Mark Wolfgang

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Mark Wolfgang

Aboard NOAA Ship Reuben Lasker

April 11 – April 22, 2017

Mission: Spring Coastal Pelagic Species (Anchovy/Sardine) Survey

Geographic Area of Cruise: Pacific Ocean

Date: April 12, 2017

Weather Data from the Bridge:

Lat: 35^o 21.1’ N Long: 121^o 26.9’ W
Overcast, rainy with quite a bit of fog
Temperature: 14^oC (56^oF)
Wind speed: 9.26 knots
Barometer: 1015.17 mbar
Visibility: Very limited

TAS Mark Wolfgang 4-13-17 Mark on deck — TAS Mark Wolfgang on board NOAA Ship Reuben Lasker, passing under San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge

Scientific and Technology Log:

Last night/this morning, we did our first two trawls. These two trawls were kind of “blind” because they had not started doing acoustic trawls. I think I am starting to get the hang of how things happen during a trawl, which I know will be put to the test tonight.

TAS Mark Wolfgang 4-13-17 pulling in net v2 — The deck crew reels in the trawl net

As the net is pulled in, a team goes out and removes the camera from the net. The camera is used to monitor the net during the trawl, as well as monitoring the MMED (Marine Mammal Excluder Device) which records animals and their condition as they encounter the metal bars and are excluded through the opening in the top portion of the net. The deck crew continues to pull in the net. The organisms collected in the end of the net are put into buckets and brought into the wet lab. The first trawl had a small sunfish in the catch, but I missed it because I was putting my foul-weather gear on.

TAS Mark Wolfgang 4-13-17 market squid — Contents of the trawl (mostly pyrosomes and market squid) on the sorting table

The organisms are dumped onto a table and sorted. After sorting, the organisms are put on the scale and the mass is recorded. The number and type of fish were recorded. Both trawls had mostly pyrosomes (a colonial tunicate) and market squid. I have taught about tunicates in my zoology class, but never knew they were so common in the Pacific Ocean. Other than the pyrosomes and squid, the two trawls contained some lantern fish, several red pelagic crabs, and some other very small fish as well as a moon jelly.

Since we had no sardines or anchovies to process, we focused our time on the market squid. A random sample of 50 squid are taken. For each squid, we measure the length of the mantle, place the squid on a balance and record the mass. If the squid were larger than 75 mm, the squid was given a tag and placed in a bag. The squid smaller than 75 mm are all placed together in a bag.

Measuring squid

Weighing squid

It was impressive how all team members got right to work and functioned like a well-oiled machine. I am also impressed with how all individuals think of safety first. Starting at sunrise, they began doing acoustic trawls, so we may have better luck catching sardines and anchovies tonight.

Personal Log:

I have enjoyed my first days on the Reuben Lasker. The crew and science team have been very accommodating and welcoming. I am trying to be helpful and not get in the way. My roommate is a UAS drone pilot, but the weather has not been good enough to fly today – it is quite foggy and rainy and the seas are choppy. I hope I get a chance to see it fly sometime soon. I am trying to get used to the sleeping schedule and since I couldn’t sleep this morning, I took a little tour today and went to the bridge and spoke to some of the crew on the bridge as well as the Commanding Officer (CO). They showed me around a little and described some of the different navigational equipment. The chief electrician showed me around the computers in the acoustic lab. It is crazy to see all of the technology and to hear about how they handle all of this data with limited internet access on the boat. I am so pleased that everyone was been so friendly. The food has been great (we had an incredible crème brulee last night) and I have not been sea sick so far.

Did you know?

Pyrosomes are colonies of hundreds of individuals known as zooids. These zooids are joined by a gelatinous tunic and work in unison to propel the colony through the water.

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Aboard NOAA Ship Reuben Lasker

April 11 – April 22, 2017

Mission: Spring Coastal Pelagic Species (Anchovy/Sardine) Survey

Geographic Area of Cruise: Pacific Ocean

Date: March 22, 2017

Weather Data from the Bridge:

Although I have not boarded the Reuben Lasker yet, there are 446 bridges in Pittsburgh – the most in the world. Here is the weather, according to the National Weather Service) from the Roberto Clemente Bridge:

Lat: 40.36^oN Long: 79.92^oW

Becoming Sunny

36^oF, Wind speed: N 12mph, Barometer 30.31 in, Visibility 10.00 mi.

Introduction:

Greetings to everyone from the city of Latrobe, Pennsylvania (the franklin_regional_logo_2c_gold home of Arnold Palmer and Mr. Rogers). My name is Mark Wolfgang and I have taught biology and zoology for the past 16 years at Franklin Regional High School in Murrysville, a community just east of Pittsburgh. I am excited to share with you my adventures on the Reuben Lasker as a 2017 NOAA Teacher at Sea.

NOAA Ship Reuben Lasker_Photo by Paul Hillman — NOAA ship *Reuben Lasker*

Personal Log:

Ever since my 4^th grade class with Mrs. Kerr, I wanted to be a teacher. I entered the teaching profession right after college, so my scientific experience outside of the classroom and in the research world is limited. In college, I became enthralled with the world of insects and worked a summer in the department of invertebrate zoology at the Carnegie Natural History Museum where I got a small taste of scientific research. When I had the opportunity to create a new course at my high school, my thoughts automatically went to Zoology. I quickly discovered that although I knew a lot about the bugs crawling around us, I knew very little about the animals that live in our oceans. Over the past years of teaching this course to our juniors and seniors, I developed an appreciation for all the animals living on our earth and a drive to learn more about them. This is what led me to NOAA’s Teacher at Sea Program – an exciting opportunity to combine my love for animals and quest for knowledge with the research opportunity and to share those experiences with my students.

I am incredibly excited to experience the oceans outside of my classroom full of videos, pictures, and preserved specimens and to help my students realize the career opportunities they have in the world of zoology. I want my students to see the importance of caring about the health of our oceans and gain an appreciation for animals they will probably never encounter. My interest in zoology did not start until I was in college, so it is never too late to produce this passion in my high school students.

Outside of the classroom, I am also the director of our school’s spring musical. This March, I directed my 15^th show, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. Admittedly, it is a little odd to go from the producing a musical to researching sardines in the ocean in 6 weeks, but I love the diversity of the experiences I have as a teacher. I have an incredible wife and two daughters (age 8 and 10) who are supporting me on this exciting adventure. In my spare time I love experiencing the richness of life with the three of them. I enjoy music and theater, hockey (Let’s Go Pens!), golf, kayaking, listening to podcasts, reading, and exploring our National Parks.

Scientific and Technology Log:

Our Mission:

I will soon leave spring in Pittsburgh to fly 2,300 miles to the west coast where I board Reuben Lasker to begin my journey along the coast of central California. I am excited to see the city of San Francisco since I have never been here before. Before I return home, I hope to try some sourdough bread.

I will join the second leg of the Spring Coastal Pelagic Study, where we will be surveying the distributions and abundances of coastal pelagic fish stocks, their prey, and their biotic and abiotic environments in the California Current. We will be using acoustic sampling and trawling to investigate the Northen Anchovy (Engraulis mordax) and the Pacific sardine (Sardinops sagax). Research will also include sampling pelagic fish eggs, plankton, and conducting unmanned aircraft surveys.

Acoustic-trawl method (ATM) is used to estimate the distribution and abundance of certain organisms. The ATM transmits sound pulses beneath the ship and receive echoes from animals and the seabed. The intensities of the echoes provides indications of type of organism and behavior. I hope to share more information with you after we get underway.