Latitude: 56º 58.03 N Longitude: 151º 26.26W Wind Speed: 17 knots Wind Direction: 120º Air Temperature: 13º Celsius Barometric Pressure: 1010.5 mb Depth of water column 565 m Surface Sea Temperature: 12.9º Celsius
Science & Technology Log
Safety is of the utmost importance on a ship. There are safety trainings, fire drills, lifeboat drills, and rules about where you can go and whether you need to be wearing a life jacket and/or a hard hat. Hardhats come in many colors, but most look something like this:
Standard hard hat
That is why I had to interview Ryan Harris, the Chief Boatswain on the NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson about his cowboy hardhat.
Yes, that’s a hardhat.
Ryan hails
from Sacramento, California and loves to wear cowboy hats. One day he saw a cowboy hardhat online, and
knew he had to order one! He first started wearing it on the NOAA Ship Hiialakai
in Hawaii and liked how it not only protected his head but kept the sun off his
face. In Alaska, he likes how it keeps
the rain off.
Ryan began
working for NOAA 14 years ago. I
wondered how a kid from landlocked Sacramento, who had never spent time on a
boat, ended up with a career at sea. It turns out his aunt saw an advertisement
about a free maritime internship program offered through the Sacramento School District
(at the time). Ryan was interested in seeing the world, so he looked into it. Through
the internship, he learned how to work on boats, and was introduced to
NOAA. Ryan has worked on NOAA ships with
home ports in California, Mississippi, Hawaii, and Alaska, and has already traveled
with NOAA to at least 13 countries.
So what does the Chief Boatswain do?
Ryan is in charge of all operations concerning the deck and also “watch standards” or lookout (such as making sure that there are not whales in the area if we are going to deploy the fishing net). He is also in charge of the maintenance and upkeep of the ship, including some mundane but all-important things such as making sure there is enough toilet paper or laundry detergent onboard before the ship sails. (There is no “running to the market” while you are out at sea for weeks or months.)
Like
everyone I have met on the NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson, Ryan enjoys his NOAA
life, and feels that NOAA offers a wealth of opportunities. I asked Ryan how he manages the long stretches
of time with no phone service or internet. Ryan says the temporary “disconnect” allows him
to focus on work and simply enjoy his life and his time with his co-workers. I think a lot of us can learn from that.
Weather at 1600 Pacific Standard Time on Thursday 11 July 2019
Happy to report we’re back to a much calmer sea state! I finally made it up to the flying bridge again since it isn’t raining or choppy anymore. It’s the first time in two days I’ve needed to wear sunglasses. The ocean looks almost level with scattered patches of wavelets which indicates about a 5 knot wind speed. It reminds me of the surface of my palms after I’ve been in the water too long – mostly smooth but with lots of tiny wrinkles. Check out this awesome weather website to look at what the wind is doing in your area!
A weather map from Windy.com
PERSONAL LOG
Stretch everyday. I should stretch everyday. I do not. On the ship it’s even more of a necessity. One of the scientists calls it “Boaga” – like mixing “boat” with “yoga.” Try doing yoga on the ship and the rocking might cause you to tumble, but I enjoy a good challenge. Fitness requires strength and flexibility, so if I do some yoga and have to work harder to stay balanced since the ship is rocking, all the better.
A combination of the good food, constant access to homemade snacks, and lack of natural ways to burn calories on the ship, I need to turn to deliberate exercise. I just haven’t started that routine yet. The ship does have a nice, albeit small, gym on the same floor as my stateroom. It includes free weights, kettlebells, a treadmill, and a few other pieces of equipment. Now that our first week is coming to a close, my goal for today – and everyday forward – is to develop a routine for stretching and cardio. Sigh. Otherwise the five pounds I’ve already gained will turn into fifteen. And I have no desire to work off fifteen pounds of belly fat when I get home.
THE SCIENCE
“Trawl” has its origins in Latin. The original word meant “to drag” and it still carries a similar denotation. Fishermen use trawl as a noun, verb, and adjective. On NOAA Ship Reuben Lasker we use a Nordic 264 Surface Trawl to conduct the Coastal Pelagic Species Survey each night. The trawl is spooled onto a giant iron net reel which connects to the deck with sixteen 2.5 inch bolts and is securely welded. We try to get three trawls in per night, but sometimes we don’t quite make it. Poor weather, issues with the net, or sighting a marine mammal can all put a quick end to a trawl.
Now let’s use it as a verb. The origin “to drag” deals more with how you operate the net than the construction of the net itself. To trawl for fish like we do each night means to slowly unravel 185 meters in length of heavy ropes, chains, and nylon cord mesh into the water off the stern with an average of 15,000 pounds of tension while the ship steams at a steady rate of about 3 knots. Getting the net into the water takes about 15 minutes.
Scott Jones, Chief Bosun, took me on a tour of the equipment. Two reels below deck spooled with cable the diameter of my forearm, one even larger reel on the fantail to house the net and ropes, a winch to lift the weight of the trawl as it transitions from deck to water, plus two work stations for the Chief Bosun to manually monitor and control all those moving pieces. There are three additional nets on board in case they need to replace the one we’ve been using all week, but the deck crew are pretty adept at sewing and mending the nets as needed.
As I stand on the bridge watching the net snake its way into the water behind the ship, everything pauses for a brief moment so the deck crew can use daisy knots to sew floatable devices into the kites. Later, they attach two more of these floats to the headrope (top line). The floats keep the mouth of the net open vertically. A couple minutes later they stop to attach 250lb Tom weights to the footrope (bottom line) of the trawl opening. When fully deployed, this roughly 25 meter vertical opening is as tall as an 8-story building!
It’s like watching choreography – every detail must be done at exactly the right moment, in the right order, or it won’t work. The Chief Bosun is the conductor, the deck crew the artists. Hollow metal doors filled with buoyant wood core – together weighing more than a ton on land – are the last to enter the water. Each hangs on large gallows on the starboard and port side of the ship, just off stage, until they’re cued to perform. These doors are configured with heavy boots and angled in the water to act as a spreading mechanism to keep the net from collapsing in on itself.
If unspooled properly, the net ends up looking like an enormous largemouth bass lurking just under the surface.
Commercial fishermen use all kinds of nets, long lines, and pots depending on the type of catch they’re targeting, fishing regulations, and cultural traditions. But if we use “trawl” as an adjective, it describes a specific kind of net that is usually very large and designed to catch a lot of fish all at one time. It looks like a cone with a smaller, more narrow section at the very end to collect the fish.
I imagine something like a cake decorating bag that’s being used to fill a mini eclair. Except, instead of squeezing delicious icing into the pastry, we’re funneling a bunch of fish into what fishermen call a “codend.” This codend (pronounced cod-end, like the fish) houses the prize at the end of the trawl! When they haul everything back in – taking a little longer, about 45 minutes to complete the haul back – they end up with (hopefully) a codend full of fish to study.
Two Mini Eclairs Filled with Pastry Cream
A trawl net can either be used like we are to collect fish close to the surface or it can be weighted and dropped to the sea floor in search of groundfish. We’re searching for pelagic fishes that come up to the surface to feed at night, so it makes sense for us to trawl at the surface. Think of pelagic fish as the fishes in the water. Sounds funny to say, but these fishes don’t like to be near the seabed or too close to the land by the coast. They like to stay solidly in the water. Think of where anchovies, mackerel, tuna, and sharks like to hang out.
To catch groundfish on the other hand, we’d need to trawl the bottom of the ocean since they prefer to stay close to the ocean floor. Trawling the seabed in the Northeast Pacific Ocean would bring in flavorful rockfish and flounder, but we’re not looking for groundfish during this survey. One very lucrative and maybe less known groundfish in this area is the sablefish. In commercial fishing, they use bigger nets, and a trawl can bring in tens of thousands of pounds in just one tow. When I spoke to someone on board who used to work on a commercial trawl boat, he said catching sablefish are a pain! They live in very deep waters. Plus, the trawl must hit the seabed hard and drag along the bottom in order to catch them. This causes huge tears, many feet wide, in the mesh. He said they used to keep giant patches of mesh on the boat deck so they could patch up the holes in between trawls. When I get home, I’m definitely going to purchase sablefish and try it for dinner.
Trawl Net Spooled on the Net Reel on the Fantail
Chief Bosun Scott Jones at a Control Station
Trawl Entering the Water
Codend Floating in the Water
Trawl Net Snaking off the Stern
Floats Sewn into the Kites
Floats When They’re Not Sewn In
Daisy Knot
Getting Ready to Add the Tom Weights (chains)
Reversing the Process – Hauling the Net back on Deck
Prepping the Codend before Emptying the Catch
Emptying the Catch
TEACHING CONNECTIONS
I’ve never once wondered how the fish I buy at the grocery store ends up on my plate. Now I can’t seem to stop asking the scientists and deck crew questions. There are all these regulations to follow, methods to learn based on what type of fish you’re targeting, and so much that someone would need to understand about traveling in the ocean before even attempting to fish commercially. I’ve been immersed in a world I don’t recognize, and yet the fishing industry impacts my life on a daily basis. We are so far removed from what we eat.
The other aspect to the trawling topic that interests me is just how effortless it looks. The deck crew make such an intricate task look, truly, easy. An article on BBC News called Can 10,000 Hours of Practice Make You an Expert? does a nice job of summarizing how this might be possible. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that I’m currently reading Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth, that I’ve already read Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell and Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck, and that as a teacher I’m familiar with Ericsson’s work on deliberate practice. I know how many years and cumulative hours they each must have put in to make it appear seamless.
Like most teachers, I want my students to find a career that they love enough to practice with such diligence. I want them to find a vocation instead of just work to pay the bills. I feel very much led to making sure my students have access to as much information as possible about post-secondary career and training options. For that reason, I’m glad to have met these folks and learn from them so I can share their practice with the hundreds, possibly thousands of teenagers I’ll teach over the course of my career.
It’s easy for me to do this as a reading specialist since I can read career profiles with students, let them annotate the text, and then engage them in a discussion on a regular basis. Reading, analyzing, and discussing text are kind of my bread and butter. For other disciplines, it might take a bit of a re-work to fit this in, but certainly not impossible. A science, math, art, STEM, you-name-it teacher could post a career profile specific to their discipline to their digital classroom space each week for students to read at their leisure. Or you could bring discipline specific literacy skills into your classroom by incorporating short texts into your lessons a few times each quarter.
I’m planning now to read a career profile with my
students one time per week. I’ll keep the texts short so that reading,
annotating, and discussing the text will stay under 15 minutes. Some careers from the ship they might find
interesting are the Chief Bosun position or a NOAA
Corps Officer, but I’ll share a wide variety of career profiles from many
disciplines based on the students’ interests once I meet them this year.
Me next to chafing gear from AWT. Image by Meredith Emery.
Weather Data from the Bridge
Latitude: 56° 46.8 N
Longitude: 154° 13.7 W
Time: 0800
Sky:Clear
Visibility: 10 nautical miles
Wind Direction: 279
Wind Speed: 9 Knots
Sea Wave Height: 1-2 foot swell
Barometric Pressure: 1019.9 millibars
Sea Water Temperature: 11.1°C
Air Temperature: 12.0°C
Sunrise: 0531
Sunset: 2300
Science and Technology Log: Nothing But Net!
Once the scientists determine where and how deep they want to fish, based on analyzing the echogram, then the boat moves into position and the net is deployed. Safety is the top priority when working on the vessel. The deckhands all have to wear life jackets, hard hats, and good boots when working on deck because the conditions can be sunny one moment and stormy the next. There is some serious hardware at the back of boat. There are cranes, winches, and spools of wire ropes & chains. The Chief Boatswain is responsible for all deck operations and deploying any gear overboard. The following video illustrates the sampling process using an Aleutian Wing Trawl net.
There is a camera (aka camtrawl) attached to the net along with a small pocket net. The pocket net is designed to catch tiny animals that slip through the AWT meshes. The pocket mesh only catches a small amount of escaping animals which can then be used to determine what was in the water column with the bigger pollock. The camtrawl has a pair of cameras that shoot stereo images of what is entering the net. The camtrawl was developed by NOAA scientists and its goal is to estimate the size and identify the species that enter the net using visual recognition software from University of Washington. The ultimate goal of the camtrawl is to be able to identify everything entering the net without ever having to actually catch the fish.
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A limitation of the AWT is that it can’t go closer than a few meters from the sea floor. Pollock are semi-pelagic so they are sometimes down at the sea floor and a different net is used. The Poly Nor’Easter (PNE) is used to trawl along the bottom of the Gulf of Alaska because the bottom can be rocky. The PNE has roller gear along its bottom to keep it from getting stuck. The opening of the PNE is 6 meters tall and 15 meters wide and also funnels to a codend.
There is a third net on Oscar Dyson called the Methot and it is used to catch large plankton such as krill. The Methot is so small that it sits on the deck and is easily lifted and put into the water. The net you use is determined by what you are trying to catch and where they are located in the water column.
Interview with Ryan Harris
Chief Boatswain
Chief Boatswain Ryan Harris managing Oscar Dyson crane.
Official Title
Chief Boatswain
Normal Job Duties
I am in charge of the deck operations on board the ship from deploying gear over the side to up keep of the ship.
How long have you been working on Oscar Dyson?
15 months
What is your favorite thing about going to sea on Oscar Dyson?
I get to see things normal people do not.
When did you know you wanted to pursue a career in science or an ocean career?
11 years ago I fell in love with the excitement of travel.
What are some of the challenges with your job?
Trying to keep all the gear working to complete the mission.
What are some of the rewards with your job?
I get to serve my country and leave something behind that me and my family can be proud of.
Describe a memorable moment at sea.
Seeing killer Whales 5 feet away.
Interview with Tom Stucki
Lead Fishermen
Lead Fishermen Tom Stucki on the NOAA ship Oscar Dyson. Image by Matthew Phillips.
Official Title
Lead Fishermen
Normal Job Duties
I run the winches for trawls, Maintain and fix the nets, help with maintenance of our equipment. Paint and preserve the ship when time and weather allows, clean up inside of ship.
How long have you been working on Oscar Dyson?
2 months this time and a month long trip last year. I am a relief pool employee. I fill in where the fleet needs me.
Why the ocean? What made you choose a career at sea?
I grew up on the coast in a fishing community.
What is your favorite thing about going to sea on Oscar Dyson?
The crew and work we do.
Why is your work (or research) important?
Our work is translated back to the commercial fleets so we don’t end up overfishing.
When did you know you wanted to pursue a career in science or an ocean career?
Once I got out of the Army and went on my first successful Salmon fishing trip.
What part of your job with NOAA (or contracted to NOAA) did you least expect to be doing?
Traveling as a relief pool employee.
What are some of the challenges with your job?
Working 12 hour days for months at a time.
What are some of the rewards with your job?
Knowing that the work I am helping with actually matters and hopefully will have positive implications down the road.
Describe a memorable moment at sea.
There are lots but its always nice in the middle of a trawl when you look up the sun is setting the water is flat calm and you think to yourself “yeah, I get paid for doing this.
Interview with Jay Michelsen
Skilled Fisherman
Official Title
Skilled Fisherman
Normal Job Duties
Operations of equipment to facilitate the needs of the science party.
How long have you been working on Oscar Dyson?
two years
Why the ocean? What made you choose a career at sea?
I love the challenge of creating something stable from something so uncertain and ever changing as the ocean.
What is your favorite thing about going to sea on Oscar Dyson?
Seeing some of the creatures that the ocean has living in its depth.
Why is your work (or research) important?
My work is important more for personal reasons, I am able to support my family and make their lives more comfortable. My work on the ship is nothing special besides understanding the rigging and being able to trouble shoot issues that arise just as quickly as they show up.
When did you know you wanted to pursue a career in science or an ocean career?
I have wanted to pursue a career on the water for as long as I can remember, however it was my mother five years ago who pushed me to follow that desire.
What are some of the rewards with your job?
I enjoy seeing the creatures that we pull up from the ocean. The pay isn’t bad. If you are able to stay in for a long period of time, you can get a stable retirement.
Describe a memorable moment at sea.
There was a time that we brought up a salmon shark in the net and I was able to get it back into the water by cutting a hole in the net and pulling it out with the help of another deckhand. It was exhilarating!
Personal Log
Me in the survival suit.
I will admit that my biggest concern with going to sea was the thought of falling overboard. Now that I have been on Oscar Dyson I have learned that safety is a top priority and there are a lot of procedures for keeping everyone productive yet safe. Every week there are safety drills such as fire, abandon ship, and person overboard. The one I like the most is the abandon ship because I get to try on the survival suit. The waters here are so cold that survival overboard is unlikely without the survival suit.
It is comforting to know that the crew of Oscar Dyson work hard to keep themselves and everyone on board safe. I am no longer afraid of falling overboard because I’ve learned to be safe when navigating around the vessel and I have finally developed my sea legs – well sort of! The weather has been amazing with smooth sailing almost everyday. We did have a few days with some rolling seas and I had to put a seasickness patch behind my ear.
NOAA Teacher At Sea Liz Harrington Aboard NOAA Ship Oregon II August 10 – 25, 2013
Mission : Shark/Red Snapper Bottom Longline Geographical area of cruise: Western Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico Date: Aug 25 , 2013
Weather: current conditions from the bridge:
Partly Sunny
Lat. 30.15 °N Lon. 88.46 °W
Temp. 80 °F (26.9 °C)
Humidity 82 %
Wind speed 8.26 knots
Barometer 30.08 in (1018.75 mb)
Visibility 10 mi
Science and Career Log
It has been just over two weeks since I boarded the Oregon II. In that time I have had the chance to speak with many people who work aboard the ship. These people are either members of the NOAA Corps, members of the scientific team or civilian mariners employed by NOAA. The NOAA Commissioned Officers Corps is one of the seven uniform services of the United States. Corps graduates operate NOAA’s ships and aircraft and work in positions to support NOAA’s environmental and scientific missions. Their job assignments alternate between sea duty (or air duty if associated with the aviation program) and land duty. It is an interesting career that offers the opportunity to travel as well as to be a participant in NOAA missions.
Of the five ship officers, four are members of the NOAA Corps: the Executive Officer (second in command of the ship) LCDR Eric Johnson, Operations Officer LTJG Matthew Griffin, Navigation Officer Brian Adornato and Junior Officer Rachel Pryor. The Commanding Officer, Master Dave Nelson, is a civilian captain who has spent his life on the water and has worked his way up from a deck hand. All of the ship’s officers are friendly, knowledgeable and professional. I’m in great hands with them in charge.
During some free time away from her NOAA Corps duties, ENS Rachel Pryor would sometimes help the day shift. Here she teaches Micayla how to remove otoliths.
Officers and Chief Scientists often discuss the best possible course when sites are clustered together.
One possible route for the day. This may change depending on weather, tide and currents.
The deck crew who worked the day shift with me consisted of the Chief Boatswain Tim Martin and the Skilled Fishermen Chuck Godwin and Mike Conway. They work well together and they were very helpful to me while I was learning the deck routines. The Chief Boatswain (pronounce bō´ sun) supervises members of the deck crew and oversees all deck operations, including safety, training and maintenance.
There are four NOAA scientists onboard, two for each shift. Scientists Lisa Jones and Eric Hoffmayer are both on the night shift with the three volunteers Dave, Al and Muri. The day shift is covered with research biologists Kristin Hannan and Amy Schmitt, along with volunteers Mikayla, Cliff and Daniel. Kristin is the Chief Scientist for this leg of the cruise, so she is in charge of making the decisions dealing with the scientific portion of the cruise. This involves coordination between herself, officers on the bridge (where the ship is being driven) and the deck shift leader. This role is rotated among the some of the scientists. Lisa will be the Chief Scientist for the next leg of the cruise.
Kristin and Tim are ready to set the line. They will receive word from the bridge when the ship has reached the correct coordinates.
One important job on this ship that I have to mention is the Chief Steward, which is held by Walter Coghlan. Walter is in charge of feeding everyone on board and he is great at what he does. As a Chief de Cuisine, he is very well trained and it shows in his meals. When living aboard a ship I think the food takes on more importance. It is not easy to keep everyone happy but Walter is doing it. The menu always has a number of choices and the meals are prepared fresh daily. I’m eating like a queen.
Chief Steward Walter Coghlan keeps everyone well fed.
Personal Log
My days aboard the Oregon II are coming to an end. We had been working our way north along the western coast of Florida. Now the fishing has stopped and we are traveling along the panhandle towards the home port of Pascagoula, Mississippi. This morning, far on the horizon, I could just barely make out the rectangular shapes of beachside hotels and condominiums. But the fishing remained good to the end with two different shark species being caught. One was an Angel Shark (genus Squatina), which I’m told is not normally caught on a longline. The other was a Cuban Dogfish(Squalus cubensis), which was the first one caught this season. So, we are ending on a good note. We will now travel to the harbor entrance off the coast of Pascagoula. We will wait until morning and arrive at the dock bright and early.
I have mixed feelings about the going to shore. I’m happy to be going home to see my family and begin school, but I am sorry this experience is coming to an end. I have enjoyed every minute of this trip. Of course it is the people that have made it so rewarding. They have been so friendly and welcoming to me. The science has been very interesting to me as well. I have lots of stories to share and a new interest in sharks. Back at school we’ll be following the sharks with the satellite tags. One part of this experience that I hadn’t put much thought into before coming is the life at sea. Living aboard a ship is a unique experience with the limited amount of space, the 24/7 schedules, the weather and the constant motion of the waves. It bonds the people into a big family, one that I’m going to miss but will be talking about for a long time.
New Term- Dock rock = The sensation the ground is moving after spending time at sea.
David holds an Angel Shark caught on the last haul back. (photo courtesy of David Seay)
Liz with Tile Fish (photo courtesy of Micayla Keipert)
Pale Spotted Eel can be difficult to measure.
There is lots of life on this piece of coral that was brought up on the line.
Cliff weighs a Barracuda.
Tagging a Nurse Shark
Everything aboard a ship needs to be secured due to the motion of the waves. The doors are secured with a hook like this one.
Getting ready for the haul back – rain or shine. (photo courtesy of Micayla Keipert)
Chuck and Kristin remove a hook from a Sandbar Shark.
“The Day Shift”. In back from left: Cliff, Daniel, Kristin and Micayla. Front from left: Liz and Amy. (Photo courtesy of Tim Martin)
Scientists Kristin Hannan and Amy Schmitt prepare to weigh a shark that has been brought up on deck.
One last picture before leaving the Oregon II. (photo courtesy of Lisa Jones)
