been on board for a week now and have learned a lot about the fish of the Gulf of Mexico. We have collected data on over 300 different species at 129 trawl stations So what happens with all this data?
Our work out here is part of SEAMAP – South East Area Monitoring and Assessment Program – a joint venture between NOAA and the states to better understand the populations of fish and invertebrates along the coast of the Gulf and Atlantic. The information we are collecting on Oregon II is combined with the data from other ships that do surveys in closer to land. The groundfish surveys began in the 1950s and happen each summer and fall. All this data tells a story of each species – how many individuals there are, how big they are, and where they prefer to live. This information can then be used to better manage the fishing industry so that marine populations stay strong.
We gather data about every species we pull up in our nets, but we pay special attention to the ones that are fished commercially like shrimp and red snapper. There are several shrimp species out here, but one we see a lot of is the brown shrimp.
Brown Shrimp
The brown shrimp are found from Massachusetts to the Gulf. They live for about 1 ½ years and can be up to 7 inches long. Their lives start as eggs deep in the waters of the Gulf and Atlantic. After they hatch, tiny baby shrimp float in to the shallow water of estuaries (coastal areas where fresh river water mixes with sea water). They grow larger in the protected waters of the estuaries and eventually migrate out into deeper, saltier water. They live on the bottom of the sea, moving out farther into deeper water as they grow larger. You can learn more about brown shrimp on NOAA’s Fish Watch website.
For most species we haul in we record length on up to 20 individuals, and weight and sex for only every 5th individual. But for brown shrimp we measure the length, weight and sex of up to 200 individuals. Sometimes we pull up a lot of shrimp like the 419 brown shrimp in just one trawl last night. To tell male from female you flip the shrimp over and check the spot in between its walking legs (in front) and swimming legs (in back). A female has a wider plate. A male has extra fuzzy bits on the inside of the front swimming legs.
The shrimp on the left is a female and the one on the right is male.
Shrimp fishing is a big industry here in the Gulf. Last year 221 million pounds of shrimp were taken by fishing boats from the states along the Gulf. Commercial fishing boats use similar nets to ours, but they are larger and trawl underwater for much longer. Just like we pull up many fish in addition to shrimp, shrimping boats have a large bycatch. Part of our research is to monitor the bycatch species to help make management decisions that protect them, too. NOAA works with the fishing industry to develop nets with Bycatch Reduction Devices that allow unwanted fish to escape.
A fishing boat trawling for shrimp
Let me answer a few more student questions. Jared, we don’t wear lab coats; we mostly wear old t-shirts and shorts that definitely get wet, muddy and slimy working with the fish. A lab coat would help keep me clean, but it is hot and humid in our lab and the extra layer would be uncomfortable. Sabrina, we have found some plastic and other trash in the water, but have not seen any animals tangled in it. Deliana, we do all our work from the ship, so we don’t swim underwater with the fish. When they do surveys of reef fish earlier in the year they send a video camera underwater to learn more about the fish, but the scientists still stay on board.
Clockwise from top: Rough Scad, Silver Jenny, Dusky Anchovy, Long Spine PorgyShoal Flounder on the left and Big Eye Sea Robin on the right
Julissa asked about colors of our fish. Most of our fish come in two colors – silver or brown. We catch fish that live on the bottom of the sea or swim near the bottom and these colors help them camouflage with the sand and mud. But there are some that have splashes of color.
Dwarf GoatfishLesser Blue Crab
Personal Log
Several students had questions about food on board, so let me reassure you I am eating well.
Stewards Walter and Lydell
The two stewards on board, Walter and Lydell, are responsible for feeding 30 people on board. The food is good, plentiful and there are several options at each meal. One challenge is that people on board are working different schedules and can’t always make meal times. If you ask ahead of time, they will save you a plate of food for later. There are also snacks and sandwich fixings available all the time. To give you an idea of what I am eating, yesterday I had a freshly baked muffin and juice for breakfast, a chicken fajita and Mexican veggies for lunch, fried rice, stir fry and a salad for dinner, and then some ice cream with fruit for a late night snack.
How much food does it take to feed 30 people for 2 weeks? Walter gave me a few numbers for this trip: 80 pounds of chicken, 35 dozen eggs, 100 pounds of potatoes, 12 gallons of ice cream, and a whole lot of coffee. Jennixa wondered what would happen if we ran out of food – the answer is that we would head back to land and buy more. But I’m pretty sure Walter has enough on board. Damian asked if we eat what we catch – and yes, some of the shrimp and red snapper have gone to the galley after being measured. They were delicious.
CDCPS science students – How are the colors of fish an adaptation to survival?
