invasive species – NOAA Teacher at Sea Blog

August 24, 2022August 26, 2022

George Hademenos: (Working) 9 to 5…and Then Some When at Sea, August 24, 2022

NOAA Teacher at Sea

George Hademenos

Aboard R/V Tommy Munro

July 19 – 27, 2022

Mission: Gulf of Mexico Summer Groundfish Survey

Geographic Area of Cruise: Eastern Gulf of Mexico

Date: August 24, 2022

In the prior blog post, I focused my attention on the ship that I would be sailing on during Leg 1 of the Summer SEAMAP Groundfish Survey and then took you on a virtual tour of the various compartments and areas of the R/V Tommy Munro. The ship is an enclosed, confined space and thus I found myself spending much of my time in most of the compartments and areas of the ship during my time on the cruise. In this post, I would like to describe what life was like on the ship as a member of the science team.

Work schedule

My primary role as a Teacher at Sea was to participate in the research process for this cruise – Summer Groundfish Survey. The detailed step-by-step description of the preparation, collecting, measuring, and analysis of sampling specimens of marine life will be covered in the following blog post. However, regarding the work conducted on the ship, research is ongoing continuously on a 24-hour schedule. The science research team was grouped into two teams with each team working a 12-hour shift. The two teams worked either the AM shift (12:00 am Midnight – 12:00 pm Noon) or the PM shift (12:00 pm Noon – 12:00 am Midnight), seven days a week. I was assigned the PM shift, which took a little getting used to but after the first full shift, the schedule became a routine schedule.

Small living quarters

One of things I should have packed prior to the cruise was a football helmet. Why you might ask? In the prior post as I took you on a tour of the R/V Tommy Munro, I showed pictures of my living quarters on the ship and my bed which provided limited space. If you will recall, my bed was the bottom bunk to the left in the photo below.

A collage of two images. On the left, a view of a closed door (simple, wooden, with a knob, could be in a house.) Several pieces of laminated paper are taped to the door. One reads: State Quarters 2. The next are the two pages of the Emergency Station Bill (not close enough to read). On the right, a photo looking inside the stateroom, where we can see four bunks. — My living quarters aboard the R/V *Tommy Munro*.

In fact, as I retired to my bed on the first night, I bumped my head. I then got up to go to the bathroom and I bumped my head. Returning to the bed and positioning myself under the covers, I bumped my head yet again. After bumping my head an additional 1,374 times (not really but it seemed like an accurate enough number), I wish I had thought to pack a football helmet but I was not the only one having trouble moving in my bed without bumping my head. My bunkmates experienced the same thing – apparently a normal occurrence in life at sea.

Meals

One thing to note that while aboard the ship, I never… and I mean never… found myself hungry. There were all sorts of food to accommodate all tastes for all workers at all hours of the day and night. The cook on board the R/V Tommy Munro, John Z., was an amazing cook and continuously worked his magic in the kitchen to prepare three square meals for the crew and research staff. The three meals were breakfast at 5:30 am, lunch at 11:30 am, and dinner at 5:30 pm. One of my many pleasant memories after working one of my shifts and getting to bed by 1:30 am was being awoken by the smell of bacon wafting through the ship. Although I was going on 4 hours of sleep and was dead tired, the bacon was calling… no, scratch that… screaming my name and I was dressed and had a seat at the dining table within 15 minutes. Because of the long shifts often involving hard, strenuous work, many of the crew would sleep through a meal or two. However, leftovers of the prior meal were always available to those sleeping in to be heated up and enjoyed later. Lunch was the one meal that could be enjoyed by the PM crew before starting their shift and be the AM crew as they completed their shift on their way to bed. Some examples of meals that I enjoyed during my time on the R/V Tommy Munro is shown in the collage below.

DO NOT Touch that Fish but… Bon Appétit!

As an educator interested in any and all things science, I would always look forward to the end of the sampling process and the emptying of the nets to survey our catch – a grab bag of a variety of different types of marine life and species. I had seen images of several types of marine life contained within the nets and recognized even fewer numbers by their name, but again this was an opportunity to learn and every sampling increased my library of marine science knowledge. During one such sampling (as shown in the photo below), I noted a multitude of one species of fish that were unique in their presence and I quickly understood them to be a species of lionfish.

a pile of fish on deck next to a stack of empty sorting bins. there are at least four, maybe as many as seven, lionfish visible in the pile. They are easily identifiable by their pink, orange, and white stripes and marbling and their frilly fins. — The collection of fish from a sampling.

I was somewhat familiar with lionfish and knew them to be an invasive species, detrimental to marine ecosystems. For those interested in learning more about lionfish, please review the two graphics below:

a poster about invasive and venomous lionfish. "With their distinctive venomous spines and aggressive nature, this invasive species has thrived in U.S. coastal waters because they have no natural predators--until now. Whole Foods stores in Florida are selling the 'white, buttery meat' of the fish, hoping to take a bite out of the non-native species hurting Florida's offshore reefs." — An infographic describing the features and habitat of the lionfish.
Credit: Hiram Henriquez / H2H Graphics & Design Inc.

Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Invasive Lionfish By the Numbers. Biology: 50,000 eggs every 3 days. 1 Year to Maturity. 30 Year Lifespan. 18 venomous spines. Distribution: 17x density in Atlantic vs. native Pacific range. Reach depths of 1,000 feet. 1985: year first found off Miami, FL. 4 U.S. national marine sanctuaries invaded: 1) Monitor, 2) Gray's Reef, 3) Florida Keys, 4) Flower Garden Banks. Map of invaded area (Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean, eastern U.S. coast) and area projected for invasion (Brazilian coast.) Control: 164 restaurants serving lionfish. 51,420 lbs of commercial lionfish caught in U.S. 28,770 lionfish removed during REEF sanctioned lionfish derbies. Impacts: Invasive species threaten coral reefs. Before invasion: (illustration of diverse fish assemblage on reef) after invasion: (mostly lionfish.) Over 100 prey fish species. 1,000 lionfish can consume 5 million prey fish in 1 year. 0 known predators. — An infographic depicting invasive lionfish by the numbers. Download full version here: https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/lionfish/invasive-lionfish-by-the-numbers.pdf

and access the Invasive Lionfish Web portal at:

http://lionfish.gcfi.org/education-outreach#front_page_accordion-block-5

Lionfish adversely impact coral reefs by feeding on herbivores which in turn feed on and keep a check of algae growth as well as pose a danger to any organism that comes in direct contact with them. They carry venomous spines which contain a deadly poison that can initiate a severe and painful allergic reaction in humans and can be fatal when in contact with other marine species. This is exactly why I was warned several times to avoid touching the lionfish… orders I followed to a T. When the sampling was brought into the wet lab for analysis, I asked Andre D. and my team members Kyle A. and Jacob G. questions about lionfish to find out more information about this interesting species of fish. We were discussing its detrimental impact to marine ecosystems, and the efforts currently underway to curtail the population of lionfish, when the ship’s cook, John Z., mentioned that they are very delicious and often served in seafood dishes like fish tacos. He went on to explain that one strategy to control the population of lionfish was to see if they could be eaten and if people would find it palatable. It turned out that this was the case for lionfish. I did not know that lionfish could be eaten and expressed surprise. He waited until the analysis of the sampling was over and then took two lionfish to the kitchen, cooked them, and brought the prepared fish to us in the wet lab to taste. I did and John Z. was right – it was very delicious!

a collage of two photos titled, "Lionfish Just Caught... and Just Cooked." on the left, a basket of lionfish sorted out from the sample. on the right, a paper plate with cooked lionfish meat. — Lionfish captured…and consumed!

Seasickness

During the Orientation webinar for all Teacher at Sea educators who would be sailing this season, the topic of seasickness came up and it was strongly suggested to have Dramamine on hand to relieve the unpleasant symptoms of motion sickness. Nawww, I’ll be OK. It would be one less thing to worry about during packing. My wife thought differently and urged me to take some with me…just to have on hand. So, I did pack some Dramamine just in case I need it. Well, on the first night of my cruise, it turned out that I needed it. As much as I thought I would be OK once the ship set sail, my stomach thought otherwise and experienced a mild case of nausea. I did take some Dramamine and allowed me to get some restful sleep and everything was fine. Dramamine did come in handy a couple of other times, particularly when the waters became more choppier than usual, but for the most part, I feel that I adjusted to life at sea quite well. Nevertheless, I was glad I had Dramamine with me.

No Wi-Fi

As a science teacher engaged in a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity like Teacher at Sea, I am particularly excited about sharing my experiences…as they happen in real time. However, updating blog posts, uploading photos to Facebook, or engaging followers through social media can only happen if Wi-Fi is available. The NOAA fleet of research vessels are equipped with Wi-Fi which as I was reminded on frequent occasions can be weak and intermittent. However, the R/V Tommy Munro was not part of NOAA and had no Wi-Fi. It was not possible for me to communicate my observations, my photos, and my narratives as a Teacher at Sea while it was happening. It just meant I would have to wait until the end of the cruise to begin sharing my experience.

On Deck scenic views

Although many might think that the lack of Wi-Fi would be a major inconvenience, I actually found it to be refreshing, offering me opportunities to simply relax. After a long shift and getting some rest, I would often go up to the top deck and just look gaze all around. At what you are probably wondering? Enjoy a sample of the breathtaking views I enjoyed from my perch atop the deck of the R/V Tommy Munro.

a collage of five photos titled, "Breathtaking Views of the Scenery Aboard the R/V Tommy Munro." Clockwise from top left: 1) the sun shines on water out the fantail of the R/V Tommy Munro. 2) sunsets in an orange sky over the water. 3) the wake of R/V Tommy Munro breaks otherwise smooth waters at daytime. 4) another view over the water at sunset. 5) somewhat choppier conditions and rain visible on the horizon. — Scenic views from aboard the R/V *Tommy Munro*.

In this installment of my exercise of the Ocean Literacy Framework, I would like to ask you to respond to three questions about the fourth essential principle:

The ocean made Earth habitable.

presented in a Padlet accessed by the following link:

https://tinyurl.com/32kdpx3e

Remember, there are no right or wrong answers – the questions serve not as an opportunity to answer yes or no, or to get answers right or wrong; rather, these questions serve as an opportunity not only to assess what you know or think about the scope of the principle but also to learn, explore, and investigate the demonstrated principle. If you have any questions or would like to discuss further, please indicate so in the blog and I would be glad to answer your questions and initiate a discussion.

June 6, 2019

Jill Bartolotta: Start Your Engines, June 1, 2019

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Jill Bartolotta

Aboard NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer

May 30 – June 13, 2019

Mission: Mapping/Exploring the U.S. Southeastern Continental Margin and Blake Plateau

Geographic Area of Cruise: U.S. Southeastern Continental Margin, Blake Plateau

Date: June 1, 2019

Weather Data:

Latitude: 28°19.3’ N

Longitude: 079°21.6’

Wave Height: 1-2 feet

Wind Speed: 11 knots

Wind Direction: 195

Visibility: 10 nautical miles

Air Temperature: 28°C

Barometric Pressure: 1012.5

Sky: Broken

Making the Engines Run

Engines on this ship are run with marine grade diesel. Before the diesel can be put through the engine it must be cleaned of any impurities. A centrifuge system is used to spin the diesel at a very fast pace in a circle. As the diesel spins any impurities are flung out leaving behind the purified fuel. If the fuel is not purified before it is put through the engines, they will gunk up and not function properly. NOAA Okeanos Explorer has 4 engines. Currently we are running 3 of them and the fourth one is the backup. There is also a fifth generator that can serve as a backup if needed. There are roughly 180,000 gallons of diesel on the ship and roughly 2,200 gallons of fuel are used per day. In order to make the engine work, air in the engine is compressed causing the air to heat up. Then you spray fuel into the compressed air and the heat of their air causes an explosion leading to the process of combustion. In order to determine if complete combustion is occurring and the engine fuel is clean of impurities you look at the exhaust. If the exhaust is clear it means you are seeing full combustion and the fuel is clean. If the exhaust is not clean, black for example, it means that combustion is not complete or the fuel is dirty.

Fuel purification centrifuge — The fuel purification centrifuge system. If you look closely you can see a pink liquid, purified diesel.

Cooling the Engines

The engines must run at a temperature below 200°F. When these engines run they create heat so to keep them at a temperature under 200°F you need to cool them off using a heat exchanger. A heat exchanger is a series of pipes that run hot substances past cooler substances. These substances do not come into contact with one another, but are piped past one another. The heat transfers to the cooler substance through the series of pipes thus cooling the previously hot substance. On this ship, oil is used to lubricate the pistons on the engine, but it also serves a coolant. The oil is then cooled via freshwater called jacket water and the freshwater is cooled via seawater taken from the ocean. The ocean surface water is 74°F when it enters the ship and leaves the ship at roughly 84°F.

However where does this heat go? The first law of thermodynamics, The Law of Conservation of Energy, tells us that energy cannot be created or destroyed, only transferred or converted. So why not convert this heat energy into some of use? Well guess what. The engineers on Okeanos Explorer do just that. Some of the heat goes into the seawater used to cool the jacket water and some of the heat is used in the desalination system.

Remember we left off with desalination in the previous blog. They use the heat coming off the engines to heat the saltwater, evaporate it, and retrieve the freshwater. However, if you remember these engines must run below 200°F and in order to boil water you must be at a temperature of 212°F. I know many of you are probably thinking salt in water actually lowers the boiling point, but really the opposite is true. Salt actually increases the temperature needed to boil water. However, it is minimal so it won’t affect your pasta too much. Feel free to add that pinch of salt like a true chef.

In order to boil water with 200°F of temperature or less we need to change the pressure of the system. This is done through a vacuum that decreases the pressure in the system allowing water to boil at a lower temperature. It is similar to when you go hiking in the mountains (less pressure than when you are at sea level) and go to boil water. It boils quicker because less heat is needed since the pressure is lower. So by changing the pressure in the system to one that would be seen at a higher altitude, engineers are able to use the heat from the engines to boil the salt water on the ship, allowing us to have access to freshwater for drinking, bathing, and cooking purposes. Pretty ingenious right?

Maintaining Balance

Now hopefully you were paying attention in the first paragraph when I talked about how much fuel is on board and how much is used each day. As fuel is used, the weight on the ship will change affecting stability. A ship with weight is more stable in the water than a ship will little to no weight. Therefore as fuel weight is lost it must be replaced. One gallon of diesel weighs approximately 7 pounds. So if we are using 2200 gallons a day we are losing 15,400 pounds of weight. How do the engineers accomplish the task of adding more weight? What is all around us weighing 8.6 pounds per gallon??? Seawater! Yes! So ballast tanks are filled with seawater to add weight to the ship that is removed when fuel is used.

Ballast water filtration and UV purification system. The parts to the right are the filtration system and the parts to the left are the UV system.

Ballast water is taken in through a filtration system before it even reaches its holding tanks (separate than the fuel tanks). The water first passes through a filter to remove large particles (such as larger pieces of plant material or debris) and then passes through a UV system that will kill any organisms. When the ballast water is released from their holding tanks in order to allow more fuel to come on board, the water must pass through the UV system once more to make sure nothing alive (plants, animals, bacteria, etc.) is getting into the water.

This purification of ballast water occurs to prevent invasive species from entering new areas. An invasive species is a plant or animal that is from somewhere else and is introduced through human actions. When these species establish in a new area and begin to outcompete native species, affect human health, and become costly to remove, they are classified as invasive.

Where I live on Lake Erie several species such as zebra and quagga mussels, round goby, and spiny water flea have all been introduced from ballast water from ships coming from the inland lakes of Eurasia. These ships would need to dump their water when they entered the shallower river ports of the Great Lakes, spurring a silent invasion. All four species are negatively affecting native populations of important species and are costly to manage. Then same is happening along the East Coast with species such as European green crab.

I would like each of you reading this blog to learn more about a species introduced to U.S. waters, whether they be fresh or salt, through ballast water. Feel free to let me know which organism you chose to learn more about in the comments section of the blog.

Personal Log

Today was a really special day at sea. It was my 30^th birthday. I could not have imagined a more amazing place to turn 30. I spent the day learning all about the engine systems on board, out on the bow enjoying the breeze and sunshine while looking for ocean critters, and was treated to the sweetest cake ever. It was so kind of the chefs on board to make me a cake for my birthday. It was a red velvet cake (my favorite) with chocolate frosting and decorated with chocolate pieces and white icing. We had it with some chocolate raspberry swirl ice cream. Truly a wonderful celebration with my new friends.

Jill with birthday cake! — My delicious birthday cake. Thank you everyone for a great birthday!

I spent the hour before sunset enjoying a nice yoga and meditation session before the most amazing sunset we have seen at sea yet. The clouds and sun put on the most spectacular display of color. Afterwards I learned more about the happenings of the mission control room (basically the mapping hub for the ship). I learned how we launch equipment to collect water column data and how we clean the data removing noise. I will be writing a blog on the mapping mission soon.

After our shift ended, my roommate and I ventured to the bridge to learn about piloting a vessel at night. We learned what equipment they rely on and how they manage their night vision. And then the most spectacular part of the whole night! The stars! Wow! It looks like someone through glitter (plastic free glitter preferably) into the sky. I have never seen so many stars in my life. We saw the Milky Way, Big Dipper, Little Dipper, North Star, Jupiter and so many other constellations. It was a wonderful end to a great birthday day.

Did You Know?

Even numbered locations (such as muster stations or staterooms) on ships are located on the port (left) side of the ship and odd numbered locations are located on the (starboard) right side of the ship.

Sea Measurements

Different ways to measure are used at sea. You can see some measurement conversions below.

1 nautical mile = 1.151 statute mile

1 knot = 1 nautical mile per hour = 1.151 statute mile per hour

1° Celsius = 33.8 °F

Animals Seen Today

Flying fish

Northern gannet

July 19, 2017

Anna Levy: What Tummies Tell Us, July 15, 2017

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Anna Levy

Aboard NOAA Ship Oregon II

July 10 – 20, 2017

Mission: Groundfish Survey

Geographic Area of Cruise: Gulf of Mexico

Date: July 15, 2017

Weather Data from the Bridge

Scattered, mild storms continue, causing some delays in our fishing. However, they do lead to beautiful sunsets!

Latitude: 29 18.790 N

Longitude: 84 52.358 W

Air temp: 28.7 C

Water temp: 29.7 C

Wind direction: light and variable

Wind speed: light and variable

Wave height: 0.3 meter

Sky: 80% cloud cover, no rain

Science and Technology Log

TAS Anna Levy removes the stomach of a red snapper.

Data about the number and size of individual organisms can tell us a lot about the health of an overall population of a species. However, it doesn’t tell us much about the role that species plays in its community. If we want to understand that better, we need to know more about how it fits into its food web – what it eats and what eats it. If you were trying to collect information about what a fish eats, where would you look first? Its stomach!

So, after we measure certain species, we dissect them and remove their stomachs. We place each stomach in its own tiny bag, with a bar code that identifies which individual fish it belonged to. Back at a lab on land, scientists will carefully examine the contents of the stomachs to better understand what each species was eating.

The bar codes that we use to label specimens.

factc_240 — This map shows the native range of lionfish. Credit: http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/lionfish-facts.html

For example, one of the fish currently under investigation in the Gulf of Mexico is the lionfish. This is an invasive species, which means that it is not native to the area. Its natural habitat is in parts of southern Pacific and Indian oceans, but it was first spotted in the Atlantic, off the coast of North Carolina, in 2002. Lionfish were most likely introduced to this area by humans, when they no longer wanted the fish as an aquarium pet. By 2010, its range had expanded to include the Gulf. And, with no natural predators in this area and rapid rates of reproduction, its numbers have increased exponentially.

Early dietary studies, which were focused on the lionfish in the Atlantic, show that the lionfish is a generalist. This means that, while it prefers to eat small reef fish, it is able to eat a wide variety of organisms including benthic invertebrates (like crabs) and other fish. This flexibility makes lionfish even more resilient and able to spread. These studies also found that lionfish stomachs were rarely empty, suggesting that they are highly successful predators, able to out-compete other top predators for food.

This has wildlife experts concerned about the impact lionfish will have on natural ecosystems. It is possible that lionfish will over-consume native species, causing native ecosystems to collapse. It is also possible that lionfish will out-compete and displace native, high level predators, like snapper and grouper. Scientists are working now to develop methods to try to manage this invasion.

Because ecosystems here are different from those in the Atlantic, scientists are now turning their attention to studying the lionfish in the Gulf of Mexico. The work that we did on the boat today should help them do just that!

NOAA biologist and Field Party Chief Andre DeBose and graduate student Dedi Vernetti inventory the lionfish caught at one station.

FPC Andre DeBose with lionfish

To see the results of one such study, completed in 2014, see:

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0105852

For more information and photos about the lionfish, please see:

https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education/stories/lionfish/lion02_invade.html

https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/lionfish-facts.html

http://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/mediacenter/2015/05/21_05.html

Personal Log

Often times, we teachers struggle to convince our students that, while all of the modern technology we have is great, they also need to understand how to solve problems without relying on it. (Most of us have probably been on at least one side of the old, “no, you don’t need a calculator to multiply by 10!” argument at some point in life.) Well, in the past couple of days, I’ve seen two great examples of this onboard the ship.

The first relates directly to our survey work. Our CTD, the equipment mentioned in last post, has two sensors that both detect how much dissolved oxygen is in the water. Having two instruments collecting the same information (sometimes called redundancy) is important, not only so that there is a back-up in case one breaks, but also so that we can tell if they are measuring accurately.

The two oxygen sensors have been reading differently – one was about 0.7 mg/L lower than the other. This is an indication that one needs to be calibrated – but which one? To find out, Alonzo Hamilton, one of the senior NOAA scientists, used a classical chemical analysis technique called titration.

This is the titration equipment found in the chemical lab on board the ship.

In a chemical titration, one substance is slowly added to another, while the scientist watches for a chemical reaction to occur. If you know how the two substances react, you can determine how much of the second substance is present, based on how much of the first was added to make the reaction happen.

Based on the results of his titration, Alonzo was able to determine which of the oxygen sensors was reading accurately. So, it definitely goes to show that there are important applications for that classic high school chemistry!

The binnacle that houses the ship’s magnetic compass.

The other example relates more to the ability to navigate the ship. NOAA Ship Oregon II is equipped with advanced electronic navigation software, Gyro compass, radar, and GPS systems. However, when I was exploring the top deck (flying bridge) of the ship, I came upon this strangely low-tech looking instrument. I asked ENS Chelsea Parrish, a NOAA Corps Officer and member of the wardroom, about it. She explained that it is called a “binnacle,” a safeguard that houses a magnetic compass! The magnetic compass is the same type of technology used by mariners back in the 1300’s. It is critical to have in case of a power outage or other disruption to the ship’s electronic navigation technology.

Did You Know?

While they typically live in cold waters, there is one pod of orca whales (aka killer whales) that resides, year-round, in the Gulf of Mexico. It’s rare to see them, but I’m keeping my eyes peeled!

Dolphins, on the other hand, seem to be everywhere out here. I’ve caught at least a glimpse of them every day so far. In fact, a group of them swam up to investigate our CTD today as it was being lowered into the water.

Questions to Consider:

Research: Some other famous invasive species in our oceans include the green crab (Carcinus maenas), killer algae (Caulerpa taxifolia), a jellyfish-like animal called a sea walnut (Mnemiopsis leidyi), a marine snail called rapa whelk (Rapana venosa), and the zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha). Where did each of these originate? How did they come to inhabit their invaded areas? What impact are they having?

Brainstorm: What measures could you imagine taking to manage some of these species?

Research: The specific type of titration used to determine the amount of dissolved oxygen in water is called the Winkler method. How does the Winkler method work?

June 22, 2014August 21, 2021

John Bilotta: A World of Wonder under the Waves, Days 1-4 in the South Atlantic MPAs, June 20, 2014

NOAA Teacher at Sea

John Bilotta

Aboard NOAA Ship Nancy Foster

June 17 – 27, 2014

Mission: South Atlantic Marine Protected Area Survey

Geographical area of cruise: South Atlantic

Date: June 20, 2014

Weather: Sunny with clouds. 26.6 Celsius. Wind 13 knots from 251 degrees (west). 1-2m seas from the north.

** Note: Upon request, note that if you click on any picture it should open full screen so you can the detail much better!

Science and Technology Log

Research mission objectives – what am I doing out here?

Gathering data on habitat and fish assemblages of seven species of grouper and tilefish in the South Atlantic MPAs . These species are considered to be at risk due to current stock levels and life history characteristics which make them vulnerable to overfishing. Information gathered will help assess the health of the MPAs, the impact management is having, and the effectiveness of ROV exploratoration to make these health assessments.

Science Part I: Multibeam sea floor mapping Multibeam sonar sensors — sometimes called multibeam acoustic sensors echo-sounders (MB for short) are a type of sound transmitting and receiving system that couple with GPS to produce high-resolution maps of the sea floor bottom. See how it works by checking out this cool NOAA animation. MB mapping is occurring all night long on the Nancy Foster by a team of expert mappers including Kayla Johnson, Freidrich Knuth, Samantha Martin, and Nick Mitchell (more on them and their work and NOAA careers in a future blog). Our Chief Scientist Stacey Harter has identified areas to map.

OK, so we aren't exactly MB mapping in this photo but I wanted to introduce everyone to my host Chief Scientist in one of my first pictures. — OK, so we aren’t exactly MB mapping in this photo but I wanted to introduce everyone to my host Chief Scientist Stacey Harter in one of my first pictures.

By morning, after the mappers have worked their magic on the data, Stacey is able to see a visual representation of the sea floor. She is looking for specific characteristics including a hard sea floor bottom, relief, and ridge lines – important characteristics for the groupers, tilefish, hinds, and other fish species under protection and management. Stacey uses these maps to determine transects for ROV exploration. Those transect lines are used by both the scientists driving the ROV and the navigation crew aboard the Nancy Foster. Once down on the ocean floor, the ROV pilot follows this transect and so must the ship high above it in the waves driven by the crew. Although 3 floors apart – it’s amazing to hear the necessary communication between them. (Watch for one of my future posts that will highlight a MB map and a sample transect line.)

Science Part II: ROV exploration – Completion of 8 dives

By the time this posts, we will have made 8 dives with the SubAtlantic Mohawk 18 ROV from University of North Carolina. (perhaps we will have made more dives because internet via satellites is slow and I am uncertain when this will really get posted.)

JB and ROVs first date aboard the aft deck on the Nancy Foster

The ROV joined the mission with its two pilots, Lance Horn and Jason White. Pilots extraordinaire but I otherwise see them as the ROV’s parents guiding and caring for its every move. The technology aboard the ROV is incredible including a full spectrum video camera, a digital camera, sensors to measure depth and temperature, and 4 horizontal thrusters and one vertical thruster with twin propellers. The ROV has donned a pair of lasers which when projected on the sea floor allow the scientists to measure items.

JB attaching the CTD probe to the ROV with instructions from Steve Matthews.

John receiving launch instructions from Andy David; including about how the cable attaches to the ROV and the fiber optic line. — John receiving ROV deployment instructions from Andy David; including about how the cable attaches to the ROV and the fiber optic line.

The ROV control station is daunting! As one may imagine, it does include three joysticks accompanied by multiple switches, buttons, lights and alarms – all just a fingertip away from the ROV pilot. Five monitors surround the pilot – some of them are touch screen activated adding more to the selection of options at their fingertips. Is a Play Station a part of your daily routine? Perhaps you should consider a career at NOAA as a ROV pilot!

ROV operations station. 1. Power supply, 2. Joystick controllers, 3. Multiple switches, 4. Four monitors for the ROV pilot alone, 5. Two monitors for the video and digital pictures, 6. Laptop controlling digital pictures, and 7. Multiple DVD recorders. — ROV operations station. 1. Power supply, 2. Joystick controllers, 3. Multiple switches, 4. Four monitors for the ROV pilot alone, 5. Two monitors for the video and digital picture technician, 6. Laptop controlling digital pictures, and 7. Multiple DVD recorders.

While the ROV drives and explores a set transect line, six additional scientists and assistants identify and record habitat, fish species, invertebrates, and other items that come into vision on any one of the monitors scattered around the lab located inside the ship. Two scientists are recording fish species and a scientist accompanied by me the past two days are identifying habitat and invertebrates.

JB Invertebrate Logging — John assisting Stephanie Farrington (not pictured) with habitat and invertebrate identification and logging.

Of course, the ROV is on the move constantly, so fish and items of interest are flying by – you don’t have time to type or write so the scientists use short cut keyboards pre-coded with species and habitat descriptors. Meanwhile another scientist is narrating the entire dive as everything is being recorded and yet another is controlling DVD video recording and centering and zooming the digital camera capturing hundreds of pictures during a dive. You would be surprised by the number of computers running for this operation! What is amazing is that everything will be linked together through a georeferrenced database using latitude and longitude coordinates.

Science Part III. What have we seen and discovered?

On June 19^th & 20^th we completed 8 dives. Some of the first species we saw included the shortbigeye, triggerfish, reef butterflyfish, and hogfish (Here is a good link of fish species on the reefs located here.) We also observed a few stingrays and speckled hind. For invertebrates, we saw a lot of Stichopathes (tagged as dominate during the dives) and fields of Pennatulacea (long white feathers). We also saw echinoderms and solitary cap coral (a singular, white tube coral) and discovered a Demospongiae that Stephanie, one of the Research Biologists (see below) hadn’t seen yet; we called it a bubble-wrap sponge in my hand-written notes.

Things that we saw today that we wished we hadn’t seen:

Pollution So with much of my teaching centered around clean water and pollution prevention and mitigation, I was saddened to discover the following items on the ocean floor during the first five dives: Plastic bags, cans, a barrel, a clearly visible rubber surgical glove, and an artillery shell. Interesting – from the ROV you can easily spot what the scientists call ‘human debris’ as it often has straight lines and corners, distinctly human crafted shapes – not like mother nature engineers.

Plastic balloon found during dive #2 at about 60 meters. Photo credit: NOAA UNCW. Mohawk ROV June 2014.

Black plastic garbage bag found at about 60 meters. NOAA UNCW. Mowak ROV June 2014. — Black plastic garbage bag found at about 60 meters. NOAA UNCW. Mohawk ROV June 2014.

Invasive species – Lionfish are everywhere! Why are Lionfish undesirable? http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/lionfish.html

Lionfish - multiple sitings today. Photo credit: NOAA UNCW — Lionfish – multiple sitings today. Photo credit: NOAA UNCW Mohawk ROV. June 2014.

Career highlight: Stephanie Farrington, Biological Research Specialist

Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution at Florida Atlantic University

Masters of Science in Marine Biology. Bachelors of Science in Marine Science and Biology.

Stephanie’s expertise is in collecting, classifying, and mapping marine biology with emphasis in habitats and invertebrates. She is also proficient in ArcGIS for mapping and maintaining a database of everything she sees, discovers, and observes. During this research trip, she is the scientist charged with identifying the habitat with an emphasis on the invertebrate species that speckle the sea floor. For the past two days I have shadowed her side – watching the video feed from the ROV and logging. She is a wealth of information and I really appreciate sitting next to her the past two days. She is a master in biology and a master in buttons – and a fun spirit too.

Personal Log

Day 2 was spent almost entirely in transit – getting north from Mayport to Georgia, almost 9 hours. Part of that time was spent getting to know the research team and participating in safety drills. Sorry everyone; I did not get a picture of me in my red gumby suit (aka the life saving immersion suit). Upon recommendation from a colleague (you know who you are) I also spent two hours on a bench on the bow reading The Big Thirst by Charles Fishman

“If Earth were the size of a Honda Odyssey minivan, the amount of water on the planet would be in a single half-liter bottle of Poland Spring in one of the van’s thirteen cup holders.”

Although I have been out on the ocean before as well as the Great Lakes, on this day I simply felt tiny in a vast sea of blue.

For those who know me during my off-work hours, I also hit the ship’s gym -yes, that’s right, I am keeping up my routine with one exception. My Paleo diet is now nearly broken – too much great food here from the ship’s chef’s, including ice cream.

Last night, at the end of Day 3 (Thursday) I spent the evening on the beach! Well actually, what they call steal beach – a platform aft (behind) the ship’s bridge equipped with lounge recliners to watch the sunsets. I sat up for seemingly hours trying to write all my excitements and discoveries in a log I am keeping. Don’t worry though, I won’t make you read it all; my blog readers will only see a small snapshot of all I have been seeing and discovering!

Glossary to Enhance Your Mind

Each of my logs is going to have a list of new vocabulary to enhance your knowledge. I am not going to post the definitions; that might be a future student assignment. NOAA’s Coral Reef Watch has a great site of definitions HERE.

Immersion suit
Transect
MPA
Invertebrates
Rugosity
Multibeam mapping
Bathymetry
Dominate species
Habitat
Echinoderms
CTD probe

July 9, 2013August 13, 2021

Jennifer Petro: Finding the Fish, July 7, 2013

NOAA Teacher at Sea
Jennifer Petro
Aboard NOAA Ship Pisces
July 1 — 14, 2013

Mission: Marine Protected Area Surveys
Geographic area of cruise: Southern Atlantic
Date: July 7, 2013

Weather Data
Air temperature: 27.°C (81.5°F)
Barometer: 1022.50 mb
Humidity: 73%
Wind direction: 195°
Wind speed: 6.1 knots
Water temp: 26.6° C (79.3°F)
Latitude: 34 44.62 N
Longitude: 75 91.98 W

Science and Technology Log

Today we find ourselves off of the coast of northern North Carolina where we will be for the next few days. An exciting aspect about this cruise is that we will be multi-beam mapping (a blog about that very soon) and sending the ROV down for surveys in new areas off of North Carolina. For the past few days I have been working with the team from the Panama City Southeast Fisheries Science Center identifying fish. This can sometimes be a very difficult prospect when the ROV is flying over the fish at 2 knots. The team from SEFSC consists of Andy David, Stacey Harter and Heather Moe. David is a 23 year veteran of NOAA and has been working on the MPA project since 2004. Stacey has been working on this project since its inception as well. Heather is new to the team and is just coming off of a 1 year assignment with the NOAA Corps at the South Pole.

There are several major objectives of this survey cruise.

(1) To survey established MPAs to collect data to compare to previous years’ surveys.

An important aspect of these cruises is to establish the effectiveness of an MPA. In some MPAs there is usually no fishing allowed. This includes trolling. bottom fishing (hook and line) as well as all commercial methods of fishing. The MPAs we are studying are Type II MPAs where trolling is permitted. They are looking for seven specific target species.

Blue Line Tilefish
Golden Tilefish
Misty Grouper
Snowy Grouper
Yellowedge Grouper
Speckled Hind (a grouper)
Warsaw Grouper

According to Andy, these species have been chosen due to their commercial value. During each dive a record is taken as to the type of species seen. We are specifically looking for the target species but we are keeping track of ALL the species that we see. I think it is fantastic to see scientists get excited about seeing something new. So far we have seen Oceanic Sunfish (2), Redband Parrotfish, Tautog (a more northerly found fish), Longsnout Butterflyfish and one fish species that we have not identified yet. There is an emphasis on Lionfish counts to assist in gauging how the introduction of this invasive species is affecting the overall fish populations. In some areas the Lionfish numbers have increased dramatically over the years. Today we actually saw one try to eat a smaller fish! They are very abundant in some locations and not in others but they have been present in 95% of our dives.

A Speckled Hind seen inside the North Florida MPA.

A Warsaw Grouper seen inside the North Florida MPA.

Stacey Harter, LT JG Heather Moe and I watching the big monitor and calling out the fish that we are seeing to be recorded.

(2) Survey outside of the MPAs.

You may ask “Why survey outside the area?” We want to know if the MPAs are indeed doing what they were designed to do: protect fish species. That was very evident in Jacksonville where the numbers and size of Gag Grouper and Scamp far exceeded the numbers and size outside the MPA.

Andy David recording for the ROV video log species of fish we are seeing on the dive.

(3) Survey new sites for possible MPA designation.

There is a process that is followed when determining if an area is a suitable MPA candidate. What we are doing on this cruise is both mapping and surveying new areas that have been proposed as MPA sites. This is the ground level stage. The MPAs in the region that we are in are ultimately determined by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council.

A Gray Triggerfish protecting a nest of eggs. Seen in the Edisto MPA as well as in a proposed site off of North Carolina.

Data during the dives is collected in a few ways. There are several video monitors that we watch and we call out species that we see. A data keyboard, like the one Harbor Branch uses for invertebrates counts, is used to keep track of types and number of each species seen. During every dive a video from the camera on the ROV is recorded and species are highlighted and recorded on to the DVD. This data will be analyzed thoroughly back at the lab and then sent to the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council.

Personal Log

I am happy to announce that I have finally gotten my sea legs. It wasn’t as bad as I had envisioned but I was definitely concerned that it would be a major issue. We had some weather on Thursday, July 4 and that was the worst of it for me. I now hardly feel the vessel move. It has been fun over the past several days. We are in the lab most of the days so we only get to really see the crew at mealtimes and after dinner. The crew, from the CO to the engineers, are all great people. They are happy to answer questions, point you in the right direction and are quick to say hi and ask you about your day. Yesterday afternoon one of the engineers, Steve, gave us a tour of the engine room. All of the ship’s infrastructure is supported by this room. The engines run the generators for power, support the a/c, house the desalination filters (all the fresh water on board comes from salt water) as well as getting the boat from point A to point B. I was impressed!

One of the 4 Caterpillar engines that keep Pisces running ship shape.

Today after our last ROV dive, a school of Mahi mahi followed it (the ROV) up to the surface. The fishing was on! The crew brought out rods, reels and bait and the fishing commenced. Collectively we managed to land one bull or male and 2 smaller Mahi mahi. It was a nice diversion for all of us, scientists and crew, as we were back to work all too quickly. Fish tacos for dinner!

Fair weather and calm seas.

Jennifer

Did you know that…

Some grouper can grow to be so huge that when they open their mouths to feed, they create a suction that is powerful enough to inhale small prey.