red grouper – NOAA Teacher at Sea Blog

July 21, 2019July 22, 2019

David Madden: Immersed in the Seascape July 18, 2019

NOAA Teacher at Sea
David Madden: July 18th, 2019

On board off the coast of North Carolina – about 35 miles east of Cape Fear, 40 miles south of Jacksonville, NC. (33º50’ N, 77º15’W)

Mission: South East Fisheries Independent Survey

Geographic Area of Cruise: Atlantic Ocean, SE US continental shelf ranging from Cape Hatteras, NC (35°30’ N, 75°19’W) to St. Lucie Inlet, FL (27°00’N, 75°59’W)

Here’s our location from the other day, courtesy of windy.com. And here is a good Gulf Stream explanation from our friends at NOAA:

Date: July 19, 2019

Science and Technology Log

Being at sea has got me thinking; about life at sea, the lives and careers of the men and women on board, and about the marine organisms around us. Pause there for a minute. Nature’s beauty and abundance on land is readily seen, so long as you travel to the right location and you’re patient. The ocean, however, hides its multitudes beneath the waves. I’ve found myself drawn to the ocean my whole life, and here on the cruise, I am drawn to staring at and contemplating the ocean and its life – the great hidden beneath. You know the stats: the earth is covered by ~70% water, the deep ocean has been explored less than outer space, the ocean is warming and turning more acidic, etc. I’m not saying that you and I don’t already know these things. I’m only saying that you feel them differently when you are in the ocean, when you are immersed for days in the seascape.

The goal is this cruise is to survey fish. (SEFIS = Southeast Fisheries Independent Survey). The science crew repeats a similar protocol each day of the cruise. It looks something like this:

Chief scientist, Zeb Schobernd, determines the site locations using NOAA sea floor maps.
The science team (broken into day and night shifts) baits six traps with menhaden fish bait, and starts the two GoPros that are attached to the traps.
The Pisces crew then deploys the traps, 1-6, at pre-determined locations (see step 1). They do this by sliding them off the back of the ship. Traps are attached to buoys for later pick up.
Wait for around 75 minutes.
Pisces Senior Survey Technician, Todd Walsh, along with crew members, Mike and Junior, drop the CTD [Conductivity, Temperature, Depth] probe. See picture below.

*Stay tuned for a video chronicling this process.

6. After ~75 min, NOAA Corps officers drive back to retrieve the traps, in the order they were dropped. (1-6)

7. Crew members Mike and Junior, along with scientists, collect the fish in the trap and sort them by species.

8. All fish are measured for weight and length.

9. Depending on the species, some fish contribute further information, most notably, their otoliths (to determine age) and a sample of reproductive organs to determine maturity.

10. Rinse and repeat, four times each day, for the length of the cruise.

I mostly work with the excellent morning crew.

The most excellent and experienced morning crew.

Mike and Junior, running the CTD, and supporting their favorite NFL teams.

Here’s a view into yesterday’s fish count – more fish and more kinds of fish:

Here is a view off the back of the boat, called the stern, where the traps are dropped.

On Wednesday the GoPros on one of the fish traps collected footage of a friendly wandering tiger shark. Our camera technician, Mike Bollinger, using his stereo video technique, determined the size of the shark to be ~ 8.5 feet. I added the location’s CTD data to the picture. This is part of an upcoming video full of neat footage. See below.

Tiger Shark at 64.55 meters, footage from fish trap GoPro.

Personal Log:

Things continue to be exciting on board. My mission to film flying fish flying continues (local species unknown/not really sure; probably family: Exocoetidae). But not without some mild success! I managed to get some of ‘em flying off the port side near the bow. Man are they quick. And small. And the seas were rough. Yet I remain undeterred! Here’s a picture of me waiting and watching patiently, followed by a picture of an unlucky little flying fish who abandoned sea and was left stranded at ship. Poor little fella.

Waiting patiently for the flying fish to fly. And fly right where I was aiming and focused.

General Updates:

The seas have picked up quite a bit. Rising up to 5-6 feet. That may not seem terrifically high, but it sure does rock the ship. Good thing seas were flat at the start, allowing me to get used to life at sea.
I just saw some dolphins! Yippie! Pictures and video to come.
Though not legal, I’m dying to take a swim in these beautiful blue waters.
I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of watching the ocean. *short of being stranded at sea, I suppose. See “In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex” – a true story and great book that’s may have served as inspiration for Moby Dick. I loved the book, haven’t seen the movie. Or check out the lost at sea portions of the, hard-to-believe-it-actually-happened, “Unbroken” – great book, okay movie.

Neato Facts =

NOAA Ship Pisces won NOAA ship of the year in 2018. This is no doubt due to the most excellent crew, seen below. Congratulations!

We’ve caught a number of moray eels in the fish traps. They’re super squirmy and unfriendly. Turns out they also have pharyngeal mouth parts. Essentially a second mouth that shoots after their first one is opened. Check out this fascinating look into the morey eel’s jaw biomechanics.

Please let me know if you have any questions or comments.

August 22, 2014August 21, 2021

Stephen Tomasetti: Red Grouper and Red Tide, August 21, 2014

NOAA Teacher at Sea
Stephen Tomasetti
Aboard NOAA Ship Oregon II
August 11 – 25, 2014

Mission: Shark/Red Snapper Longline Survey
Geographical Area of Cruise: Gulf of Mexico
You can view the geographical location of the cruise here at anytime: http://shiptracker.noaa.gov
Date: Thursday, August 21, 2014

Weather Data from Bridge:
Air Temperature: 30.2 Degrees C
Water Temperature: 29.9 Degrees C
Wind Speed: 7 Knots
Barometric Pressure: 1018.7 Millibars

Science and Technology Log

On the Discovery Channel shark week ended last Sunday night, but on the ship shark week continues. We are approaching a stretch of stations that should be loaded with sharks (if they haven’t moved to other areas due to the red tide…more on that later) over the next few days so I am going to hold off on the shark post until later in the week when I’ll have compiled many more pictures for sharing. Although one of the main goals of the mission is to catch sharks (to monitor trends in population abundance) the ship is constantly, twenty four hours a day, collecting a myriad of oceanographic and weather data that is used by other scientists and organizations.

One fish that we have been catching quite frequently is red grouper, or Epinephelus morio. Typically when we catch one it is brought on board to measure its mass and length. After the measurements are taken we remove the fish’s otoliths for future age examination. Additionally, the gonads are removed to determine its sex and reproductive status.

An otolith or “ear bone” is not actually a bone at all, but rather a calcium carbonate structure located near the fish’s brain. Similar to the human inner ear, otoliths help the fish to balance and orient itself. There are three pairs of otoliths in each teleost (bony fish) but we remove the largest pair. The first time I tried I pulverized the otolith, but after some practice I can do it now (although I’d hesitate to say with ease).

The otolith contains bands that correspond to the age, much like rings of a tree trunk. Also, the shape of the otolith varies depending on the species. So if otoliths are found in the stomach of an animal that eats fish, the species it’s eating can often be determined.

The fish’s internal sexual structures, or gonads, also must be removed and saved. These structures are used to determine the sex of the fish, if it’s mature, and its current reproductive condition.

In addition to catching and studying wildlife aboard the Oregon II, a large amount of data is collected on water and weather conditions. To do so, a large, expensive piece of equipment called a “CTD”, for conductivity-temperature-depth, is lowered by a fisherman into the water until it hovers a few meters off the ocean floor. It collects data such as salinity, temperature, dissolved oxygen, water clarity, and chlorophyl concentration in real time and can be studied separately or alongside the results of the fish/shark survey.

Skilled Fisherman Chuck Godwin with the CTD

Skilled Fisherman Chuck Godwin and Fisherman Eloy Borges are two of the guys I’ve worked closely with during my time on the Oregon II. Chuck and I are pretty much from the same town in Central Florida! Chuck graduated from UF before serving in the Coast Guard for over ten years. He’s been working for NOAA for a while and after about ten minutes with him you can see why! He is fun and affable and a pleasure to be around. He makes the long days of hard work go by quickly.

Fisherman Eloy Borges worked on commercial freighters for a while before joining NOAA. He’s a laid back, diligent crew member. He’s considerate and encouraging; we work together while slinging bait and attaching the gangions to the mainline or while deploying the hi-flyers. And we bond a lot over our mutual love for Cuban food.

Fisherman Eloy Borges controlling the CTD

Personal Log:

Yesterday in between sets, the Bridge watchstanders noticed dead fish in the water everywhere. The dead fish continued for over ten miles. They were the result of red tide in the Gulf. Red tide is caused by an algal bloom, and can devastate marine life, especially near the coast. The ship stopped while a fisherman and two scientists took a smaller boat to investigate and gather samples. They filled a large bag with dead fish and wrote down the GPS coordinates, as well as the date and time, marking it FISH KILL. These samples will be reviewed back in the lab in Pascagoula. Sometimes doing science means changing your plans and adjusting to the circumstances you find yourself in.

Spending twelve hours a day, every day, with the same group of people may seem daunting, but we’ve developed a great team chemistry. The days go by fast! In between sets while we’re cruising to the next location we’ve developed a bunch of activities to keep us busy. I learned how to play Sudoku and a game called Heads Up. Additionally, I’ve begun a daily exercise routine with some of the other scientists and volunteers. The workout is a precautionary measure because I’ll put on ten pounds in two weeks with all of the excellent food we’ve been eating on this cruise (thanks Mark and Steve).

Scientist Andre Debose leading the crew in some exercises

Did You Know: Most grouper species change their sex from female to male as they age!

July 9, 2014March 18, 2021

Kevin McMahon: Fireworks, Red Grouper, and The Deepest Trap, July 7, 2014

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Kevin McMahon

Aboard the NOAA ship Pisces

July 5 – July 18, 2014

Mission: Southeast Fisheries- Independent Survey

Geographic area of the cruise: Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of North Carolina and South Carolina

Date: July 8, 2014

Weather Information from the Bridge

Air Temperature: 26.6 ° C

Relative Humidity: 70%

Wind Speed: 10.96 knots

You will notice that my blogs will now have two sections. The first section called “Science and Technology Log’” is where I will discuss our mission, the data that we are collecting and any other science-related news from our trip.

In the second section, called “Personal Log”, I will share about how it feels to be a part of this expedition and what it is like to live and work on the Pisces. I will also add a glossary at the end of each blog entry for some of the science and ship terms that might be unfamiliar to you.

Science and Technology Log

I am one of many people helping chief scientist, Nate Bacheler, collect data about the abundance of reef fish. Nate is a research fishery biologist and he coordinates the Southeast Fishery Independent Survey.

This work is exactly what you think it is. We are catching fish to collect data on how abundant the reef fish are off the southeast coast of the United States.

They use a trap called a chevron trap, to collect the fish. It gets its name from its unique shape.

Each time that the scientists deploy the fish traps, they use the same procedure. For instance, they use the same size of traps, the same number of traps, the same type of bait, the same amount of bait in each trap, and the same “soak time” in the ocean.

Most days, the traps will be deployed three times. Once the traps reach the surface, we sort the fish by species, measure their mass (in kg), and measure their length (in mm).

On some of the more important species that humans use for food, the scientists will take samples for other scientists to examine in order to determine how healthy a particular fish species is. For example, scientists remove the ear bones, called otoliths, to determine the age of the fish that was caught. Determining the age of the fish from the otoliths is like counting rings on a tree because the otoliths form growth marks each year.

So far, we have caught fish of all different shapes and sizes. On one of our first traps, we caught a red grouper that weighed 11.67 kilograms and was 881 mm long.

Today, we sent a trap that went down 102.97 meters. That was the deepest that the Southeast Fishery Independent Survey has ever deployed! We caught a scamp (which is a type of grouper), many red porgy, and a blackfin snapper. This was the first blackfin snapper that Nate has seen.

Personal Log

Wow, I have just had an amazing few days.

The night before we set off on our cruise, I was able to watch the fireworks from the bow of the boat. Even though it was July 5, the fireworks were delayed one day because of Hurricane Arthur.

The best view of the Morehead City,NC fireworks show was from the deck of the Pisces.

The morning came quickly, and, we headed out to sea.

This is my last view of land for a while!

Here are some of my initial thoughts:

I am in awe over the vastness of our ocean. I wish that I was a poet because then I could describe it a lot better. To me, it seems like we are a million of miles from the coast. Everywhere you look, you see the most beautiful blue color. I think the Crayola crayon company should create a new color in honor the ocean and call it “ocean blue” if they haven’t already created a crayon this color.

Check out the color of the ocean while the deck crew wait to deploy the next trap.

But, even though all I see is water in every direction, we are only 60.5 miles south, southeast off the coast from the Beaufort Inlet.

I also am impressed with all the collaboration that is necessary to make the mission a success. For instance, there are two different groups of scientists on the boat. One group spends the night mapping the ocean floor using multibeam sonar. They share this information with the fishery scientists early in the morning so that they can decide where to place the traps for the next day. The scientists also have to coordinate with the crew of the ship. The scientists are constantly communicating with the crew and the crew are constantly communicating with the scientists. This work could not happen with out the help of everyone on board.

I also like how everyone is conscious about safety. At school we have fire drills and tornado drills in case of emergencies. On the ship, we also have fire drills and “abandon ship” drills. Check out the picture of me in my “gumby” suit during our “abandon ship” drill. I had to go to my lifeboat location and then put on my survival suit to protect me from hypothermia in case I fell in the water in the unlikely event that we had to abandon ship. We also needed to bring a hat, a long-sleeve shirt, and long pants for the “abandon ship” drill. Why do you think we need that?

GLOSSARY OF TERMS

Bow – the front end of the ship.

Bridge – the part of the ship that is the command center. The officers navigate the ship from this location.

Hypothermia- a dangerous condition when your body temperature drops too much, usually as a result of being exposed to cold temperatures for too long.

August 25, 2013August 20, 2021

Liz Harrington: Back into Action, August 23, 2013

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. 23, 2013

Weather: current conditions from the bridge:
Partly cloudy
Lat. 29.31 °N Lon. 84.18 °W
Temp. 83 °F (28.8 °C)
Humidity 79%
Wind speed 10-15 kts
Barometer 30.03 in ( 1017.15mb)
Visibility 10 mi

Science and Technology Log:

The weather hasn’t been cooperating with us too well as we have run in to an occasional squall. It is amazing just how quickly that wind can pick up. Yesterday in the course of hauling in the line the wind increased from 18 to 34 knots (A knot is similar to mph, but it uses a nautical mile as a distance. One knot = 1.15 mph).

Red Grouper await processing. Occasionally the catch becomes the bait and we pull in half of a fish.

But the fish have been cooperating. The lull is over and the catch has increased. For the most part we are catching Red Grouper, an occasional Red Snapper and a variety of sharks. Click here to see the shark species found in the Gulf of Mexico. The majority of the sharks have been large enough to cradle. When we hear “hard hats that means it’s a big one” and our team jumps into action. Some of the sharks come up in the cradle quietly, but others come up thrashing about. They are quickly held down by the fishermen of the deck crew which keeps the sharks quiet and safe. Then the science team steps in to collect the data and insert a tag. As the cradle is lowered back down it is paused to obtain the shark’s weight. There is an electronic scale located at the top of the cradle. It is then lowered into the water and the shark swims away. I’m still amazed at how efficient the process is. The sharks are measured, tagged and weighed in a matter of just a few minutes.

There is a level of excitement when catching any of these fish and sharks, but the exceptional catch raises that level. This occurred a couple of days ago. We had something on the line and it was big – really big. Even the crew was yelling about its size. I knew it was something special. As it got closer to the boat it was identified as a huge Tiger Shark (Galeocerdo cuvier). The crane operator was bringing the cradle and the science team was getting ready when ……it was gone. It had bitten through the line. I guess there always has to be that big one that got away.

The level of excitement rose again when the next day we caught a Great Hammerhead shark (Sphyrna mokarran). Any of the larger Hammerheads or Tiger Sharks are being fitted with a satellite tag. This is attached to their dorsal fin (the large fin on their back). Whenever the shark comes to the surface, the tag will transmit its location via radio waves to a satellite. The satellite will then send the signal back down to a receiving antennae and on to various labs. This is a type of remote sensing that is commonly used to track animals. It gives scientists information about animal’s behavior and migration patterns. These particular satellite tags are from the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. It is a collaborative effort to get the tags on as many sharks as possible so they can study where they go after being caught.

Satellite tag on Great Hammerhead — Attaching a satellite tag to the dorsal fin of a Great Hammerhead Shark.

While working with the scientists I noticed that they use a combination of metric units, maritime units and imperial units. The fish are measured in millimeters, the electronic scale measured in pounds (normally it measures in kilograms, but there was a technical issue that required changing to pounds), the handheld scale measure in kilograms, the water current is measured in knots, the depth for the CTD is measured in meters, the distance is measured in nautical miles and the survey areas are divided by fathoms ( 1 fathom = 6 feet), just to name a few. It is helpful to be familiar with all of them and be able to convert from one type of unit to another. It has made me think that we should be practicing our metric conversions even more than we currently do in class. So, my incoming freshmen, get ready.

Personal Log :

The time is passing so quickly here on the ship. I think that is because there is always something happening here. My daily routine consists of rising around 7:30 am, grabbing a light breakfast and then going to see what the night shift is doing. Often times they are preparing to haul in the line and I can’t resist watching that. I have an early lunch since my shift will begin at noon, but we are usually prepared to go before that time. For the next twelve hours we will set the line, run the CTD, haul in the line and move on to the next site. Dinner is at 17:00 ( 5:00 pm) but if we are busy we can request a plate be set aside for us. The distance between sites can be anywhere from less than a nautical mile (nm) to over 60 nm. The ship can travel about 10 knots depending upon the wind and the current. So, there are times when we have a number of hours between sites. On these occasions I check my email, work on my blog, edit my pictures or just stand on the deck and look out over the water. I always have my eyes open for animals, but it isn’t often that I see any. Just water as far as the eye can see. It gives me a sense of the vastness of the ocean. And I am seeing lots of beautiful cloud features and sunsets.

A beautiful sunset over the Gulf of Mexico.

I had the special privilege of getting a tour by the Chief Marine Engineer, Sean Pfarrer, of the engine room. It is very loud down there so we had to wear ear plugs. Sean pointed to different things and I took pictures. Then upstairs, in the relative quiet of the galley, he took the time to explain to me the role of each component. We had a really interesting discussion. Any mechanical questions that arose after that, Sean was the one I’d go to. When I return, anyone interested in mechanics can listen to my presentation of the engine room – it’s more interesting than you may think.