NOAA Teacher at Sea Elizabeth Nyman Assigned to NOAA Ship Pisces May 28 – June 7, 2013
Mission: Reef Fish Survey Geographical Area of Cruise: Florida Date: May 21, 2013
Me, with a map of Reykjavik, Iceland
Hi everyone! My name is Elizabeth Nyman, and I just finished my first year as an assistant professor of political science at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. UL Lafayette is a public university with about 16,000 students, located in a region with twin claims to fame: a center for Acadiana/Cajun culture (and food!) and the heart of the Louisiana offshore oil industry. Ocean resources are very important to southwestern Louisiana, both living and mineral. My students and their families live near or in some cases on the water; their favorite places to vacation are the beaches on Florida’s panhandle.
I have been teaching undergraduates since 2007, mostly courses on international relations and comparative politics. All professors have to have their own areas of arcane specialization, and mine is international maritime law and conflict. I do research and teach about maritime piracy, island tourism and sustainable development, and international maritime treaties like the Safety of Life at Sea, written to protect future ship passengers after the sinking of the Titanic.
I tell people I have the best career in the world, and when they hear more about what I do, most people agree. I got my Ph.D. in political science from Florida State University, in Tallahassee, FL, about two hours drive from where I grew up in Jacksonville, FL. The first week of graduate school, I was supposed to find a topic for my First Year Paper, a sort of mini-thesis designed to throw us into the world of high level research. I sat through hours of my professors talking about what they did, and doodled in the margins of my notebook. One doodle said “international conflicts over oceans?” and that became the topic of my paper.
(See, I was paying attention! Honest!)
For my dissertation, I received a grant to study an international fishery dispute between the Caribbean island states of Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago. It wasn’t much money, but I was a grad student and thus very, very skilled at living on nothing. And I wanted to spend as much time in the Caribbean as possible. Other students were talking about their plans for dissertation research, visiting archives in major cities or traveling to presidential libraries. And strangely enough, people who had always wondered why anyone would care about international ocean politics suddenly wished they’d chosen that as a topic.
The fact that this was two blocks away from where I stayed had nothing to do with their change of opinion, I’m sure. 🙂
But make no mistake, ocean politics are serious business. I don’t need to convince my students of that – they know the economics behind offshore drilling, as well as what happens when things go wrong. They know how much the region known for its seafood depends on shrimp and other fisheries. The resources of the ocean are big business, and sustain livelihoods across the state and across America.
Thing is, fish don’t stay in one place, and today’s American fishing vessels compete with others around the world to catch fish as they dart in and out of national waters. Fish that are unfortunately running out, according to the FAO– about 30% of the world’s marine fish are being overfished, meaning that more are being caught than are being born to replace them. Another 57% are being caught at capacity, or about as many are caught as are born to replace them.
Fish, fish, everywhere…for now. (Picture courtesy of National Geographic)
Now, I’m no biologist, and one of the things that has always been a mystery to me is how we know what we know about fish populations. We know that close to 90% of the world’s fish are being caught at or above capacity – but how do we know what “capacity” is? How do we know if a population is in decline?
I applied for the Teacher at Sea program because I wanted to be able to answer questions like this. My students are intelligent and curious, and I usually get asked about the science behind the policies at least once a semester. I talk to them about NOAA and the work they do, but I wanted the opportunity to experience it for myself. It’s one thing to read about research, and another thing to understand it by taking part in it. I am excited that I get the chance to have this experience, and will be able to better bridge the gap between understanding the science and understanding the policies.
I am fortunate enough to be assigned to the Pisces, a ship involved in fisheries research off the coast of my home state of Florida. The Atlantic and the Gulf are my waters, in a sense, where I have lived and worked for almost my entire life, and these are our fish. They belong to all of us, those who live on the coast and those who only come for a visit. I can’t wait to learn more about them, to finally fill in the scientific gaps in my knowledge.
NOAA Teacher at Sea
Marian Wagner Aboard R/V Savannah August 16 — 26, 2011
Mission: Reef Fish Survey Geographical Area: Atlantic Ocean (Off the Georgia and Florida Coasts) Date: Tuesday, August 23, 2011
A Fine Bunch to Live with at Sea: Front: Katie Rowe (Scientist), Sarah Goldman (Scientist Watch Chief, Night), Stephen Long (Scientist), Warren Mitchell (Lead Scientist). Middle: Marian Wagner (Teacher-at-Sea), Shelly Falk (Scientist), Christina Schobernd (Scientist, Video). Back: John Bichy (Marine Technician), Richard Huguley (Engineer), Harry Carter (2nd Mate), Raymond Sweatte (Captain), Michael Richter (1st Mate), David Berrane (Scientist Watch Chief, Day), Mike Burton (Scientist). Missing: Joel Formby (Master of the Galley)
Weather Data from the Bridge (the wheelhouse, where the controls of the ship are)
E-NE Wind at 10 knots (This means wind is travelling 10 nautical miles per hour,
1.15 statute miles = 1 nautical mile)
Sea depth where we traveled today ranged from 33 meters to 74 meters
Seas 2-4 feet (measure of the height of the back of the waves, lower the number = calmer seas and steadier boat)
Science and Technology Log
IRENE: On Tuesday evening, we discussed the impact of Hurricane Irene on our cruise plans, and scientists and crew needed to make a decision about when we should return to dock. Originally, the plan was to return in the morning on Friday, August 26, but due to projections of Irene, they predicted that the seas would be too rough for us to lay traps beyond Wednesday (8/24). When the seas are too rough, the traps bounce around and cameras do not pick up a steady, reliable picture. When seas get to be 6-7 feet+ on a boat the size of the R/VSavannah (92 feet long), it also makes our work (and life) on the boat very difficult. Additionally, with Irene’s landfall projected in North Carolina, where half of the scientists live, they would need to get home in time to secure their homes and potentially evacuate. Not in the case of Irene, but if a hurricane was expected to hit Savannah/Skidaway, where the boat moors, the ship’s crew would need to prepare for a hurricane-mooring. To do this, they would run the ship up the Savannah River and put on a navy anchor that weighs 3,000 pounds. Even with the use of the electric crane, it’s not an easy task to pull a 3,000 pound anchor onboard. This would not be done unless a direct hit to the area was expected. It has been done once before to the Savannahin the 10 years of her existence. The forecast did not project Savannah to be affected by Irene, so we did not need to prepare for a hurricane mooring.
After difficult deliberation on Tuesday night about hurricane Irene’s potential Category (see how hurricanes are ranked here), and considering the success of the research accomplished on the trip already, scientists decided the most practical and reasonable decision was to dock Tuesday night, unpack Wednesday morning, and allow North Carolina scientists to return to their homes by Wednesday night. (From reports I received post-Irene, there was landfall of the hurricane eye over their houses, but the storm weakened between Wednesday night and Saturday and was Category 1 when it came ashore. None of them sustained significant loss. Many downed trees and three days without power, but no floods or structure damage. Phew!)
NOAA’s National Weather Service is the sole official voice of the U.S. government for issuing warnings during life-threatening weather situations. Follow Seattle’s “Weather Story” at NOAA’s National Weather Service.
OUR RESEARCH PROCESS…A STORY CONCLUDED
Here on my final blog entry, I want to finish the story of our research process. Here’s the story I’ve told so far, in outline form:
research begins with baiting fish traps and attaching cameras, and we stand-by on deck
when we arrive at a research location with reef fish habitat (as observed via depth sounder and GPS), we drop the trap to the bottom and it sits for 90 minutes; buoys float above each trap so we can find and retrieve them near where traps were deployed, we run the Conductivity, Temperature, and Depth Profiler (CTD) to get information about abiotic conditions at each sampling site. The CTD takes vertical water column profiles, measuring: Pressure, Temperature, Conductivity/Salinity, Chlorophyll fluorometer, Color dissolved organic matter fluorometer (CDOM), Photosynthetic Active Radiation (PAR), Backscatter, Dissolved oxygen, and Transmissometer -10 and 25 cm path lengths
after 90 minutes have passed, we return to the traps and pick them up, and secure the fish caught
we identify each fish, measure length, weight, and frequency (how many fish were caught), and then keep the fish that our research is targeting
in the wet lab, we dissect target fish, removing parts of fish that are sent back to the lab for further research
AT THIS POINT, WE ARE DONE with our research with the bodies of the fish, but we have 99% OF THE FISH’S BODY LEFT! What should we do?
I was very impressed with the compassionate and humane action the scientists do with the fish after research. Scientific research guidelines don’t dictate what a research study should do with edible fish flesh. We could have just discarded fish back into the ocean. However, scientists see an opportunity to provide food to people in need of nutritional support in our communities, and they coordinated with a regional food bank in Savannah to do just that. Despite the work and time it takes to process the fish for donation, it did not seem to be considered a burden at all by any of the scientists.
I am perfecting my fillet!Fresh fish fillets ready for food bank distribution
To process the fish for donation, we cut fish into fillets, wrap the fillets in butcher paper, and freeze them onboard the ship.
When we reached land, Warren
contacted the regional food bank, who came out to the dock with a refrigerated truck to pick up fish. Within a few days the fish was distributed through charitable organizations in the region to people who were most in need.
These scientists are not just natural scientists but social scientists too! (just as I fancy myself!)
Personal Log
Captain Raymond Sweatte and First Mate Michael Richter
Interview with Raymond Sweatte, captain of R/V Savannah
Marian: What makes a good crew?
Raymond: A crew that sees things that need to be done and does them because they know it all goes smoother when they do.
M: Have you ever run into or had a close call running into another ship?
Raymond: No, but the closest I came was when I was passing under the bridge at the Skidaway when a barge was coming through at the same time. Because it was easier for me to maneuver, I pulled over to side to let the barge use the majority of the channel. But the barge stayed on my side of the channel and was coming right at me. My boat was leaning upon the bank so there was no where for me to go. I got him on the horn and asked, “What’s going on?” He pulled over right away. He was new and very apologetic.
M: Have you ever been in a terrible storm before?
Raymond: A few times we’ve had 15-16 foot seas coming back from the Gulf. When you have a north wind at 35 knots [strong wind coming from the North] and north-going current opposing the wind, the seas get very rough. Waves were coming up over the ship. [picture Marian’s eyes VERY wide at this point in the conversation] When seas are really rough, you get lifted up out of bed and down again. I remember trying to sleep one night in rough seas when my head kept hitting against the wall, so I turned around so my feet were up hitting against the wall.
M: What were things like before radar, satellite, and so many electronic navigation tools
you use today?
Raymond: Things were not as accurate. Communication was on a single sideband, navigation was with Loran-C, though VHF radio was somewhat the same as now. To follow ships and determine their speed we had radar on dash but we had to use an eye cup we looked into to correlate with the radar, and then go over to the chart to plot them. Then, we did it again six minutes later and multiplied by 10 to find their speed. Now we have an automatic identification system [we can click on a ship on the radar] that tells us where they are, who they are, where they came from, where they are going, and what they are doing.
M: What are the right-of-ways when vessels are crossing paths; who moves when two vessels are in course to collide?
Raymond: [On ships, aircraft and piloted spacecraft] a red light is on the left or port side of the craft and a green is on the right or starboard side. When two vessels have crossing paths, each will see a red or green light. If you’re looking at another vessel’s port side you see red, and it’s his right-of-way. If you are on their starboard side, you see the green light, and the right is yours.
Also, right-of-way rules give priority to vessels with the most difficulty maneuvering. The ranks in right-of-way, starting with the highest are:
1)Not under command
2)Restricted in ability to maneuver
3)Constrained by draft (stay away from shallower water to avoid running aground)
4)Fishing
5)Sail
6)Power
7)Sea Plane
Remember this mnemonic: New Reels Catch Fish So Purchase Some.
M: Who’s easier to talk to, a Navy Sub Captain or a Coast Guard Helicopter Pilot?
Raymond: I don’t have a problem talking with any of them. Coast Guard generally would call you first. Navy sub pilots I’ve found to be very cordial. They have changed their course when we had traps out.
M: What message would you say to students interested in being a captain?
Raymond: All kids have to follow their own heart. If they like water and this environment, they should follow their heart and become a captain.
Thank you Captain Raymond! It was a genuine pleasure to talk to you and experience life at sea under your command and with such a stellar crew. It is no wonder you are revered by everyone you work with. Read more about Captain Raymond Sweatte in the Savannah Morning News!
The powerful significance of this trip for me was that I did not just study a science lesson from a book or lab, but I was essentially given a chance to live a different life, that of a fisheries field biologist. I did not dabble in the work; it was a full explosion into the curiosities, reasonings, and daily routines of working with live fish and fish guts while sharing friendship, humor and stories with scientists and crew aboard a boat that was a small bounded island of rich human culture within a vast ocean of life and scientific questions waiting to be answered. I loved it. If only I didn’t love teaching more…I could definitely live that life. Thanks NOAA, thanks NC SEFIS folks, thanks SC DNR folks, and thanks Skidaway Institute of Oceanography folks. You are all in my heart and in my classroom!
FASCINATING EXTRAS!
Flying fish!
At night especially, when looking out at the seascape, I noticed flying, bug-looking specimens scurrying out of and into the ocean’s surface. WHAT WERE THEY?! I wondered. So I asked and learned they were FLYING FISH! A few of them flew right up on the vessel’s work deck. Their wings are modifications of the pectoral fins. They are so fascinating and their coloring was greenish/blue iridescence, a stunningly beautiful color!
RED SNAPPER: PROTECTED STATUS
“The Gulf and South Atlantic red snapper populations are currently at very low levels (overfished), and both red snapper populations are being harvested at too high a rate (overfishing).” See more where this quote came from at Fish Watch: US Seafood Facts.
It was clear to me how significant the concern for the red snapper population was when I learned that funding for this fisheries survey was drastically increased following the recent determination that red snapper were overfished and overfishing was occurring. Fisheries managers, field biologists and members of the general public all want to see the red snapper population improve. This cruise provided scientific data that will be useful when the status of the U.S. South Atlantic red snapper population is assessed again.
The lionfish's spines are so poisonous the only way to hold them is placing fingers in their mouths.
History of measuring speed in NAUTICAL MILES:
Wonder how a vessel’s speed was measured hundreds of years ago? Log Lines, knotted ropes with a log tied to one end and knots every nautical mile and one-tenth of a nautical mile, were tossed off the end of the ship while the knotted rope unraveled behind it. When the sand on a minute sand glass ran out, the rope was reeled back in and the knots counted to determine ship’s speed in knots-per-minute.
LIONFISH: INVASIVE SPECIES
In its native waters of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, the lionfish population is not a problem. There it has natural predators and natural parasites to keep it from overpopulating, yet it can survive well enough to maintain a healthy sustainable population. However, in the Caribbean waters and along the Eastern Coast of the United States, the lionfish has recently been introduced, and the effects are alarming. “Lionfish have the potential to become the most disastrous marine invasion in history by drastically reducing the abundance of coral reef fishes and leaving behind a devastated ecosystem.” See more where this quote came from at NOAA’s research on invasive lionfish here. In the U.S. south Atlantic, they consume large quantities of reef fish and have no natural predators or parasites. Their population is thriving in large numbers, and it is devastating other fish species. Mark Hixon, Oregon State University zoology professor, co-authored a study in 2008 with Mark Albins that showed “a lionfish can kill three-quarters of a reef’s fish population in just five weeks.” Read NPR story here. This is a cool way to view an environmental problem: see this animated map of the lionfish invasion! Red Snapper
NOAA Teacher at Sea
Heather Haberman Onboard NOAA Ship Oregon II July 5 — 17, 2011
Mission: Groundfish Survey
Geographical Location: Northern Gulf of Mexico
Date: Saturday, July 16, 2011
Weather Data from NOAA Ship Tracker Air Temperature: 28.5 C (83 F)
Water Temperature: 27.2 C (81 F)
Relative Humidity: 82%
Wind Speed: 9.58 knots
Preface: Scroll down the page if you would like to read my blog in chronological order. If you have any questions leave them for me at the end of the post.
Science and Technology Log
Question of the day: When I view your travels aboard the Oregon II on NOAA’s Ship Tracker website it looks as though you go as far as the continental shelf and then turn back towards the shore again. Why don’t you go into the deep water?
Our groundfish survey course.
Answer: If you were studying animals in the rainforest you would want to make sure to stay in that specific area. You wouldn’t want to include Arctic animals in your report which are from a completely different biome. The same goes for ocean life. As depth, temperature, and amount of light change in the ocean so do the habitats and the animals that live in them. On this groundfish survey we are focusing on offshore species that live in “shallow” waters up to 60 fathoms (361 feet). If we were to go out into the deep water then our reports wouldn’t be as accurate.
Topic of the Day: Science
What is science? Can you come up with a good definition? Difficult isn’t it. There are many definitions that refer to science as the study of the natural world, systematic knowledge, etc. but something that’s often left out of the definition is that it can be used to make predictions.
We have all been conducting scientific experiments since we were old enough to formulate questions about our environment: “Will this ball bounce?”, “Can I get it to bounce higher?”, “Will ball #1 bounce higher than ball #2?” The knowledge we have collected from these experiments allow us to make accurate predictions. “I think ball #2 would be better for playing tennis than ball #1.” Now keep in mind, the more we know about a subject, the better our predictions will be.
Did you know that the ocean covers over 70% of the Earth’s surface but more than 95% of it remains unexplored. This means we have a lot to learn if we want to accurately predict the relationships between the ocean, the atmosphere and the living things on our planet. To address these gaps in our knowledge, thousands of people working for the government, universities and private industries, are trying to collect the information we need to make the most accurate predictions possible. Perhaps by expanding our knowledge we will be better equipped to formulate some solutions to the problems we have created in the seas such as pollution (particularly plastics), climate change and overfishing. These issues are drastically changing oceanic ecosystems which in turn affect the life on our planet.
The beautiful Pacific Ocean. Image: Universe TodayA new venture into deep ocean exploration. Image: ZD Net
One thing that sets science apart from other arenas is that is it based on verifiable evidence. We are not talking about video footage of bigfoot or pictures of UFO’s here, we are talking about evidence that is easily confirmed by further examination or research. I don’t think many people consider all of the expertise that goes into collecting this kind of scientific data–it’s not just scientists.
Not all evidence is verifiable.
Onboard the Oregon II there are engineers that make sure the ship and all its parts are functional, skilled fishermen that operate the cranes and trawling equipment, officers from the NOAA Corps that navigate and assist the captain in commanding the ship, cooks that feed a hungry crew and the scientists. Conducting scientific research is a team effort that requires a variety of skilled personnel.
NOAA Corps member Ensign Brian Adornado with a nautical chart that's used for navigating our ships course.
Too often people underestimate the amount of time and labor that actually goes into collecting the information we have about our planet and its inhabitants. In fact, many people dismiss scientific evidence as unimportant and trivial when in actuality it is based on the most technologically advanced methods that are available. Scientific data, and conclusions derived from the data, are peer-reviewed (looked at by others in the field) before it is published or presented to the general public.
This is why it is so important to take heed to the reports about the changes taking place in the ocean’s waters. Without the data from NASA’s satellites in the sky, NOAA’s ships on the sea and other sources too numerous to mention, we wouldn’t know the extent of the damage that’s being done to the ocean.
Chlorophyll concentrations in the ocean. Image: NASA satellite SeaWIFS
NOAA’s Teacher at Sea program has clearly demonstrated how good science is done. I experienced first hand the importance of random sampling, scientific classification of organisms, repeating trials to ensure the accuracy of results, team work, safety, publishing data for the public to review and always having backup equipment. I’m looking forward to sharing these experiences with my students. Thank you NOAA!
Personal log:
My time aboard the Oregon II is coming to an end. We have finished up our last stations and cleaned up the workrooms. Now its back to Pascagoula, Mississippi. It has been a wonderful experience! For those of you that are wondering what I did each day on the ship it was pretty routine.
9:00 AM : Go to the galley for some juice and coffee. Hot breakfast ends at 8:00 AM but they always have cereal and fresh fruit to eat. In the galley there are two tables that each seat six people. At the end of each table is a small TV so we can watch the news, our anything else that happens to be on DirectTV.
This is a picture of my room. I have the bottom bunk and my roommate sleeps on the top. The curtains are very nice for privacy since we work different shifts.There is a bathroom (head) that my roommate and I share with our two neighbors. Each room has its own entry door to the bathroom.This is the galley where all of our meals are served. It's also stocked with lots of yummy snacks and drinks!
9:30 AM: After some coffee, juice and conversation I head upstairs to the lounge so I can check my e-mail and work on my blog. The lounge has some comfortable seats, a big TV, lots of 8mm movies, two computers for the fishermen, and an internet cord for laptops. Usually David, the ornithologist (bird scientist), is here working when I arrive so we usually chat for a while.
This is the lounge.
11:00 AM: Lunch time! everyday the chefs make amazing food for us to eat. They’ve served bbq ribs, prime rib, turkey, quail, crab cakes, shrimp, mahi-mahi, ham, crab legs, pork loin, steaks and lots of other amazing side dishes and desserts. Both chefs are retired from the Navy where they were also cooks.
12:00 noon: Head to the dry lab to start my shift. At the start of every shift Brittany, our team leader, writes down all of the stations we will be going to as well as how many miles it takes to get there.
This is the "dry lab" where we spend our time waiting for the next trawl or plankton station. In this room there are computers dedicated to navigation, depth imagery and fisheries data.
5:00 PM: Supper time! Back to the galley for some more excellent food!
12:00 midnight: Night crew comes in to relieve us from our 12 hour shift. I quietly enter my room so I don’t wake up my roommate and hit the shower. Then it’s to the rack (my bunk bed) with some ear plugs to block out the sounds of the engine. The slow rocking of the waves makes a person fall asleep quickly after a long day at work.
NOAA Teacher at Sea Kathleen Harrison Aboard NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson July 4 — 22, 2011
Location: Gulf of Alaska Mission: Walleye Pollock Survey Date: July 15, 2011
Weather Data from the Bridge True Wind Speed: 34 knots, True Wind Direction: 284.43
Sea Temperature: 10.02° C, Air Temperature: 11.34° C
Air Pressure: 1014.97 mb
Latitude: 56.12° N, Longitude: 152.51° W
Sunny, Clear, Windy, 10 foot swells
Ship speed: 10 knots, Ship heading: 60°
Science and Technology Log
The Walleye Pollock is an important economic species for the state of Alaska. It is the fish used in fish sticks, fish patties, and other processed fish products. Every year, 1 million tons of Pollock are processed in Alaska, making it the largest fishery in the United States by volume. The gear used to catch Pollock is a mid-water trawl, which does not harm the ocean floor, and hauls are mostly Pollock, so there is very little bycatch.
A sample of pollock that the Oscar Dyson caught for scientific study. A "drop" in a very large "ocean" of pollock industry.
Although Pollock fishermen would like to make as much money as they can, they have to follow fishing regulations, called quotas, that are set each year by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (NPFMC). The quotas tell the fishermen how many tons of pollock they can catch and sell, as well as the fish size, location, and season. The NOAA scientists on board NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson have an important role to play in helping the NPFMC determine what the quotas are, based on the biomass they calculate.
The quotas are set in order to prevent overfishing. Pollock reproduce and grow quickly, which makes them a little easier to manage. When fishing is uncontrolled, the number of fish becomes too low, and the population can’t sustain itself. Imagine being the lone human in the United States, and you are trying to find another human, located in Europe, only you don’t know if he is there, and all you have is your voice for communication, and your feet for traveling. This is what happens when fish numbers are very low– it is hard for them to find each other.
There are many situations where uncontrolled fishing has cost the fishermen their livelihood. For example, in the early 1900s, the Peruvian Anchovy was big business in the Southeast Pacific Ocean. Over 100 canneries were built, and hundreds of people were employed.
This graph shows how the Peruvian Anchovy catch rose to record heights in 1970, then collapsed in 1972. This could have been prevented by effective fishery management.
Scientists warned the fishermen in the 1960s that if they didn’t slow down, the anchovies would soon be gone. The industry was slow to catch on, and the anchovy industry crashed in 1972. The canneries closed, and many people lost their jobs. This was an important lesson to commercial fishermen everywhere.
The Walleye Pollock (Theragra chalchogramm) is a handsome fish, about 2 feet long, and greyish – brown. Most fishermen consider him the “dog” food of fish, since he pales in comparison to the mighty (and tasty) salmon. Nonetheless, Pollock are plentiful, easy to catch, and thousands of children the world over love their fish sticks.
Besides calculating biomass, there are 2 other studies going on with the Pollock and other fish in the catch. Scientists back at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center (AFSC) in Seattle are interested in how old the fish are, and this can be determined by examining the otoliths.
Here are 2 otoliths from a pollock. The one on the left shows the convex surface, the other shows the concave surface.
These are 2 bones in the head of a fish that help with hearing, as well as balance. Fish otoliths are enlarged each year with a new layer of calcium carbonate and gelatinous matrix, called annuli, and counting the annuli tells the scientists the age of the fish. Not only that, with sophisticated chemical techniques, migration pathways can be determined. Amazing, right? The otoliths are removed from the fish, and placed in a vial with preservative. The scientists in Seattle eagerly await the return of the Oscar Dyson, so that they can examine the new set of otoliths. By keeping track of the age of the fish, the scientists can see if the population has a healthy distribution of different ages, and are reproducing at a sustainable rate.
Another ongoing study concerning the Pollock, and any other species of fish that are caught during the Pollock Survey, deals with what the fish eat.
A pollock stomach is put into a fabric bag, which will be placed in preservative. Scientists at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center will study the contents to determine what the fish had for lunch.
Stomachs are removed from a random group of fish, and placed into fabric bags with an ID tag. These are placed into preservative, and taken to Seattle. There, scientists will examine the stomach contents, and determine what the fish had for lunch.
Personal Log
I learned about fishing boundaries, or territorial seas, today. In the United States, there is a 12-mile boundary from the shore marked on nautical charts. Inside this boundary, the state determines what the rules about fishing are. How many of each species can be kept, what months of the year fishing can occur, and what size fish has to be thrown back. Foreign ships are allowed innocent passage through the territorial seas, but they are not allowed to fish or look for resources. Outside of that is the Economic Exclusion Zone (EEZ) which is 200 miles off shore. The EEZ exists world-wide, with the understanding among all international ships, that permits are required for traveling or fishing through an EEZ that does not belong to the ship’s native country.
Everyone was tired at the end of the day, just walking across the deck requires a lot more energy when there are 10-foot swells. Check out this video for the rolling and pitching of the ship today.
NOAA Teacher at Sea Obed Fulcar NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson July 27, 2010 – August 8, 2010
Mission:Summer Pollock survey III Geograpical Area:Bering Sea, Alaska Date: August 7, 2010
Weather from the Bridge:
Time:04:42 am Latitude:61.04 North Longitude:178.06 West Wind Speed:10.74 knots Wind Direction:50 degrees North Sea Temperature:8.99 C (48.02 F) Air Temperature:8.2 C (46.76 F) Barometric Pressure: 1010.1 millibars Cloudy Skies
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY LOG:
Me with a pollock
Friday, July 23: The Walleye Pollock survey has been conducted since 1979, every summer by MACE (Midwater Assessment and Conservation Engineering) part of the Alaska Fisheries Science center (AFSC). The sea was quite calm compared to the last days, giving us a break from sea sickness. The other day I missed the trawl, but I will not today. As soon as we saw the fish in the Acoustic sonar screens I knew it was trawling time, so I ran up to the bridge to witness the whole thing. The started deploying an Aleutian Wind Trawler or AWT net that was attached to a giant winch with huge ropes and chains. The long net had a front orange section with smaller openings compared to the back. I was invited to come to deck by deckhand Buddy Gould. He is a veteran New england fisherman from Rhode Island, now living in Florida.
Buddy Gould
I asked permission from Commanding Officer CO Mike Hashlyck , and went on deck wearing a PFD, and a hard hat. After trawling the net behind the ship for what felt like an eternity, it was finally hauled back, the catch of Pollock was then spilled into a box leading to the wet labfor slicing and dicing. I went inside an put on rain boots, a plastic jacket and a jumpsuit, plus elbow high plastic glove and got down to slice and measure Pollock. While sorting out the fish we found a Pacific Flounder and a Rock sole fish, both flat bottom fish. For the next several days while conducting the survey, I kept dissecting the content of the stomachs of everal fish to find out what they have been eating. I learned that the main diet of Pollock was made up of animal plankton called Euphasiids, also known as krill.
Krill
These small organisms are arthropods or segmented invertebr ates (without internal skeleton), and just like shrimps, and crabs, their bodies are covered by an exoskeletonor shell, with paired antennae, pincers, and legs. They were present in the stomach of all the specimens in a pink color mass. There was one large maturity level 4/5 Pollock that when I opened its stomach, a large Northen Pacific shrimp came out of it. Then in later catches I observed that all the stomachs were very dark-blue looking. When I opened the stomach of one fish there was a dark purple mass of another arthropod called Pelagic amphipods, or sea fleas. Amphipods swim drifting in the water column and are larger than euphasiids or krill, wich instead formed massive swarms swimming at great depths by day but heading to suface by night. I was able to witness this pattern when once the echogram from the acoustic radar showed a swarm of krill drifting from the surface to the bottom as the sun was rising.
Pelagic amphipods
Animal Species observed:
Arrowtooth Flounder (Atheresthes stomias), Northern Rock Sole fish (Lepidopsetta polyxystra), Northern Pacifi Shrimp
I realized that this tiny organism (the krill) is crucial for the survival not only of many animals in the ocean, but ultimately of us humans. We have historically harvested the rich waters of the Bering Sea for food, and most recently as a source of cheap protein to feed cattle and even pets. Disasters such as the recent massive oil spill from the tracgic explosion of the Deep Horizon oil platform, own by giant multinational BP, and the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska during the 80’s are examples of how fragile the marine ecosystem is. But the number one threat to ocean fisheries is actually overfishing exploitation of the ocean resources. I heard stories about the foreign fleets that come to Russian waters and overfish with impunity, while at the same time processing, canning, and packing all their catch aboard their ships, taking it all back to their countries, without sharing any jobs opportunities with the local communities. Historically local fishing fleets have fished sustainably, bringing back to local ports the catch, allowing canneries, and fish markets to also benefit from it. We have to spread the word about this injustice and begin to question our own habits, to see what can we change in our consumption that will have a positive impact in this urgent matter.
“Echando la Red en Alta Mar” El mareo de ayer no me permitio participar en la pesca del Pollock, pero no hoy! Tan pronto me entere, subi al puente para observar lo todo. Mi buen amigo del personal de cubierta, Buddy Gould pescador de Rhode Island radicado en la Florida, me invito a bajar a cubierta. Despues de ahbe asegurado permiso del Oficial Comandante Mike Holshyck, baje a la cubierta con chaleco flotador y casco de seguridad a cuestas. La anaranjada Red de Arrastre fue lanzada al mar por unos gigantescos rollos de cables y cadenas pesadas. Luego de lo que parecio una eternidad, la red fue traida a bordo y la pesca fue depositada en una rampa en la cubierta por una grua pesada. Yo fui adentro rapidamente y me vesti con guantes, poncho, pantalones, y botas de plastico y me puse las manos a la obra: a picar los pescados! Durante el proceso note que los estomagos de los pescados cambiaron de color rosado a color purpura. El contenido de los estomagos incluia un plankton-animal llamado Euphasiid o Krill, un artropodo (invertebrados parecidos al camaron y el cangrejo), asi como otro llamadoAmphipods, los cuales constituyen la dieta primaria de especies de peces como el Pollock, y el Salmon, asi como de las ballenas jorobadas. El krill no solo es primordial para estas especies marinas sino para la raza humana, que depende de las reservas alimenticias del Estrecho de Bering como gran fuente de proteina. Es lamentable que este fragil recurso natural no sea celosamente cuidado, cuando vemos como el desastre del derrame de la Plataforma Petrolera Deep Horizon en el Golfo de Mexico, y en los 80’s del Exxon Valdez en Alaska, puede facilmente hacer desaparecer la pesqueria. Pero el enemigo numero uno de este recurso natural es realmente la pesca desmedida por parte de flotas pequeras extranjeras que viene a las aguas del Estrecho de Bering, pescando indiscriminadamente. Estos barcos no solo pescan, si no que procesan y empaquetan todo a bordo sin dejar si quiera oportunidad a las comunidades locales de participar del beneficio sostenido. Tenemos que hacer eco de esta injusticia y autoanalizar nuestros habitos a fin de ver que podemos cambiar para poder hacer un impacto positivo.
