Tag: seabirds

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Jeff Lawrence, May 26, 2006

NOAA Teacher at Sea
Jeff Lawrence
Onboard NOAA Ship Rainier
May 22 – June 2, 2006

Mission: Hydrography survey
Geographical area of cruise: Alaska
Date: May 26, 2006

several of the deck crewmembers recovering RA 1 back to the RAINIER for the day.
several of the deck crewmembers recovering RA 1 back to the RAINIER for the day.

Weather Data from Bridge
Visibility: 10.0 miles
Wind direction: 70 degrees ENE
Wind Speed:  3 knots
Sea level pressure: 1016 mb
Present weather: overcast 1400’ clouds above ground
Temperature:  50 deg. wet/dry 52 deg.

Science and Technology Log 

Today the ship will raise anchor and head for Biorka Island.  First the crew will have to secure the temporary tide station equipment and make sure all the lines have been completed for the Wrangell Narrows.  While onboard I have had the chance to meet all of the crew of the RAINIER. The Chief Boatswain is Steve Foye and he has been a part of NOAA for 20 years now. He has served on many ships and is now on the RAINIER.  His duties include making sure all boat launches are conducted in a timely and safe manner.  When boats finish their day Steve and his crew are responsible for getting the boats back onboard the RAINIER for the night.  They also make sure the boats are fueled and ready for the next days work. Without Steve and the other deck hands little would get accomplished throughout the day. Steve is chief of the deck and is helped by

  • Able Bodied Seamen: Leslie Abramson, Jodie Edmond, and Jonathan Anderson
  • Ordinary Seamen: Dennis Brooks and Megan Guberski
  • General Vessel Assistant: Kelson Baird
  • Deck Utility Man: Kenneth Keys
  • Seaman Surveyors: Carl Verplank and Corey Muzzey
  • Boatswain Group Leader: Erik Davis
Steve Foye, Chief of the Deck Crew and admirer of nature!
Steve Foye, Chief of the Deck Crew and admirer of nature!

As you can tell it takes a lot of people working together to make sure the RAINIER gets boats in and out of the water, to their destinations, and ready for the next day.  The crew aboard the RAINIER are very skilled in what they do. Steve is also very interested in the local wildlife, marine mammals, and fauna of the Alaskan coastline.  He has had many years of experience in identifying the wildlife of this area. Anytime there happens to be wildlife near the ship, Steve is quick to tell me about it so that I can photograph the animals.  Chief Foye has a wealth of documents from the Alaskan Wildlife and Fisheries Department that help to identify the varying wildlife in the area. While onboard the RAINIER I have had the opportunity to view three Northern Sea Lions, two Alaskan Black Bears, numerous Sitka Black-Tailed Deer, a Dall’s Porpoise, many species of ducks and other birds, including the American Bald Eagle. I’ve only been aboard for 5 days and have taken numerous photos of local wildlife that I can share when with students when I return to Oklahoma.  Chief Foye has sat down with me to help me identify all the wildlife I’ve seen so far and pointed out some that he still expects to see on our way to Biorka Island.

Tomorrow we leave for Biorka Island and I am told that there is a good chance we will spot various species of porpoises and maybe a few whales. We should arrive at Biorka Island sometime Saturday afternoon where the crew will begin readying their plans for running lines of that area.

Personal Log 

Today I roamed through the ship talking to people aboard the RAINIER with various jobs. I learned many specifics about each of the crew and their responsibilities and also learned a little about them personally. The RAINIER has a good mix of people who seem to work well together.  All the crew’s members have treated me very well and I am enjoying my time aboard the RAINIER.

Questions of the Day 

Can you name 10 marine mammals that can found in Alaskan waters sometime throughout the year?

Can you name land mammals that can found in Alaska?

Can you name 10 bird species that live or migrate to Alaska?

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Kazu Kauinana, May 20, 2006

NOAA Teacher at Sea
Kazu Kauinana
Onboard NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette
May 9 – 23, 2006

Mission: Fisheries Survey
Geographical Area: Hawaiian Islands
Date: May 20, 2006

Weather Data from Bridge 
Latitude:  24, 12.5 N
Longitude: 166, 50.6 W
Visibility:  10 Nm
Wind direction:  95
Wind speed:  25 Kts
Sea wave height: 3-4
Sea swell height:  5-7
Seawater temperature: 25.0
Sea level pressure: 1022.2
Cloud cover: 1/8 cumulus, cirrus

Science and Technology Log 

This morning I spoke with the Lead Electrical Technician John Skinner.  He has been following the progress of the bust I am creating of Lead scientist, Chad Yoshinaga.  He told me that he liked the sculpture and that it has been great having an art teacher at sea this time around.  Apparently I am the first, and the perspective I have given has been interesting and different from the science teachers.

He is also the computer guy for the ship and he spends his spare time taking digital photos and putting together slide shows.  Anyway, he asked me if I would like to see it, and of course I said yes. It was awesome!  It was pictures that he and others had taken on many of the various trips out to the Hawaiian Archipelago.  It includes pictures of the voyage I am on, only much better.  He gave me a copy and I can’t wait to show you guys this DVD. It will blow you away! He also told me about a book called Archipelago that has fantastic photos of these atolls.

The rest of the day I worked on my sculpture and watched the fishermen.  They caught Bull Dorado (mahi-mahi), Ahi and Uku.  BeegBahgahs!!!

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Kazu Kauinana, May 19, 2006

NOAA Teacher at Sea
Kazu Kauinana
Onboard NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette
May 9 – 23, 2006

Mission: Fisheries Survey
Geographical Area: Hawaiian Islands
Date: May 19, 2006

Weather Data from Bridge 
Latitude:  25, 55.0 N
Longitude: 170, 58.5 W
Visibility:  10 NM
Wind direction:  115
Wind Speed:  115Kts
Sea wave heights: 3-5
Sea swell heights: 4-6
Seawater temperature: 24.6 C
Sea level pressure: 1019.4
Cloud cover: 2/8 cumulus

Science and Technology Log 

Today we had a fire drill, followed by an abandon ship drill.  Both were executed well.

All of our island adventures are over and we are on our way back home.  We should arrive either Monday night or Tuesday morning.

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Kazu Kauinana, May 18, 2006

NOAA Teacher at Sea
Kazu Kauinana
Onboard NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette
May 9 – 23, 2006

Mission: Fisheries Survey
Geographical Area: Hawaiian Islands
Date: May 18, 2006

Weather Data from Bridge 
Latitude:  27, 02.0 N
Longitude: 173, 54.3 W
Visibility:  10 NM
Wind direction:  160
Wind speed:  16 Kts
Sea wave heights: 3-4
Sea swell heights: 4-6
Seawater temperature: 23.1
Sea level pressure: 1019
Cloud cover: 8/8 cumulus

Science and Technology Log 

Today we are off loading three scientists and their gear onto Southeast Island in Pearl and Hermes Atoll.  “The atoll derives its name from those of two English whaling vessels, the ‘Pearl’ and the ‘Hermes,’ which ran aground at nearly the same time on the then unknown reef during the night of 25 April 1822. No lives were lost and provisions and timber were salvaged and used to sustain the crews for two months during which they built a schooner from the salvaged timbers.  Shortly before the crews were ready to launch their new schooner, named the ‘Deliverance,’ another ship—the ‘Thames’—was saved from disaster on the reef.  Captain Phillips of the ‘Hermes’ was able to warn her  captain in time.  While most of the two crews were safely taken off the reef by the ‘Thames,’ 12 elected to sail the ‘Deliverance’ into Honolulu” (Hawaiian Mission Children’s Society Library, Missionary Letters; Bryan, 1942: 197).

All of these atolls are filled with a history of shipwrecks and survivors who salvaged their food supplies, water, tools, and building materials from their grounded ships; lived on these tiny uninhabited islands for as long as six months; and built a boat and sailed back to the high islands. I just spent two days helping unload provisions for seven people to last six months on the island of Kure.  If you’ve never really looked at a map and seen just how isolated these atolls are, do it, and you may be surprised.

And just what were all these sailors doing up around these parts?  Well here’s a good example:

“During the off season of sea otter hunting, the Japanese schooner ‘Ada’ was chartered by an American, George Mansfield, and his friends.  They sailed from Yokohama, Japan, on 10 December 1881, bound first for the Bonin Islands and thence to the Northwestern Hawaiians hoping for a cargo of fish, shark, turtle and beche-de-mer.  On 19 January 1882 the ‘Ada’, commanded by Harry Hardy, anchored off Pearl and Hermes Reef and in the next two days her crew of 17 killed 28 turtles and collected 54 beche-de-mer and 43 pounds of albatross down.  The down was obtained by killing the chicks, dipping them in boiling water, and then stripping off the feathers; petrels, boobies, and frigates were treated in like fashion. The ‘Ada’ visited the remaining islands down to French Frigate Shoals and stopped a second time at Midway in May 1882 to reprovision before returning to Japan” (Hornell, 1934: 426-432).

Yes, I eat fish and chicken, and I even owned a down jacket when I lived in New York City.  I guess I’ve got to be more careful about where these products are coming from and not support the depletion of an entire species.  Ironically, the species that may be on its way to extinction is us. We really should be paying close attention to what scientists are telling us about what is happening to the planet and all the life that lives on it. We have really made a mess of things, but with education and awareness, there still might be hope for our grandchildren, our children, and, believe it or not, us. We are already being affected by our destructive actions. There is a great article in the April 3, 2006 issue of Time magazine about “global warming,” and evidence that the earth is now at the TIPPING POINT! READ IT!! Am I making you worried? Good. The article is called “Be Worried.  Be Very Worried.”

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Kazu Kauinana, May 16, 2006

NOAA Teacher at Sea
Kazu Kauinana
Onboard NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette
May 9 – 23, 2006

Mission: Fisheries Survey
Geographical Area: Hawaiian Islands
Date: May 16, 2006

Weather Data from Bridge 
Latitude:  28, 23.9 N
Longitude: 178, 25.0 W
Visibility:  10 NM
Sea wave heights: 2-3
Sea swell heights: 3-4
Seawater temperature: 24.0 C
Sea level Pressure:  1/8 Cumulus

Science and Technology Log 

Today we began to off load gear and seven personnel onto Green Island, the main island of Kure Atoll, as well as the farthest west and last island in the Hawaiian chain.  This island did not experience any bird poaching or guano mining, but in 1960 it became a United States Coast Guard LORAN (long-range navigation) station.  The major features of the station were a barracks, a signal/power building, a transmitter building, a pump house, seven fuel tanks, a 4,000-foot-long runway and a 625-foot-high LORAN tower.  The only features remaining are parts of the barracks and the runway, which is unused and disintegrating. There is also a small pier that is being used by the researchers.  It is now a wildlife refuge under the jurisdiction of the Hawaii Fish and Game Department.

The island is heavily vegetated with not only shrubs, grasses, and crawling vines, but also several kinds of trees. Verbesina is now growing out of control and a landscaper is a part of this crew to eradicate this invasive species.  It grows so thick that it does not allow ground nesting birds like the Blue Faced Booby to utilize them.  It also poisons the ground so that other plants cannot grow where they have established themselves.

I should mention that this is not a quarantine island like Laysan, Lisianski, and Pearl/Hermes.  Too many invasive species had been brought in with the development of the station to warrant that designation.  One of the invaders is a crawling weed with half-inch thorns and easily goes right through your slippers.  When the women opened the barracks to check it out, it was filled with cane spiders on the walls and ceiling; and the floor was covered with a carpet of dead ants that the spiders had eaten.  There are also rats and at one time there was a dog, left there by a rescued shipwrecked crew.  However, it was eaten by a crew that was shipwrecked later on.  The atoll is notorious for shipwrecks.

I saw turtles and seals too.  In fact, I had to get out of the water several times because the seals would swim towards me to see what I was doing there.  We always had to steer clear of all the animals so as not to disturb them or have them become familiar with humans.

Green island is located on the inner side of a large ring of reef.  Within this reef, it is relatively shallow and outside the ring it is very deep; rough water on the ocean side and calm on the lagoon side; and sloping fine sand beaches on the inside and course and rugged on the ocean side.  The camp and pier are on the lagoon side of the island.

Most of the day I was a “mule,” carrying six months worth of supplies from the shuttling Zodiac to the spider’s nest (the barracks). Lots of thorns, soft fine sand, hot sun, but no ticks.

At the end of the day I was rewarded by being allowed to visit the “AHU” (alter or shrine) that the crew from the Hawaiian sailing vessel, The Hokulea, had built on a recent visit to this island.  It is located in a spectacular site on the wild ocean side of the island just up in a safe spot from the water’s edge.  It is comprised of several large coral heads comfortably arranged with a Hawaiian adze placed in the middle, inscribed with the title “NAVIGATING CHANGE.”  I was deeply moved!