Anne Mortimer – Page 2 – NOAA Teacher at Sea Blog

July 18, 2011April 28, 2021

Anne Mortimer: Swell Sleeping, July 12, 2011

NOAA Teacher at Sea
Anne Mortimer
Onboard NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson
July 4 — 22, 2011

Mission: Pollock Survey
Geographical area of cruise: Gulf of Alaska
Date: July 12, 2011

Weather Data from the Bridge
Conditions: Foggy and windy, changing to partly sunny and windy
Air Temperature: 10.1 ⁰C
Sea Temperature: 7.6 ⁰C
Wind direction: 237 ⁰C
Wind speed: 20 knots
Wave height: 2-3 ft.
Swell height: 5-6 ft.

Science and Technology Log

Last night we had a “splitter” catch. The scientists found an area that they couldn’t pass up fishing, so at about 9pm the trawl was put in the water. The 540 ft. long Aleutian wing trawl brought in lots of pollock and Pacific ocean perch, a type of red-colored rockfish. A catch is called a splitter when it is so big it won’t all fit on the table. To get a weight of the whole catch, the deck crew use a crane to weigh the net, then empty it out. Then the catch is dumped into a bin that is split in two parts. Only one part of the bin is then raised, putting a sub-sample on the table to be worked-up. It took a long time to process all of the catch. We separated the species on a conveyor belt system, then the messy stuff happens. I mentioned that otoliths and stomachs are collected, but I don’t think I emphasized just how gross this can be. To sex the fish, we use a scalpel to slice the fish down the side, then look for larger pink-colored ovaries or a stringy, twisted looking testes. To collect otoliths, the fish skull is cut just behind the eyes and cracked open. The otoliths are then picked put with tweezers. If you are really good at pulling otoliths, you can pull both at once, which can be very challenging. My double-take record is only 2 in a row, but I’ve pulled both at once at least 5 times now! The last messy thing is stomach collection. You can imagine what this entails, I’m sure. I’m happy to say that I’ve only had to hold the baggie for the stomach, not cut any out! Processing this catch took several hours– we didn’t end until after 1am.

red rockfish — This red-colored fish is a pacific ocean perch, or P.O.P. to a fish biologist.

When I am not processing a trawl or on the bridge observing, I have been working to annotate some videos from the cam-trawl. The cam-trawl is a stereo-camera system that takes snapshots of whatever comes through the net. This cam-trawl was designed by several of the scientists on the pollock survey. They are hoping it will help lead to less actual fish samples needed if the images can accurately provide evidence of species, numbers, and sizes. Some trawls would still have to be taken aboard for sexing, weights, and otolith and stomach samples. Annotating the images basically means that I click through the images, counting each species of fish or invertebrate (usually jellies) that I see. This can very tedious, but the whole idea of the project is very exciting. I’ll talk more about the cam-trawl and this technology in my next blog.

Personal Log

Yesterday was my first real encounter with rocking and rolling on the Oscar Dyson. The winds were blowing at about 30 knots (that’s about 35 mph), and there was a lot of swell. Swell waves are long-wavelength surface waves that could have originated from a storm hundreds or thousands of miles away. The combination of these two made for a very rocky ride until we hid behind an island until sunrise. Since I go to bed at 4:30am, it wasn’t long before the boat was headed back out to unprotected waters, and I was rudely awakened by the swell. To say I didn’t have a swell sleep is an understatement. I had to take a nap this evening to compensate for my lost hours!

July 12, 2011April 28, 2021

Anne Mortimer: Otoliths and more otoliths…, July 8, 2011

NOAA Teacher at Sea
Anne Mortimer
Onboard NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson
July 4 — 22, 2011

Mission: Pollock Survey
Geographical area of cruise: Gulf of Alaska
Date: July 8, 2011

Weather Data from the Bridge
Air temperature: Sunny, 10°C
Sea temperature: 9.1°C
Wind direction: SW; 318 degrees
Wind Speed: 24.1 knots
Barometric pressure: 1012.12 mbar

Science and Technology Log

On my last 12 hour shift, a beautiful, sunny day, we started by pulling in, sorting, counting, and weighing fish caught in a mid-water trawl. The scientists were also testing out a new “critter cam” that was attached to the net. The trawl net has a special device called a M.O.C.C. which stands for Multiple Opening and Closing Cod-ends. The net has three separate nets that can be opened and closed by the M.O.C.C. when the scientists reach the desired depth or location for catching, this keeps the catches from different targeted depths from mixing together. The three separate nets are called cod-ends. Each cod-end catch is processed separately. In this trawl, we saw multiple jellies, juvenile pollock, krill, juvenile squid, juvenile Pacific sandlance, capelin, juvenile flatfish, and juvenile cod.

capelin — Capelin from our trawl covered the deck of the boat.

MOCC entering the water — The Multiple Opening and Closing Cod-end, or MOCC, and net being released to the water for a mid-water tow.

Later, we trawled a 2nd time for about an hour. The trawl net used is called the AWT or Aleutian Wing Trawl because the sides of the net are like wings. After the net is in the water, two large steel doors are dropped in the water and help to pull the net open wide. You can see them in the picture above, they are the giant blue steel plates attached to the very stern (end) of the ship. During this trawl, only one cod-end was opened, and the catch was several hundred pounds of Pollock, with some eulachon, capelin, squid and jellies also.

Because pollock are the target fish of this survey, each was sexed and counted, and a smaller number were measured for length and weight, and the stomachs and otoliths were removed. The stomachs are being preserved for another research project back in Seattle, and as I mentioned previously about otoliths, they tell the age of the fish.

Personal Log

Today I was happy to have beautiful sunshine and 2 trawls to sort through. The skies and surrounding islands were absolutely stunning. I can understand why people are drawn to this place. It’s wild and rugged and looks like it probably did hundreds of years ago.

shumigans — Scenery of the Shumigan Islands.

Species List

humpback whale (just one today!)

fulmar

tufted puffin

pollock

arrowtooth flounder

jellies

krill

squid

Pacific sandlance

capelin

juvenile flatfish

juvenile cod

sea gulls

eulachon

Thought for the day… if I was a blubbery whale, I would live in the Gulf of Alaska. If I was a pollock, I’d try not to get into a net, they can give you a splitting headache.

July 11, 2011April 28, 2021

Anne Mortimer: Fishing, July 7, 2011

NOAA Teacher at Sea
Anne Mortimer
Onboard NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson
July 4 — 22, 2011

Mission: Pollock Survey
Geographical area of cruise: Gulf of Alaska
Date: July 7, 2011

Weather Data from the Bridge
Air temperature: 9.53 C, Foggy
Sea temperature: 8.19 C
Wind direction: 145
Wind Speed: 18.73 knots
Barometric pressure: 1013.22 mbar

Science and Technology Log

Last night, we attempted a bottom trawl for walleye pollock. The way scientists know that fish are present is by using acoustic sampling. The centerboard of the ship is set-up with sound emitting and recording devices. When a sound wave is emitted toward the bottom, it will eventually be returned when it hits a fish or the ocean bottom. This is called echo-sounding and has been used by sport & commercial fisherman and researchers for many decades. The sound waves are sent down in pulses every 1.35 seconds and each returned wave is recorded. Each data point shows up in one pixel of color that is dependent on the density of the object hit. So a tightly packed group of fish will show as a red or red & yellow blob on the screen. When scientists see this, they fish!

echogram of pollock — This echogram shows scientists where fish can be found.

The scientists use this acoustic technology to identify when to put the net in the water, so they can collect data from the fish that are caught. The researchers that I am working with are specifically looking at pollock, a mid-water fish. The entire catch will be weighed, and then each species will be weighed separately. The pollock will all be individually weighed, measured, sexed, and the otolith removed to determine the age of the fish. Similar to the rings on a tree, the otolith can show the age of a fish, as well as the species.

These scientists aren’t the only ones that rely on technology, the ships navigation systems is computerized and always monitored by the ship’s crew. For scientific survey’s like these, there are designated routes the ship must follow called transects.

globe chart — This chart shows the transects, or route, that the ship will follow.

Globe chart 02 — This chart shows the route (white line) of the ship once fish were spotted. When scientists find a spot that they want to fish (green fish symbol), they call up to the bridge and the ship returns to that area. As the ship is returning, the deckhands are preparing the net and gear for a trawl.

Personal Log

I think that I must have good sea legs. So far, I haven’t felt sick at all, although it is very challenging to walk straight most times! I’ve enjoyed talking with lots of different folks working on the ship, of all ages and from all different places. Without all of the crew on board, the scientists couldn’t do their research. I’ve been working the night shift and although we’ve completed a bottom trawl and Methot trawl, we haven’t had a lot of fish to sort through. My biggest challenge is staying awake until 3 or 4 am!

Did you know?

That nautical charts show depths in fathoms. A fathom is a unit of measurement that originated from the distance from tip to tip of a man’s outstretched arms. A fathom is 2 yards, or 6 feet.

Species list for today:

Humpback Whale

Northern Fulmar

Tufted Puffin

Stormy Petrel

In the Methot net:

Multiple crab species including tanner crabs

Multiple sea star species, including rose star

Sanddollars

Juvenile fish

Brittle stars

Sponge

Multiple shrimp species including candy striped shrimp

shrimp variety — These are some of the shrimp types that we found in our Methot net tow.

July 7, 2011April 28, 2021

Anne Mortimer: Life at Sea, July 5, 2011

NOAA Teacher at Sea
Anne Mortimer
Onboard NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson
July 4 — 22, 2011

Mission: Pollock Survey
Geographical area of cruise: Gulf of Alaska
Date: Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Weather data from the bridge
Air Temperature: 8.8 C
Sea Temperature: 9.3 C
Wind Speed: 16.42 knots
Wind Direction: 210.11 degrees
Barometric Pressure: 1018.31 mbar

Personal Log
We’ve been at sea for almost 24 hours now, and so far, it’s been smooth sailing. We’re headed southwest to the area where the last leg of the cruise left off, which means lots of sailing and no trawling yet. Yesterday, before the ship left port, we participated in a man-over-board drill and fire drill. These drills are required, and we are also required to don the life suit for practice.

Anne Moritmer in life suit — Here I am, donning the life-suit.

My shift will be from 4pm to 4am, so I’m trying to adjust myself to that schedule, which last night led me to the bridge. The bridge is where the Commanding Officer and others navigate the ship and control several of the fishing operations. The bridge has windows all around, so even at 11pm, when the sun is close to setting it is still filled with daylight. Yesterday evening, I spent most of my time on the bridge watching Humpback whales with binoculars. Then, just as the sun was presenting a spectacular sunset, we saw multiple whale flukes and spouts on the horizon in the glow of the sun’s rays.

Humpbacks, July 4 — We had a spectacular July 4th show at sunset from Humpback whales. Photo by Paul Walline, NOAA scientist.

Species list at Sea (biggest to smallest!):
Humpback whale
Sea lion
Black-footed Albatross
Northern Fullmar
Petrel
Tufted Puffin

June 30, 2011April 28, 2021

Anne Mortimer: Introduction June 30, 2011

NOAA Teacher at Sea
Anne Mortimer
Onboard NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson
July 4 — 22, 2011

Mission: Pollock Survey
Geographical area of cruise: Gulf of Alaska
Date: June 30, 2011

Welcome to my Teacher at Sea blog!

Hi, my name is Anne Mortimer and I am very fortunate to be a 2011 Teacher at Sea on the NOAA ship Oscar Dyson. On this trip, I’ll be working with researchers on a Pollock fisheries survey. Pollock are mid-water fish that are a very important food resource. The research I will be participating in will help to manage the fish populations in the North Pacific and Bering Sea.

Currently, I live in Bellingham, WA and teach science at Mount Vernon High School. Next year, I will be teaching Biology, Sheltered Biology (for English-language learners), and Physical Science (a freshmen science course). I grew up in dry, sunny eastern Washington but have always loved everything about the ocean and coastal areas. I even worked on Catalina Island, CA for 3 years as a marine science instructor. This will be my first trip to Alaska, and hopefully not my last!

I’m very excited to be a Teacher at Sea, living and working with a research team and the ship crew. So far, I’m most looking forward to seeing Alaska’s beautiful waters and the life found there, and bringing my new experiences to my students in Mount Vernon.