safety – Page 2 – NOAA Teacher at Sea Blog

August 2, 2014August 21, 2021

Gregory Cook, Super Fish, August 2, 2014

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Gregory Cook

Aboard NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson

July 26 – August 13, 2014

Mission: Annual Walleye Pollock Survey

Geographical Area: Bering Sea

Date: August 2, 2014

Science and Technology Log

See this guy here? He’s an Alaskan Pollock.

If fish thought sunglasses were cool, this fish would wear sunglasses. — Alaskan Pollock, aka Walleye Pollock.
Credit: http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov

“Whatever,” you shrug.
“Just a fish,” you scorn.
“He’s slimy and has fish for brains,” you mock.
Well, what if I told you that guy there was worth almost one billion dollars in exports alone?
What if I told you that thousands of fishermen rely on this guy to provide for their families?
What if I told you that they were the heart of the Sub-Arctic food web, and that dozens of species would be threatened if they were to disappear?
What if I told you they were all secretly trained ninja fish? Ninja fish that carry ninja swords strapped to their dorsal fins?
Then I’d only be wrong about one thing.

Taina Honkalehto is the Chief Scientist onboard the Oscar Dyson. She has been studying Pollock for the last 22 years. I asked her what was so important about the fish.

“They’re the largest single species fishery in North America,” Taina says. That makes them top dog…err… fish… in the U.S. fishing industry.

Chief Scientist Taina Honkalehto decides where to fish based on data.

“In the U.S. they are fish sticks and fish-wiches (like Filet-o-Fish from McDonalds). They’ve become, foodwise, what Cod used to be… inexpensive, whitefish protein,” Taina continues. They’re also the center of the sub-arctic food web. Seals, walruses, orca, sea lions, and lots of larger fish species rely on Pollock as an energy source.”
But they aren’t just important for America. Pollock plays an important role in the lives of people from all over the Pacific Rim. (Remember that the Pacific Rim is made up of all the countries that surround the Pacific Ocean… from the U.S. and Canada to Japan to Australia to Chile!)

“Pollock provide a lot of important fish products to many countries, including the U.S., Japan, China, Korea, and Russia,” Honkalehto says.

Making sure we protect Pollock is REALLY important. To know what can go wrong, we only have to look at the Atlantic Cod, the fish that Cape Cod was named after. In the last twenty years, the number of Atlantic Cod has shrunk dramatically. It’s cost a lot of fishermen their jobs and created stress in a number of families throughout New England as well as tensions between the U.S. and Canada. The U.S. and Canada share fish populations.

The primary job of the Oscar Dyson is to sample the Pollock population. Government officials use the results to tell fishermen what their quota should be. A quota is a limit on the number of fish you can catch. The way we gather that data, though, can be a little gross.

The Aleutian Wing Trawl (or AWT)

The fishermen guide the massive Aleutian Wing Trawl (or AWT) onto the deck of the ship. The AWT is a 150 meters long net (over one and a half football fields in length) that is shaped like an ice cream cone. The net gets more and more narrow until you get all the way down to the pointy tip. This is known as the “cod end,” and it’s where most of the fish end up. Here’s a diagram that XO (Executive Officer) Kris Mackie was kind enough to find for me.

The Aleutian Wing Trawl (or AWT). over one and a half football fields worth of Pollock-Snatching Power.

The AWT is then hooked onto a crane which empties it on a giant mechanical table. The table has a hydraulic lift that lets us dump fish into the wet lab.

Survey Technician Allen pulls a cod from the Table

Kids, whenever you hear the term “wet lab,” I don’t want you to think of a water park. Wet lab is going to mean guts. Guts and fish parts.

In the wet lab, the contents of the net spills onto a conveyer belt… sort of like what you see at Shaw’s or Market Basket. First we sift through the Pollock and pull any odd things… jellyfish, skates, etc… and set them aside for measurement. Then it’s time to find out what sex the Pollock are.

Survey Technician Alyssa and Oceanographer Nate pull a giant jellyfish out of a pile of pollock!

Genitals on the Inside!

Pollock go through external fertilization (EF). That means that the female lays eggs, and the males come along and fertilize them with their sperm. Because of that, there’s no need for the outside part of the sex organs to look any different. In science, we often say that form follows function. In EF, there’s very little function needed other than a hole for the sperm or egg cells to leave the body.

Because of that, the only way to tell if a Pollock is male or female is to cut them open and look for ovaries and testes. This is a four step process.

Ladies before Gentlemen: The female Pollock (in the front) has ovaries that look like two orange lobes. The Male (in the back) has structures that make him look like he ate Ramen noodles for dinner. — Ladies before Gentlemen:
The female Pollock (bottom) has ovaries that look like two orange lobes. The Male (itop) has testes that make him look like he ate Ramen noodles for dinner.

Step 1: Slice open the belly of the fish.

Step 2: Push the pink, flippy floppy liver aside.

Step 3: Look for a pair of lobes (a bag like organ) that is either purple, pink, or orange-ish. These are the ovaries! If you find this, you’ve got a female.

Step 4: If you strike out on step 3, look for a thin black line that runs behind the stomach. These are the testes… As Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan might say, you’ve got male.

Then the gender and length of the fish is then recorded using CLAMS… a software program that NOAA computer scientists developed for just this purpose. With NOAA, like any good science program, it’s all about attention to detail. These folks take their data very seriously, because they know that so many people depend on them to keep the fish population safe.

Personal Blog

Safety!

Lobster Gumby — Your teacher in an Immersion Suit. Sailors can survive for long periods of time in harsh environments in these outfits.

On the first day aboard the Oscar Dyson, we were trained on all matters of safety. Safety on a ship is often driven by sirens sounded by the bridge. Here’s a list of calls, what they mean, and what you should do when you hear them:

What you hear…	What it means…	What you should do…
Three long blasts of the alarm:	Man Over Board	Report to safety station, be counted, and report in to the bridge (unless you’re the one that saw the person go overboard… then you throw them life rings (floaties) and keep pointing at them).
One long blast of general alarm or ship’s whistle:	Fire or Emergency onboard	Report to safety station, be counted, and report in to the bridge. Bring Immersion Suit just in case.
Six or more short blasts then one long blast of the alarm:	Abandon Ship	Grab your immersion suit, head to the aft (back) deck of the ship, be counted, and prepare to board a life raft.

The immersion suit (the thing that makes me look like lobster gumby, above) is made of thick red neoprene. It has two flashing lights also known as beacons… one of them automatically turns on when it hits water! This helps rescuers find you in case you’re lost in the dark. It also has an inflatable pillow behind your head to help keep your head above water. Mostly just wanted to wear it to Starbucks some day.

Food!

Another thing I can tell you about life aboard the Oscar Dyson is that there is plenty to eat!

kind of awesome. For one thing, there is a never ending supply of food in the galley (the ship’s cafeteria). Eva is the Chief Steward on the Oscar Dyson (though I call her the Head Chef!).

Chief Steward Eva gets dinner done right!

You’ll never go hungry on her ship. Dinner last night? barbeque ribs and mac and cheese. Yesterday’s lunch? Steak and chicken fajitas. And this morning? Breakfast burritos with ham and fruit. I know. You were worried that if I lost any weight at sea that I might just disappear. I can confirm for you that this is absolutely not going to happen.

Tune in next time when I take you on a tech tour of the Oscar Dyson!

July 9, 2014August 21, 2021

Carol Glor: Lights, Camera, Action, July 7, 2014

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Carol Glor

Aboard R/V Hugh R. Sharp

July 5 – 14, 2014

Mission: Sea Scallop Survey (Third leg)

Geographical Area: Northwest Atlantic Ocean

Date: July 7, 2014

Weather Data from the bridge: Wind SW 18-20 knots, Seas 4-7 ft, Visibility – good

Science and Technology Log: Starring the HabCam

The HabCam is a computerized video camera system. It is a non-invasive method of observing and recording underwater stereo images, and collecting oceanographic data,such as temperature,salinity, and conductivity. The vehicle is towed at 1.5 – 2 meters from the floor of the ocean. The main objective of this mission is to survey the population of scallops as well as noting the substrate (ocean floor make-up) changes. Most substrate is made up of sand, gravel, shell hash and epifauna. We also note the presence of roundfish (eel, sea snakes, monkfish, ocean pout, and hake), flatfish (flounders and fluke), whelk, crab, and skates. Although sea stars (starfish) are a major predator of scallops, they are not included in our annotations.

The crew and science staff work on alternate shifts (called watches) to ensure the seamless collection of data. The scallop survey is a 24-hour operation. The science component of the ship consists of 11 members. Six people are part of the night watch from 12am-12pm and the remaining members (myself included) are assigned to the day watch which is from 12pm until 12am. During the HabCam part of the survey all science staff members rotate job tasks during their 12-hour shift. These include:

A. Piloting the HabCam – using a joystick to operate the winch that controls the raising and lowering of the HabCam along the ocean floor. This task is challenging for several reasons. There are six computer monitors that are continually reviewed by the pilot so they can assess the winch direction and speed, monitor the video quality of the sea floor, and ensure that the HabCam remains a constant 1.5 – 2 meters from the ocean floor. The ocean floor is not flat – it consists of sand waves, drop-offs, and valleys. Quick action is necessary to avoid crashing the HabCam into the ocean floor.

HabCam pilot — Carol piloting the HabCam.

B. The co-pilot is in charge of ensuring the quality of digital images that are being recorded by the HabCam. Using a computer, they tag specific marine life and check to see if the computers are recording the data properly. They also assist the pilot as needed.

HabCam image — One of the images from the HabCam

C. Annotating is another important task on this stage of the survey. Using a computer, each image that is recorded by the HabCam is analyzed in order to highlight the specific species that are found in that image. Live scallops are measured using a line tool and fish, crabs, whelk and skates are highlighted using a boxing tool so they can be reviewed by NOAA personnel at the end of the cruise season.

Personal Log:

When not on watch there is time to sleep, enjoy beautiful ocean views, spot whales and dolphins from the bridge (captain’s control center), socialize with fellow science staff and crew members, and of course take lots of pictures. The accommodations are cozy. My cabin is a four-person room consisting of two sets of bunk beds, a sink, and desk area. The room is not meant to be used for more than sleeping or stowing gear. When the ship is moving, it is important to move slowly and purposely throughout the ship. When going up and down the stairs you need to hold onto the railing with one hand and guide the other hand along the wall for stability. This is especially important during choppy seas. The constant motion of the ship is soothing as you sleep but makes for challenging mobility when awake.

Before heading out to sea it is important to practice safety drills. Each person is made aware of their muster station (where to go in the event of an emergency), and is familiarized with specific distress signals. We also practiced donning our immersion suits. These enable a person to be in the water for up to 72 hours (depending upon the temperature of the water). There is a specific way to get into the suit in order to do so in under a minute. We were reminded to put our shoes inside our suit in a real life emergency for when we are rescued. Good advice indeed.

Did you know?

The ship makes it’s own drinking water. While saltwater is used on deck for cleaning purposes, and in the toilets for waste removal, it is not so good for cooking, showers, or drinking. The ship makes between 600 and 1,000 gallons per day. It is triple-filtered through a reverse-osmosis process to make it safe for drinking. The downside is that the filtration system removes some important minerals that are required for the human body. It also tends to dry out the skin; so using moisturizer is a good idea when out at sea.

Photo Gallery:

WG flag — West Genesee colors; flying high on the Sharp

Floating Frogs at the Woods Hole Biological Museum.

Seal at aquarium — Seal at the Woods Hole Aquarium – Oldest Aquarium in the US.

June 26, 2014August 21, 2021

Carol Schnaiter, Home Again! June 25, 2014

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Carol Schnaiter

Aboard NOAA Ship Oregon II

June 7 – 21, 2014

Mission: I am back home in Amboy, IL, now so my mission is getting back to a “normal” schedule and getting my land legs back!

Weather: Partly sunny, 82 degrees

Date: June 25, 2014

Science and Technology:

Hypoxia or low oxygen levels in the water is my final topic. The “dead zone” may seem like it does not relate to me being home, but in reality it really does.

This “dead zone” is affected by many things such as the oceanographic conditions, but a major cause is excessive nutrient pollution from agriculture and waste water. Being from a rural agricultural area I wonder how much of what we are doing here in the north affects the ocean waters far away?

So how does this all start? The nitrogen and phosphorus that flows into the water fuels the growth of algae, later when the algae dies and decays, it sinks to the bottom. At the bottom the bacteria will devour the dissolved oxygen from the water. With little or no oxygen the organisms living there must either move, if they can, or they will die.

Where does this nitrogen and phosphorus come from? Most of this can be found in fertilizers from agriculture, golf courses and suburban lawns, discharges from sewage treatment plants, and even from erosion of soil full of nutrients. Since past spring was very rainy and there were floods near the Mississippi River much of this was taken from the soil into the water. The flood waters then drained back into the river and into the gulf carrying many of these nutrients.

How do we know this is happening and that it is getting worse? On the NOAA Ship Oregon II and other ships there are daily checks of the water oxygen levels. Tests similar to these have been conducted for many years. The results are compared and they show that changes in the oxygen levels are happening and not for the better.

While on the ship the scientist performed these tests using the CTD. Water taken from the CTD is handled very carefully so no oxygen is added by accident. As chemicals are added, you can see the changes where the oxygen in the water bonds to the chemicals. The results of these tests are compared to the results collected by the computer. Having both tests generate similar results show more proof of the oxygen levels.

I noticed that when the ship was closer to land, the oxygen levels would be lower and Lead Scientist Kim Johnson said as the ship traveled closer to the mouth of the Mississippi River, the levels would drop even more. (I plan on watching the results as they are posted.)

Can anything be done to stop this? Some scientist say one of the solutions would be to use fewer fertilizers another would be to maybe watch when the chemicals were added, so there would be less runoff.

Of course checking septic systems and sewage treatment plants to be sure they are up to code and working correctly would help. These solutions sound simple, but maybe people do not even realize what happens up north and how it really does affect what is going on at the bottom of the ocean.

Maybe our Amboy Marsh is the beginning, a place where the water can be filtered.

Here is a map showing the levels of oxygen in the water.

http://noaateacheratsea.blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/20140625_051938-1.jpg

Personal Log:

I have been home now for four days. My land legs are back and I only feel dizzy when closing my eyes while washing my hair in the shower. I want to thank everyone for reading my blogs, I hope you enjoyed my adventure and learned something new.

As I look through my pictures, memories of the sixteen days I spent at sea flood my mind. I look at the safety precautions that were taken to make sure everyone on the ship stayed safe. The drills, the posting of where everyone was to go and what they were suppose to do in case of an emergency, and the sign stating how many days the ship had gone without a problem. I always felt safe, everyone was very careful and followed rules to ensure the safety of everyone….just like we do at school!

Accident free days — 525 Days without an accident!

Ship's emergency bullets — Emergency bullets

I also think about how what seemed like a tiny space became my home away from home. Everything you need to survive on a mere 178 ft ship! Two showers for everyone to share, three heads (toilets) and one washing machine and one dryer. I thought it would be impossible, but it just proved my husband’s theory that we have too much in our home!

Shower room — Two showers to share with everyone!

I want to tell you how thankful I am that NOAA has this wonderful program and allowed me to participate. I know many teachers applied for this and I am honored that I was selected. Thank you to the scientists aboard the ship: Kim, for EVERYTHING, the Night Shift: Taniya, Andre, Lee, Chrissy, and Rebeca for all of their guidance and help.

The deck crew: Chris, Chuck and Mike-thanks for your support and for making the night go by so quickly! Master Dave Nelson and ALL the members of his crew for their help in explaining everything and the tours on the ship!

This survey opened my eyes to what is happening under the water and how fragile life in the deep blue sea really is. It confirmed my thinking that we (the human race) need to look closely at what we are doing everyday and how it affects others. I plan on following the NOAA Ship Oregon II during the rest of the summer groundfish survey and during the fall groundfish survey. I want to see how the oxygen level changes, how the data collected affects the shrimp season, and follow the members of the ship!

Day One — Our first day together! (Photo by Karen Mitchell)

I cannot wait to share with my students and with anyone that will listen! Would I do this again? YES, I would go back to sea in a minute if I had the chance!

June 6, 2014August 21, 2021

Spencer Cody: A Floating City of Life, June 6, 2014

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Spencer Cody

Aboard NOAA Ship Pisces

May 27 – June 11, 2014

Geographical Area of Cruise: Gulf of Mexico

Mission: SEAMAP Reef Fish Survey

Date: June 6, 2014

Observational Data:

Latitude: 28˚ 18.164 N

Longitude: 92˚ 26.145 W

Air Temp: 27.7˚C (81.9˚F)

Water Temp: 25.5˚C (77.9˚F)

Ocean Depth: 86.1 m (282 ft.)

Relative Humidity: 76%

Wind Speed: 3.9 kts (4.5 mph)

Barometer: 1,011.5 hPa (1,011.5 mbar)

Science and Technology Log:

It has been the subject of many ocean myths and legends: ships becoming trapped in mats of thick, unrelenting seaweed. Of course, such stories are not true, but the giant mats of seaweed that inspired such fear in sailors hundreds of years ago are very real and are an important component of the Gulf of Mexico’s ecosystem. The Carthaginians and later the Romans first described a portion of the Atlantic covered in seaweed. By the 15^th century, the Portuguese had named the area the Sargasso Sea after the sargaco rock rose that grew in their water wells back home, which appeared to be similar to the seaweed that grew on the surface of the water in stagnant parts of the Atlantic. From this comes the genus name Sargassum or as it is commonly referred to along the Gulf coast as gulfweed.

In the Gulf of Mexico, Sargassum can form large mats acres in size. These large mats of brown algae provide a floating micro-ecosystem in the Gulf. Sargassum is a food source for many marine organisms. The mats also serve as a nursery for fish and invertebrate eggs and developing young. The thick mats provide structure and cover in an ocean environment that may be lacking in the necessary cover to support the development of their young and to keep them hid from potential predators. Within the mats many types of marine herbivores can be found. The presence of various herbivores draws in fish to feed on those organisms grazing on the Sargassum. In fact, some organisms have evolved to look like Sargassum for protection. One good example of this is a type of frogfish called the sargassum fish. The sargassum fish can appear to be brown, yellow, or olive depending on whatever color they need to be in order to blend in with the mat of algae.

P1020355 — Hardhat, life jacket, and work gloves are needed during operations on the weather deck. This is a picture of me placing a float on one of our bandit reel lines. Credit Kevin Rademacher for the photo.

Personal Log:

Safety is always a key concern when going on a survey aboard a research vessel such as the Pisces. This is especially true when a ship is moving and lifting the sensors and equipment to facilitate the science the Pisces is carrying out. Whenever we are launching or retrieving either the CTD or camera array, protective gear including a hardhat and a life jacket are required. Whenever we are using a bandit reel, the same equipment is needed as well. Losing someone overboard is a constant concern. That is why these precautions are taken whenever operations are occurring on a weather deck and is why we have drills for a man overboard situation to recover someone as fast as possible.

fire hose — Water hoses along with other fire suppression equipment are tested during one of our mandatory fire drills.

As with any building, fire is a serious threat. On a ship fire is a threat that endangers everyone onboard. Everyone is given an assignment list on their bunk card. Each bunk card lists the person’s individual emergency billet assignments for a fire, abandon ship, and a man overboard. During a fire everyone may end up becoming a part of the fire suppression crew. People need to report to there assigned stations. During a drill a mock fire is assessed and contained, and fire suppression equipment is tested out. The Pisces is designed to contain fire wherever possible by having heavy fireproof doors throughout the ship making it more difficult for fire to spread to other decks.

If an emergency requires the ship to be abandoned, people are required to report to specific life raft stations with life jackets, a survival suit, and other items in order to leave the ship behind. Life jackets and survival suits are found in our staterooms and throughout the ship. This is an act of last resort once every attempt to save the ship has been made. The Pisces is specifically designed to prevent water from entering cabins and corridors by using water tight doors. This is designed to either prevent taking on water or at least slow the process down enough to abandon ship.

102_0046 — Survival suits are both water tight and thermally insulated keeping a person who needs to abandon ship dry and warm. A flotation device is wrapped around the neck, which inflates, keeping the floating person upright in the water. Credit Adam Pollack for the photo.

Other general precautions must be observed onboard. Passengers and crew are not allowed to run while onboard for several reasons. The watertight doors come up from the floor by nearly a foot in addition to many other obstacles. Places like any of the weather decks or the wet lab where we process fish specimens are often wet and slippery. Perhaps the most obvious reason one should be careful moving around onboard is the movement of the ship itself. Large waves and swells can send the ship into an unpredictable motion. This makes even walking or standing difficult at times and is certainly disorienting. The Pisces has several features to accommodate this problem. Handle bars and railings are found throughout the ship in order to stabilize yourself during swells. Having a handle bar in the shower may seem rather over the top, but when your morning shower starts to resemble a theme park ride that you may have been on before, then you will start to understand why that feature is there. Cabinet and drawers are self-locking; otherwise, they would constantly slide in and out, which is why we had to tape down many of the drawers in the dry lab that do not have this feature. When you are on a moving ship, everything takes a little longer to do than on land. It is just something you have to get used to.

Did You Know?

Even water temperatures as high as 80˚F can be a hypothermia risk if exposed to it for long periods of time. Water conducts heat away from your body 25 times faster than air of the same temperature.

August 5, 2012August 11, 2021

Johanna Mendillo: How Well Do You Know Your Pollock? August 4, 2012

NOAA Teacher at Sea
Johanna Mendillo
Aboard NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson
July 23 – August 10, 2012

Mission: Pollock Survey
Geographical area of the cruise: Bering Sea
Date: Saturday, August 4, 2012

Location Data from the Bridge:
Latitude: 62^○ 20’ N
Longitude: 179^○ 38’ W
Ship speed: 0.8 knots (0.9 mph)

Weather Data from the Bridge:
Air temperature: 7.1^○C (44.8ºF)
Surface water temperature: 8.3^○C (46.9ºF)
Wind speed: 22.7 knots (26.1 mph)
Wind direction: 205^○T
Barometric pressure: 1009 millibar (1.0 atm)

Science and Technology Log:

Out of the 30,000+ species of fish on earth, I would now like to introduce you to the fish we follow morning, noon, and night: pollock.

It is time for some fish biology 101! The scientific name for pollock, also called walleye pollock, is Theragra chalcogramma. This is a different species from its East Coast relative, Atlantic Pollock. They are in the same family as cod and haddock.

AGE & SIZE: Pollock are a fast-growing species that typically live to approximately 12yrs, but some live longer. They are torpedo shaped (long, narrow, and with a streamlined body) and have speckled coloring that help them camouflage with the seafloor to avoid predators. They generally range from 10-60cm in size; we have been collecting pollock generally in the 20-40cm range so far on this cruise. Here I am holding one of the larger specimens I have seen so far:

One of the larger pollock I have seen so far... — One of the larger pollock I have seen so far…41cm!

WHERE THEY LIVE: Younger pollock live in the mid-water region of the ocean; older pollock (age 5 and up) typically dwell near the ocean floor. In order to sample both of these groups, we conduct trawls throughout the water column so we can get representative biological information from all habitats.

Here I am weighing pollock... — Here I am weighing pollock…

PREDATORS & PREY:

Juvenile pollock eat a type of zooplankton called euphausids, otherwise known as krill, copepods, and small fish. Older pollock feed on other fish…. including juvenile pollock, making them a cannibalistic species! Pollock play an integral role in the Bering Sea food web and you will help construct that web back at school!

REPRODUCTION: Pollock are able to reproduce by the age of 3 or 4. In our work, we have to determine the sex of each fish by slicing it open because no reproductive organs are visible on the outside! So, in addition to seeing the insides of many, many fish heads, I have now seen many, many fish gonads. Here is a poster we use in the lab to learn how to identify the ovaries and testes at five different developmental stages (immature, developing, pre-spawning, spawning, and spent).

Poster showing male and female reproductive organs for ages 1-5 — Poster showing ovary and testes stages 1-5!

And... it is a female! — And… it is a female!

So, how do you tell, exactly? On the females, we go by the following guidelines:

Immature female pollock contain small ovaries tucked inside the body cavity, the ovary looks transparent, and there are no eggs visible.

Developing females have more visible and pink-ish ovaries, generally transparent to opaque.

Pre-spawning females contain large bright orange ovaries and eggs are easily discernible inside them

Spawning females have large ovaries bursting with hydrated eggs (the fish has absorbed large amounts of water at this point), so the eggs look translucent or even transparent!

Spent females have empty flaccid ovaries.

It can sometimes be difficult to identify a female maturity stage by this simple visual scale (this is called macroscopic inspection), due to subjective interpretations of color, ovary size, and visibility of eggs, so fisheries biologists can also collect cell samples to look at gamete stages under the microscope (this is called histological analysis). For example, a female’s ovaries can be slightly different colors based on her diet. We are not collecting those types of samples on this cruise, however, but those are often collected during wintertime pollock cruises in the Gulf of Alaska.

These are ovaries in the pre-spawning stage (Photo Credit: Story Miller, TAS 2010)

Regardless of the method used, determining the ratio of different maturity stages in the female pollock population has very important implications for how scientists calculate spawning biomass estimates, which in turn, are entered into statistical models to determine age class structures, overall population sizes, and, finally, catch quotas for the fishing industry.

On the males, we go by the following guidelines:

Immature male pollock have threadlike testes with a transparent membrane (that can be very hard to see).

Developing males have testes which look like smooth, uniformly textured ribbons.

Pre-spawning male testes appear as larger thicker ribbons.

Spawning males exhibit large testes that extrude sperm when pressed.

Spent males have large, flaccid, bloodshot, and watery testes.

These are the testes of a pre-spawning male — These are testes in the developing stage (Photo Credit: Story Miller, TAS 2010)

As for how they reproduce, pollock, like most fish, do external fertilization, which means they release eggs and sperm into the water, where they come together and fertilize. For pollock in the northern Bering Sea, this tends to happen in the winter, from January-early April. It appears that sub-populations in other areas of the Bering Sea and the Gulf of Alaska spawn during shorter time windows throughout the late winter and early spring.

Fish gather in large groups to spawn, and an individual female pollock can release anywhere from 10,000s – 100,000s of eggs in a single season! They could also be released at one time or in several batches, called batch spawning. Interestingly, if conditions are not optimal, such as low water temperatures or poor nutrition, females can reabsorb eggs, in a process called atresia.

Here are several hundred pollock we have to sort from a typical catch! We toss the females in the"Sheilas" side and the males in the "Blokes" side! — Here are several hundred pollock we have to sort from a typical catch! We toss the females in the”Sheilas” side and the males in the “Blokes” side!

After spawning and fertilization, the resulting larvae grow into juveniles, the juveniles grow into adults, and the process starts anew! Overall, scientists still have much to learn about the timing and mechanisms behind the pollock reproductive process— and I have enjoyed learning about it from the NOAA team!

Personal Log:

First, the answer was… 75 dozen eggs! Those were some pretty close guesses, good job!

Let’s continue our tour aboard the Oscar Dyson! Now, as you can imagine, safety and training are very important parts of life at sea. I feel very confident in the crew and officers’ careful preparedness. Each week, we conduct safety drills. There are three types: man overboard, fire, and abandon ship. For each drill, each member of the ship has to report to a certain station to check in. In addition, you may be assigned to bring something, such as a radio, first aid kit, etc.

The drill I was most interested in was abandon ship, because not only do you carry your emergency survival (also known as an immersion) suit with you, but sometimes you practice putting it on! I had seen many pictures of other Teachers at Sea wearing them and wanted the chance to try it on myself!

So, without further ado, here are Allan and I in our suits:

Survival Suit Stylin' — Survival Suit Stylin’

What do you think, do we look like Gumby???

So, how exactly does it work? Well, it is a special type of waterproof dry suit that protects the wearer from hypothermia in cold water after abandoning a sinking or capsized vessel. It is made of stretchable flame retardant neoprene, and contains insulated gloves, reflective tape, whistle, and a face shield for spray protection. The neoprene material is a synthetic rubber with closed-cell foam, which contains many tiny air bubbles, making the suit sufficiently buoyant to also be a personal flotation device.

There are various types of immersion suits. Some contain:

An emergency strobe light beacon with a water-activated battery
An inflatable air bladder to lift the wearer’s head up out of the water
An emergency radio beacon locator
A “buddy line” to attach to others’ suits to keep a group together
Sea dye markers to increase visibility in water

We keep them in our rooms and there are many others placed throughout the ship in case we are not able to return to our rooms in a real emergency.

I hope that gives you a good feel for life onboard here in week two. Please post a comment below, students, with any questions at all.