Geographic Area of Cruise: Northeast Atlantic Ocean
Date: May 12, 2026
Weather Data from Richburg, South Carolina (Piedmont Region) Latitude: 34.7218° N Longitude: Longitude: -81.0197° W Wind Speed: E at 6 mph Air Temperature: 20°C (69°F)
Introduction Hello! My name is Amanda (Mandy) Freeman from Richburg, South Carolina and I am BEYOND ecstatic to begin my adventure aboard NOAA Ship Henry B. Bigelow for the NOAA Teacher at Sea 2026! This is my 28th year of teaching high school science and my 19th year at Lewisville High School in Richburg, South Carolina.
Lewisville Lions
In my classroom, I work to bridge science concepts with real environmental challenges so students recognize their impact on the world and understand how biology applies to their daily lives. As a high school science teacher, I often talk about ecosystems, human impact, and sustainability, but this experience will allow me to move beyond talkingabout it and actually doit! The NOAA Teacher at Sea Program will allow me to bring authentic scientific research into my classroom while exposing students to a variety of potential career paths.
Packing OH MY…What do you even pack for life at sea?! What shouldn’t I pack?!
In South Carolina, May usually means temperatures somewhere between 26°C to 13°C (80°F – 56°F), so trying to prepare for the much chillier weather in Rhode Island has definitely been a challenge. My suitcase currently contains everything from t-shirts to sweatshirts to rain gear… and I’m still convinced I’m forgetting something important.
Hopefully, I’m just overthinking it – although there’s a very real possibility I’ll either freeze, overpack or both!
Excitement Excited doesn’t even begin to describe how I feel about this opportunity. In just a few days, I will go from teaching biology in a classroom to living and working aboard the NOAA Ship Henry B. Bigelow alongside real scientists conducting fisheries research.
I’m excited to experience what life is really like on a research vessel, learn how scientists collect and analyze data at sea, and see technology in action through the HabCam survey. Most of all, I’m excited to bring these experiences back to my students. OH – and did I mention I’ll have the opportunity to deploy TWO drifter buoys?! How amazing is that???!!
For many of my students, careers in marine science or ocean research may seem far away from our everyday lives in South Carolina. I hope this journey helps them see that science is more than a textbook or lab activity — it’s exploration, discovery, teamwork, and problem-solving in the real world.
I can’t wait to share photos, stories, challenges, and discoveries from this adventure. Hopefully my students will learn right alongside me as we trade our normal classroom walls for the open ocean!
Stay Tuned!
Science and Technology Log
Next Tuesday, I will board NOAA Ship Henry B. Bigelow from Woods Hole, Massachusetts via a small boat transfer. The ship is a “state-of-the-art fisheries survey ship that studies a wide range of marine life and ocean conditions” ( NOAA Ship Henry B. Bigelow).
NOAA Ship Henry B. Bigelow. Credit: NOAA
The ship was named after Henry Bryant Bigelow, an oceanographer and marine biologist, who was the founding director of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). “He is credited with describing 110 new species for science and authoring some 100 scientific papers over the course of his career” (WHOI).
Henry Bryant Bigelow (1879-1967). Credit: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
The annual Northeast Fisheries Science Center scallop survey will use the Habitat Mapping Camera System (HabCam) to determine the distribution and relative abundance of Atlantic sea scallops (Placopecten magellanicus). According to preparatory materials from the science team, the HabCam V4 is an underwater “boat towed camera system that takes continuous paired photos (typically 6 pairs per second) at approximately 2 meters above the sea floor.”
Geographic Area of Cruise: Northeast Atlantic Ocean
Date: June 11, 2016
Weather Data from the Bridge Latitude: 42 06.73 Longitude: 67 18.80 Wind Speed 20.9 Knots (24 miles per hour) Air Temperature 13.3° Celsius (55.9 Fahrenheit)
Science and Technology Log
Upon my first entry into the Hugh R. Sharp, the one thing that really stuck out to me was the amount of visible technology. In the dry lab alone, there are over 20 computer screens, close to as many hard drives, and Ethernet cords crossing and spanning the entire dry lab area. In the laboratory van, where much of our species counting and data collection takes place there are three more touchscreen monitors, motion compensated electronic scales (a scale that measures accurately regardless of boat movement), and electronic meter sticks. It is overwhelming at first, but as I have settled in now for four days it becomes commonplace.
What is more impressive than the amount of technology in the dry lab, is that the NOAA crew hooks up all the equipment before the mission starts. The before picture of the room is on the right.
On the 9th we were delayed due to some rough water, and the need to fix some of our equipment. Specifically, the ramp, which launches our underwater camera, was broken due to some strong waves. The engineers and technicians of the boat reinforced the ramp quickly on the morning of the 9th and we were headed back out to our location in Georges Bank in short order. The science crew I am a part of has the noon to midnight shift, so this gave me a chance to talk with one of the NOAA Fisheries experts Nancy McHugh about the technological advancements she has seen in recent years on the NOAA surveys.
Nancy McHugh sorts and identifies fish from a recent dredge station catch.
Nancy has been with NOAA for 26 years, and has been on many survey missions. In my last blog, I gave an overview of our dredge missions, and how the data were collected during those missions. During this blog entry I would like to tell you about the technology that makes all this data easier to collect, analyze, and organize than it once was. This technology has made all the collection of data more accurate, reliable, and accountable. I have seen first-hand now how serious NOAA Fisheries is about collecting data that is accurate as possible, down to the last and smallest scallop.
In the 1990’s and early 2000’s, the NOAA Fisheries staff used waterproof paper forms and pencil to collect the information from their surveys. Separate forms were used for each species collected. To give you an idea of how many different species are collected during a survey, our survey has collected over 50 different species of organisms, and we still have 11 days left. That means that during this survey would have had 50 different paper charts about the organisms collected. Each organism collected would be hand tallied onto a chart about the specimen’s length, weight, gender, and if a stomach content examination was performed. Each species was given a code number so that code number could be entered into a database for retrieval at a later date.
Old fisheries survey data form used in the late 90’s. Much has changed since then.
Once the data for each species was recorded on its own form, the summary of the information about each species was transferred onto a main master form. All the scallops were hand measured, and length tallies made for the scallop at each millimeter mark. Once the dredge station survey was complete, someone would hand total all of those numbers to get a total amount. The total data sets would be sent out to a prison in Kansas, which would be responsible for key punching (entering on a computer). This data would take around 3 months to get back. Once the keypunched data was sent back to NOAA Fisheries, it would then have to go through an intensive audit process before it was considered clean and ready for the stock analysts use.
Today NOAA Fisheries relies on a program called Fisheries Scientific Computer System, or FSCS for short (sounds like Fiscus). NOAA scientists and programmers created this computer program to replace the tedious method of pencil and paper data recording. My crewmember Nancy was one of the scientist involved in the creation of FSCS. The FSCS program has helped to create not only a faster more efficient data collection system, but also one that is more accurate and reliable than the old paper and pencil model. First, the FSCS system is an offshoot of the Scientific Computer System (SCS), which is able to store information about ship board sensors, ship positioning, latitude and longitude, winch data, and depth. When we are about to start a dredge station, the NOAA scientists start “an event” in the FSCS computer program. The program then begins to collect a snapshot of information from the SCS system while the dredge is fishing.
The laboratory van is set up with three touch screen monitors that all run the FSCS program, ichthysticks (electronic measuring sticks), motion compensated scales, and barcode readers to enter data into the FSCS program. This was a empty room before the mission. NOAA Fisheries workers set up this room before the start of the Scallop Survey.
Once the process of pulling up the dredge, and collecting of species, and sorting of species has happened the efficiency of FSCS is revealed. There are three stations in the laboratory van; each station containing an “ichthystick,” a small motion compensated scale, a touch screen monitor, a bar code scanner, and a printer. Each station has science crew members working in teams of two. At station one in the laboratory van, our watch-chief begins to enter in data from the different species that are collected. The bucket the specimen is in is scanned; this bucket’s weight has been pre-programmed into a computer. By having the bucket weight already in the program’s database, that weight is automatically deducted on the digital scale when the specimen bucket is set on the scale. This tare process once was done manually, by pressing the tare button on the scale. Once the specimen buckets have been scanned and weighed, many of the specimens are measured for length. Again, the new technological advancements help with efficiency and accuracy. NOAA scientists have developed their own “ichthystick” which essentially is an electronic meter stick. These “ichthysticks” are at each of the three stations in the laboratory van.
Measurements made using the icthysticks go straight into the FSCS program. There is no hand transferring of the data. This allows for fast and efficient data collection.
Before a measurement is taken, a scientist selects a specimen from a list in FSCS of possible collected specimens and scans the barcoded bucket tag to ensure the correct species has been chosen. For this example, if a scientist was examining sea scallops the user simply places a sea scallop on the board up against a block that is at zero mm, and then places a magnet on the other side of the specimen. The computer will make a sound to indicate the length is acknowledged, and the data is collected in the program. Here is the cool part: the computer program knows the general ranges of the specimen’s size. That means if someone accidentally put the magnet down at 350 mm while measuring a sea scallop, the computer would automatically put up a warning message (visually and audibly) noting that the measurement is beyond the known range of expected sea scallop lengths. This cuts down on accidental measuring errors.
At station 3 where scallops are shucked and examined, all of the information which I discussed in the last blog goes into the FSCS database as it is recorded. Again, the program checks for errors. For example, if a meat weight is entered that is too light for the size of the sea scallop being examined, the computer will alert the user that the meat weight is too small for the examined sea scallop. Then the cutter can ensure that he removed all of the meat properly.
Once all this data is recorded, it is merged with the SCS data for a complete picture of the survey. The merged data can then be accessed by NOAA Fisheries scientist to analyze the data and create predictive models. Essentially the NOAA Fisheries survey crew can leave the boat with data that used to take over three months to finalize after a survey had ended.
Personal Log
I don’t want to jinx it, but I think I finally have my “sea legs.” The waves are pretty rough today, but I’m not really fazed by the motion. Yesterday we spent a lot of time on the computers, annotating images from the underwater camera, HabCam. During that time working, I almost forgot I was on a boat. Part of that is that the water was calmer yesterday. But today we have much more chop in the water and I still feel okay.
The 9th was a hard day for me, as I missed my son Zebadiah’s birthday. Happy Birthday Z! It’s hard to be away from my family, but as I talk to some of the NOAA Fisheries people or the crew that runs this ship I realize how short my time is away from my family. Some of the NOAA Fisheries crew is out 120 days at sea each year! The ship crew will work this mission and then head to another mission right after ours is done. There are some very hard working people that work for NOAA Fisheries, and the crews that run NOAA’s fleet of ships.
It has only been six days since I arrived at Woods Hole, but I’ve seen some amazing sites. Even though some of the crew is out so often at sea each year, I’m realizing the amazing sunsets never get old to them. It is an awesome site each night, as is the moon over the water at night.
Amazing sunsets every night when you are over 100 miles from the coast. Being aboard the Hugh R Sharp has been a great experience so far.
Did You Know?
Sea Stars are one of the main predators of scallops. It’s an interesting correlation. When we have done dredge station surveys there is definitely an inverse relationship between the number of sea stars caught and the number of scallops caught. Meaning the more star fish that are in a dredge tow, the less scallops and vice versa. When using the underwater camera (HabCam) to take pictures of the ocean floor, there are sections with sea stars that litter the ocean floor. Not surprisingly, there are very little scallops in those sections. Sea stars have suction cup like structures on their arms, which help them latch onto a scallop. When that happens, the sea star then slowly attempts to pry the shell open. Some sea stars are then able to push their stomachs out of their body, and digest the externally. Another interesting ability of the sea stars is their ability to regenerate arms if they are lost.
Sea stars attacking a razor clam shell. This picture was taken by the underwater camera on board called the HabCam.
Sea star with two arms regenerating.
A gigantic sea star out of our dredge collection. The normal size one is on the right.
Mission: Sea Scallop Survey Geographic Area of Cruise: Northeast Atlantic Ocean Date: June 7, 2017
Weather Data from the Bridge Latitude: 41 30.90 N
Longitude: 69 18.76 W
Air Temp 14.1° Celsius ( 57.3° Fahrenheit)
Wind speed 4.7 Knots (5.4 mph)
Science and Technology Log
Due to the poor weather delay on the 6th, June 7th was our first day out for the crew I am working with. Our ship is divided into two crews so we can work our operations around the clock. The crew I am working with works from noon to midnight, while the other crew works midnight to noon. On the 7th, were able to drop the dredge and attempt to collect scallops to assess the health, size, and population of those organisms.
Sometimes the dredge brings up more than scallops! This goosefish uses it’s illicium which act like fishing lures to attract fish close enough to be gulped by its large mouth.
We work those hours mainly using the collection process of dredging the ocean floor for scallops, but along the way, several other bottom dwelling ocean creatures are caught in the dredge.
A crane operator with the help of two deck workers lowers the dredge into the water. Once the dredge is in place to go into the water the crane operator releases cable until the dredge reaches the ocean floor. Depth readouts are calculated beforehand to determine how deep the dredge will need to drop. With this information the dredge cable is let out at a 3.5:1 ratio, meaning for every meter of ocean depth we are in, 3.5 meter of cable is let out. With this ratio the dredge is dropped with an angle that keeps it flat to the ocean floor. The crane operator is also reading a line tension readout in the crane booth to determine when the dredge has hit the ocean floor. We are typically in 200–350 ft of water when these dredges occur. The dredge travels behind the boat for 15 minutes, and is then pulled in.
On the dredge is a sensor called the “Star-Oddi.” This sensor detects the pitch and roll to make sure it was lying flat on the bottom of the ocean. The Star-Oddi also collects temperature and depth information as the dredge is traveling. The sensor is taken out of the dredge once it is brought up so watch-chief can see if the dredge was functioning properly throughout the tow.
University of Maine student Dylan Benoit is taking out the Star-Oddi after a dredge.
Once the dredge is hauled up, it is dumped onto a large metal table that the science crew stands around. Two of the Hugh R Sharp’s vessel technicians then scoop the collected haul to an awaiting science crew.
The dredge is unloaded with a good haul of scallops.
The science crew will then divide the haul into several different collection pails. The main objective of this crew is to collect scallops. Scallops collected are organized into different sizes. Fish are also collected and organized by a NOAA scientist who can properly identify the fish. At some of the dredge stations we collect numbers of crabs, waved whelks, and sea stars as well.
This dredge was especially sandy. In a typical day we reach around 6-8 dredge stations during our twelve hour shift. Here I am sorting through the sand looking for scallops, fish, crabs, and wave whelks.
Once the haul is collected and sorted, our science team takes the haul into a lab station area. In the lab, several pieces of data are collected. If we are at a station where crabs and whelks are collected, then the number of those are recorded as well. Fish taken from the dredge are sorted by species, some species are weighed and measured for length. Some of the species of fish are measured and some are counted by NOAA scientists.
In the dry lab the midnight to noon science crew takes measurements and records data.
Also in this lab station, all of the collected scallops are measured for their shell height. A small sample of scallops are shucked (opened) to expose the meat and gonads, which are individually weighed and recorded. Once opened we also identify if a scallop is diseased, specifically looking for shell blisters, nematodes, Orange-nodules, or gray meats.
Scallop disease guide posted in the dry lab.
Also at this station, the gender of the scallop is identified. You can identify the gender by the color of the gonad. Males have a white gonad, while a female’s looks red or pink. Finally at this station, commensal organisms are checked for. A common relationship we have seen during this trip is that of the scallop and red hake. The red hake is a small fish that is believed to use the scallop shell as shelter while it is young. As they get older, red hake have been identified to be in the depression around the scallop, still trying to use the scallop for shelter, even though it can no longer fit inside.
A shucked clam that had a red hake living inside of it when it was collected in the dredge.
After that has happened the shells are cleaned and given an ID number. These scallop shells are bagged up, to be further examined in NOAA labs by a scientist that specializes in scallop aging.
These scallops have been shucked, and now their shells will be researched by a scallop aging expert at NOAA. My job is to be the recorder for the cutter. I do the final cleaning on the scallop shells, tag them, and bag them.
If you’d like to know how this process works, watch the video below. The watch-chief, Nicole Charriere, of the science crew members I work with, explains the process in this short clip.
Transcript:
(0:00) Nichole Charriere. I’m the watch chief on the day watch, so working with Terry. I’ve been working at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center for about 6 ½ years. When we’re out here on deck, basically, we put a small sensor on the dredge that helps monitor the pitch, the roll, and kind of whether the dredge is fishing right side up or upside down. And we offload that sensor after every tow, put a new one on, and that sensor will tell us basically how that dredge is fishing, because we always want the dredge to be in contact with the bottom, fishing for the entire 15 minutes if we can.
(0:45) The dredge is deployed 15 minutes for the bottom and then it comes back up and then the catch is dumped on the table. Then depending on how far away the next station is, sometimes we take out crabs and whelks, and we account for the amount of starfish that are in each tow because those are predators of scallops. So we want to make sure that we’re kind of tracking the amount of predation that’s in the area. And you usually find if you have sometimes a lot of starfish, a lot of crabs of certain sizes, you’ll find less starfish. I mean you’ll find less scallops.
(1:22) After the entire catch is sorted, we’re bringing it to the lab. We have scallops, we have scallops “clappers,” which are dead scallops that still have the hinge attached, and that’s important for us because we can track mortality. Once the hinge kind of goes away, the shell halves separate. Can’t really tell how recently it’s died. But while that hinge is intact, you can tell it’s basically dead recently. So you kind of get a decent idea of scallop mortality in that area like that.
(1:52) Scallop, scallop clappers, we kind of count fish, we kind of measure usually commercially important ones as well. Then we take scallop meat weights, so we open up the scallop– Terry’s been doing a lot of that too– open up the scallop, we kind of blot the meat weight so it’s like a dry meat weight, and we measure, we weigh the gonad as well, and that kind of tracks the health of the scallop.
(2:21) And then the rest of us are doing lengths of the scallop, and that’s so that we get a length frequency of the scallops that are in the area. Usually we’re looking for about… if you look at the graph it’s like a bell curve, so you kind of get an average, and then you get a few smaller scallops and a few larger scallops. And that’s pretty much it. We’re taking length frequencies and we’re looking at the health of the scallops.
Personal Log
From the time I woke up on Tuesday till about the time I went to bed that night, sea-sickness was getting the best of me. I listened to the advice of the experienced sailors on board, and kept working through the sickness. Even though I felt sick most of the day, and I just wanted the day to end at that point. However, I was rewarded by sticking it out, and not going to my room to lay down, by one of the most incredible sites I’ve ever seen. From about 4pm til about 8pm, many humpback whales were all around our boat. We had a little down time waiting to get to the next dredge spot, so I was watching the horizon just trying to get my sea-sickness in check. As I was sitting by the side of the boat, I saw a whale towards the bow of the ship. I got out my camera and was in the right place at the right time to get a video of it. It was one of the most amazing sites I’ve ever seen.
Video of a humpback whale diving near R/V Hugh R. Sharp
Fluke of a humpback whale diving next to R/V Hugh R. Sharp
Did You Know?
The typical bleached white sand dollars that most people are accustomed to seeing as decorations are not the actual look of living sand dollars. In one of our dredge catches, we collected thousands of sand dollars, and only a couple were bleach white in color. Sand dollars are part of the echinoderm family. They move around on the ocean floor, and bury themselves in the sand. The sand dollars use the hairs (cillia) on their body to catch plankton and move it towards their mouth. The bleached white sand dollars that most people think of when they think of a sand dollar is just their exoskeleton remains.
2016 Mission: Atlantic Scallop/Benthic Habitat Survey
Geographical Area of Cruise: Northeastern U.S. Atlantic Coast
Date: June 21, 2016
The Atlantic Sea Scallop – More Than Meets the Eye
Mission and Geographical Area:
The University of Delaware’s ship, R/V Sharp, is on a NOAA mission to assess the abundance and age distribution of the Atlantic Sea Scallop along the Eastern U.S. coast from Mid Atlantic Bight to Georges Bank. NOAA does this survey in accordance with Magnuson Stevens Act requirements.
Science and Technology:
Latitude: 41 16.296 N
Longitude: 68 49.049 W
Clouds: overcast
Visibility: 5-6 nautical miles
Wind: 21.1 knots
Wave Height: 4-6 occasional 8
Water Temperature: 59 F
Air Temperature: 64 F
Sea Level Pressure: 29.9 in of Hg
Water Depth: 101 m
Science Blog:
Sea scallops are unique from clams, molluscs and other bivalves. All of them are filter feeders, but the sea scallop filters out larger sized particles such as diatoms and large protozoans that are larger than 50 micrometers. Clams filter feed on smaller animals and particles that are too small for the scallop to retain and therefore flow right through their digestive system.
Older scallop found in a protected area.
Dr. Scott Gallager is looking inside the stomachs of scallops. His hypothesis is that microplastics are traveling down to the bottom of the ocean, and if they are, the scallop will siphon them into their stomach along with their food.
Microplastics are, as the name suggests, small pieces of plastic measured in micrometers. They may enter the ocean as an object such as a plastic water bottle, but over time with the turbulence of the ocean and the sun’s ultraviolet radiation break down into smaller and smaller pieces.
Another way microplastics are entering the ocean is through the cleaning products we use. Many shampoos, detergents and toothpastes have small beads of plastic in them to add friction which aid the products cleaning potential. Untreated water, such as runoff, has the likelihood of flowing into the ocean bringing microplastics with it.
Small sea scallops.
If a sea scallop ingests microplastics the same size as its food, the scallop will not be getting the nutrients it requires. Large quantities of micro plastics falling to the bottom of the ocean would obviously cause the health of scallops to deteriorate.
Another interesting story of the sea scallop is its “attachment” to the red hake. It is not a physical attachment. There appears to be a sentimental attachment between the two even though that is obviously not possible.
The red hake is a fish that starts out its life as a small juvenile without any protection. It finds a home and refuge inside a sea scallop shell. The sea scallop almost befriends the little red hake and allows it to live behind its photoreceptive eyes, next to the mantle.
Red hake minnow.
Red hake minnow found in its scallop.
The fish curls its body into the same contour shape as the scallop. The little fish can swim in at times of danger and the scallop will close its shells to protect them both. After the threat has passed the scallop opens its shells and the little red hake can swim out.
Red hake did not make it in before closing time.
There seems to be some commensalism between the two. Commensalism is the relationship between two different species where each live together without any one feeding off of the other. They live in harmony with each other neither hurting the other. It is not known whether the fish feeds on the scallops’ parasites or if they just coexist together.
It is clear something is happening between the two, because after the red hake grows and no longer fits inside the shell, the fish will still live next to the scallop. It now will curl itself around the outside of the shell. Looking at HabCam pictures, it appears to curl around a scallop even if the scallop is no longer alive. Could it really be the same scallop it lived in as a minnow?
Red hake curled around its scallop. Picture taken from the HabCam.
Red hake numbers increase in areas where there are larger, more mature, sea scallops present. What connects two together? Is there some chemical connection where the fish can identify the scallop it “grew up” with?
Why is the red hake red? The red hake is part of the cod family. The other fish such as the silver hake, spotted hake, white hake and haddock do not act like red hake. Red hake are the same color as the scallop. Coincidence? Maybe.
Is the red hake now protecting the scallop as it curls around it? The scallop protected the young fish for as long as it could, so now is the Red hake returning the favor? The main predator of the scallop is the starfish. A starfish would have to climb over the fish to get to the scallop. The red hake would not allow the starfish to get that far.
Red hake have a swim bladder that erupt when brought to the surface.
Is the red hake still just protecting itself? When curled around the scallop, the fish blends in with the scallops red color and is in a sense camouflaging itself from its enemies. In this sense, the scallop is still allowing the red hake to hide, but this time in plain sight.
The Atlantic sea scallop is more interesting than expected. It is curious how the scallop seems to realize how close it is to other scallops. Without having a fully functioning brain, just groupings of neural ganglia, acting as a control center for a bodily functions or movement, how can the scallop decide the best place to live? Do they move in search of a better habitat? How do they know to disperse within their area so they are relatively the same distance apart as seen on the HabCam? Is it competition for food?
Could it be their photosensitive eyes can’t tell the difference of movement of a predator to that of another scallop? They seem to be able to tell the difference between a sea fish predator and one that is not. Why are they so tolerant of the red hake? More questions than answers.
The HabCam is a wonderful tool for studying these questions and more. So little is understood about the habitats within the oceans. It has been easier to study space than to study the depths of our own planet. This is a very exciting time in oceanic research. The HabCam will reveal what has been covered with a blanket of water.
Personal Blog:
We spent a little more time at Woods Hole. Jim, the ship’s captain, hired a crew of scuba divers to scrub off the barnacles growing on the rudder. I was lucky enough to find a tour of some of the labs at Woods Hole. Scott called around to his colleagues and discovered there was a tour for teachers occurring at that moment when we arrived.
Alvin the deep sea submersible in dry dock.
I quickly was sent on a campus bus with Ken, a man working in the communications department, also with a science degree. I think he said it was in physical geology. Everyone around here has multiple degrees and they are often opposite what you would imagine. Such diversity makes some very interesting people to chat with.
In the teacher tour was a former TAS (Teacher at Sea). She was here because she won a touring trip to Woods Hole, so we had some time to chat over lunch about our experiences. We agreed the TAS is one of the best teacher development opportunities out there for all teachers and I think we convinced a third to apply for next year.
I never got the long walk I had planned on, but a much better one learning more about Woods Hole. Ken even took me to see Alvin, the deep sea submersible that lives on the Atlantis. The Atlantis was leaving Alvin behind on its latest mission so Ken showed it to me. The navy is using it this time.
I’ve been feeling great and even got on the exercise bike. Today we will be HabCaming the entire day. It is a nice rest compared to the physical work of dredging from the last two days. Both HabCam and dredging have their benefits. Together they create a much better understanding of what’s below us.
While I’ve been writing this the wind has picked up 10 knots. The waves are 4-6 ft high with an occasional 8ft and it doesn’t look like it will let up. The HabCaming continues but it is harder to keep it level. They are considering going in early if the weather continues to get worse. I believe Tasha said we were a bit ahead of schedule so that wouldn’t be so bad for the survey. Before that happens, there is more dredging to do.
NOAA Teacher at Sea Donna Knutson
Aboard R/V Hugh R. Sharp June 8 – June 24, 2016
2016 Mission: Atlantic Scallop/Benthic Habitat Survey Geographical Area of Cruise: Northeastern U.S. Atlantic Coast Date: June 16, 2016
Dredging
Mission and Geographical Area:
The University of Delaware’s ship, R/V Sharp, is on a NOAA mission to assess the abundance and age distribution of the Atlantic Sea Scallop along the Eastern U.S. coast from Mid Atlantic Bight to Georges Bank. NOAA does this survey in accordance with Magnuson Stevens Act requirements.
Science and Technology:
Latitude: 40 32.475 N
Longitude: 67 59.499 W
Clouds: overcast
Visibility: 5-6 nautical miles
Wind: 7.4 knots
Wave Height: 1-4 ft.
Water Temperature: 53 F
Air Temperature: 63 F
Sea Level Pressure: 29.9 in of Hg
Water Depth: 103 m
Science Blog:
Paired with the HabCam, dredging adds more data points to the scallop survey and also to habitat mapping. Various locations are dredged based on a stratified random sampling design. This method uses the topography of the ocean bottom as a platform and then overlays a grid system on top. The dredged areas, which are selected randomly by a computer program, allow for a good distribution of samples from the area based on topography and depth.
Vic and Tasha sewing up the net on the dredge.
A typical dredge that used for the survey is similar to those used by commercial fisherman, but it is smaller with a width of 8 ft. and weight of 2000 lbs. It is towed behind a ship with a 9/16 cable attached to a standard winch. Dredges are made from a heavy metal such as steel and is covered in a chain mesh that is open in the front and closed on the other three sides making a chain linked net made of circular rings.
A fisherman’s dredge has rings large enough for smaller animals to fall through and become released to the bottom once again. The dredge in a survey has a mesh lining to trap more creatures in order to do a full survey of the animals occupying a specific habitat.
There are three categories of catch received in a dredge: substrate, animals and shell. A qualitative assessment on percent abundance of each is done for every dredge. Not all animals are measured, but all are noted in the database.
Dredge being dumped on sorting table.
A length measurement is taken for every scallop, goosefish (also called monkfish), cod, haddock, as well as many types of flounder and skate. A combined mass is taken for each species in that dredged sample. Some animals are not measured for length, like the wave whelk (a snail), Jonah crab, and fish such as pipefish, ocean pout, red hake, sand lance; for these and several other types of fish, just a count and weight of each species is recorded.
Sorting the dredged material.
Other animals may be present, but not
counted or measured and therefore are called bycatch. Sand dollars make up the majority of bycatch. Sponges, the polychaete Aphrodite, hermit crabs, shrimp and various shells are also sorted through but not counted or measured.
Ocean pout
All of the dredge material that is captured is returned to the ocean upon the required sorting, counting and measuring. Unfortunately, most of the fish and invertebrates do not survive the ordeal. That is why it is important to have a good sampling method and procedure to get the best results from the fewest dredge stations needed.
Goosefish, often called Monkfish, eat anything.
The dredge is placed on the bottom for only fifteen minutes. There are sensors on the frame of the dredge so computers can monitor when the collection was started and when to stop. Sensors also make certain each dredge is positioned correctly in the water to get the best representation of animals in that small sample area.
Entering the name of the animals to be measured.
Even with sensors and scientists monitoring computers and taking animal measurements, the dredging can only give a 30-40% efficiency rating of the actual animals present. Dredging with the aid of the HabCam and partnerships with many scientific organizations, along with data from commercial fisherman and observer data, create a picture of abundance and distribution which can be mapped.
Adductor muscle the “meat” of the scallop. This one is unhealthy.
In the scallop survey the emphasis is on where are the most scallops present and this aids fisherman in selecting the best places to fish. The survey also suggests where areas should be closed to fishing for a period, allowing scallops to grow and mature before harvesting.
This management practice of opening closed areas on a rotational basis has been accepted as beneficial for science, management, and fishermen. This method of balancing conservation and fishing protects habitats while still supplying the world with a food supply that is highly valued.
Personal Blog:
Being part of a dredging team is exciting. It is a high energy time from the moment the contents are dropped on the sorting platform to the end when everything is rinsed off to get ready for the next drop.
Kateryn “Kat” Delgado
I wanted to take pictures of everything, but with gloves on it was hard to participate and help out or just be the bystander/photographer. Kateryn Delgado from Queens NY, a volunteer/student/scientist/yoga instructor/photographer, was very helpful. She was involved in other surveys and often took pictures for me.
I did find it sad that the animals we sorting were not going to live long once returned to sea, but that is a part of the dredging that is inevitable. Raw data needs to be collected. After measuring, a percentage of the scallops were dissected to get their sex, abductor muscle (meat), and stomach. Shell size was compared to the meat and gonad mass and is also used to age the scallop. The stomach was removed to test for microplastics. Dr. Gallager and his research team are studying microplastics in the ocean. Scallops filter relatively large particles for a filter feeder, and therefore are a good species to monitor the abundance of plastics at the bottom of the ocean.
The weather has been nice, not very warm, but the waves are low. Just the way I like them. We are making our way back to Woods Hole to refuel and get groceries. I didn’t realize we would split up the leg into two parts. We should be in around 10:00 a.m. I’m going to go for a long walk since there is not a lot of opportunity for exercise on the ship. Hope it’s sunny!
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