NOAA Teacher at Sea
Greta Dykstra-Lyons
Onboard NOAA Ship David Starr Jordan August 1 – 20, 2005
Mission: Cetacean Abundance Survey Geographical Area: U.S. West Coast Date: August 13, 2005
Profile of Another Crewmember
Name: Laura Morse Age: 36 Home: Portsmouth, NH College: SUNY Buffalo, NY Majors: Biology and anthropology Job: Field Biologist (specializing in marine mammals) Position on the DAVID STARR JORDAN: Mammal Observer Years of experience: 11 Months at sea this year: 9 (including work with river dolphins in Cambodia) Best part of job: Travel, being on the ocean, and the freedom and flexibility the job offers| Concerns: Coastal pollution and fisheries interaction Favorite species: North Atlantic right whales Continents visited: 7
NOAA Teacher at Sea
Greta Dykstra-Lyons
Onboard NOAA Ship David Starr Jordan August 1 – 20, 2005
Jose Coito
Mission: Cetacean Abundance Survey Geographical Area: U.S. West Coast Date: August 9, 2005
Profiles of Four Crewmembers
Name: Jose Coito; Age: 52; Home: San Diego; Position: Lead Fisherman–Deck department; Years on DAVID STARR JORDAN: 12; Previous experience: 22 years as a tuna fisherman; Favorite part of job: Working with different people, going different places, getting close to the whales in the small boat; Favorite port: “All good. Most every port we have a good time…eat, drink, have fun.” Most enjoyable cruise: Southern shark cruise; Number of continents visited: 4
Name: Annie Douglass; Age: 29; Home: Olympia, WA; College: Evergreen College, WA; Major: BA Science; Job: Mammal Biologist at Cascadia Research Collective;
Annie Douglass
Position on DAVID STARR JORDAN: Mammal Observer/Mammal Photographer; Years of experience: 8 years; Months at sea this year: 6 months; Best part of job: Getting close to the mammals in a small boat; Memorable sighting: Observing 12 killer whales attack a stellar seal lion in the Olympic Coast Sanctuary; Concerns for marine mammals: Run-off contaminants effect on coastal animals and under water noise pollution impact on whales; Favorite species: Blue whales and humpback whales; Continents visited: 3;
Thomas Staudt
Name: Thomas Staudt; Age: 56; Home: Tucson, AZ; College: University of Iowa; Major: Psychology; Job: Seasonal/Transient Employee; Position on DAVID STARR JORDAN: Bird Observer; Years of experience: 30; Months at sea this year: 4; Memorable sighting: The first North American sighting of the Hornsby’s storm petrel off the DAVID STARR JORDAN last week! Concerns for seabirds: Loss of breeding habitat; Favorite species: Penguin; Continents visited: 7
Name: Candy Hall; Age: 29; Home: Cape Town, South African and York, England; College: University of Cape Town; Major: BSc Honors in Oceanography (working on masters); Job: Student; Position on DAVID STARR JORDAN: Oceanographer; Years of experience: 10; Months at sea this year: 4; Best part of job: Ship life; Memorable sighting: A pod of killer whales right next to zodiac–too close to get a photo (2001, Oregon coast); Concerns for oceans: Anthropogenic pollution and over population; Favorite species: Killer whale; Continents visited: 4
NOAA Teacher at Sea
Philip Hertzog
Onboard NOAA Ship Rainier July 25 – August 13, 2005
Mission: Hydrographic Survey Geographical Area: Aleutian Islands, AK Date: August 8, 2005
Weather Data from Bridge
Latitude: 56˚ 00.3’ N
Longitude: 158˚ 45.7’ W
Visibility: 10 nm
Wind Direction: light
Wind Speed: airs
Sea Wave Height: 0 feet
Sea Water Temperature: 12.2˚ C
Sea Level Pressure: 1006.0 mb
Cloud Cover: 1, cumulus, altocumulus
Ensign Jennings at work
Science and Technology Log
I slept in an extra hour and set about doing my laundry and log entries since I stayed aboard the RAINIER today. Given a quiet day, I focused today’s entry on careers with NOAA to provide information to students wanting a life of adventure while helping the environment. Congress created NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) in 1970 to bring together several agencies under one roof. Congress recognized that the oceans of the world are closely tied to our atmosphere and we need to manage them through one organization. You best know NOAA through the National Weather Service which provides you with daily weather forecasts. However, NOAA has other branches that protect fish and marine wildlife; manage marine sanctuaries; observe changes in the environment; warn people about approaching tsunamis; respond to oil spills and disasters; and chart coastlines and bottom depths to protect vessels. On the RAINIER, we have two categories of jobs: civilian and commissioned officers. I will save the civilian jobs for another entry and we’ll look at the officers today. The NOAA Officer Corps is a uniformed branch of the United States military. Most officers spend two years assigned to a ship and then rotate to a land job for three years. The rotation starts over again and you can retire with a pension after twenty years. Ensign Andrew Halbach told me he could retire at age 43, though I believe he will stay with NOAA much longer and command his own ship someday.
At the computers
You must apply to join the NOAA Officer Corps and only dedicated people get accepted. Ensign Laurel Jennings told me you need a four year college degree with a major in math, engineering or science. You also must be in good health, pass a physical exam and be 35 years old or younger. NOAA asks for four letters of recommendation from professional contacts and answers to several pages of questions. You also need to pass a police background check and be interviewed by one of NOAA’s officers. Several ensigns told me this process takes from several months to half a year. Once accepted as an Officer Corps candidate, you go to the Kings Point Merchant Marine Academy located on Long Island, NY for three months of intensive training. The candidates train in safety, water rescue, navigation, CPR/first aid, ship fire fighting, knots, and ship handling. A few weeks before completing training, NOAA holds a formal ceremony to announce the ship assignment for the next two years.
Ensign Jennings told me she got on board the RAINIER in June and continues her training on the job. Her primary focus has been on ship duties such as bridge watch, navigation and ship operations. As she becomes confident on ship procedures, her training will shift to learning how to conduct hydrographic mapping and operating the computers. Ensign Jennings has a Bachelor of Science degree in zoology from the University of Texas at Austin. She worked as an intern at Disney World’s Living Seas exhibit in Florida where she scuba dived, fed the aquarium fish, scrubbed tanks, and talked to the public. She moved to Boston after graduation and found that a Bachelor’s degree was not enough to get a satisfying job. She wanted to work in science and with people, but not in a lab all day. Ensign Jennings said the NOAA Officer Corps was perfect for her.
Over the past two weeks, I have talked to several Ensigns about their next assignments. Ensign Andrew Halbach will move to Washington, D.C. next year and work on remote sensing from airplanes. He will travel 150 days a year to various locations throughout the United States. In December Ensign Briana Welton will command her own skiff and crew on the east coast. Whenever a hurricane hits, Ensign Welton will be one of the first people into the disaster area to chart how navigation channels have been affected by storm damage. In the past, other Ensigns have gone on to work on designing tsunami detection buoys and underwater vehicles. Many other opportunities exist both on land and at sea for young people seeking adventure.
In addition to exciting career opportunities, an Officer Corps member can advance in rank as he or she gains experience and the confidence of senior officers. All Corps members start out at the rank of Ensign. You then can be promoted in progression to Lt. Junior Grade, Lieutenant, Lt. Commander, Commander, Captain, and finally only one officer gets to be the Admiral.
Personal Log
I wish I could be 35 or younger now! The NOAA Officer Corps has a lot of exciting opportunities that many young people don’t know about. I think about the adventures I’ve missed because no teacher ever told me about NOAA.
Many exciting opportunities exist for young people if they get the right education and study hard in school. As a teacher I feel a responsibility to make sure students have the skills to take advantage of the careers and adventure that exist not only with NOAA, but with other organizations. Too often I see students playing video games or ignoring homework instead of preparing themselves for the future. Hopefully they can learn to dedicate themselves to learning and preparation like the young ensigns on board the RAINIER.
Question of the Day
Why is a well-rounded, college education important for today’s young adults?
The last dive of the research cruise couldn’t have been more exhilarating. Unfazed by the gusty winds, choppy seas, and ripping ocean currents, the divers explored one last shipwreck on the ocean floor. The Naeco was a U.S. tanker that was destroyed by a Nazi U-boat during WWII. The torpedo shattered the Naeco’s bow and stern into two pieces, sinking them to the ocean bottom nearly 7 miles apart. The divers returned to the surface with stories about the stern (back) of the Naeco and thrilling reports of lionfish of every size and number.
The more I think about my experiences aboard the Invasive Lionfish Cruise, the more I begin to see two parallel themes here: the deep-sea diver and the lionfish. Human action led to the introduction of lionfish into a foreign habitat, but at the same time, one person invented the SCUBA, which introduced humans to the mysteries of the deep-sea.
Thomas Nassif interviews Casey Coy on the dive deck for his video documentary on lionfish and deep-sea divers.
Lionfish can only swim so far north of their tropical paradise in the southeastern Atlantic before the temperature becomes too cold, whereas humans can only dive so deep before the pressure of the sea becomes too great. Lionfish have scales for protection, fins for locomotion, gills for respiration, and swim bladders for buoyancy. SCUBA gear makes it possible for humans to be like fish, even if it adds 200 lbs to your body! They include a BCD (buoyancy compensator device) to control buoyancy, wet suits for protection and insulation, fins for underwater movement, and regulators attached to tanks for respiration. But lionfish are different from most fish because of their venomous spines that make them the “ultimate survivors” in their new habitat. Similarly, SCUBA divers are equipped with high-tech gear that may not be familiar to most people, yet it helps humans to survive and explore the underwater environment.
“The bow of the ship left traces of beautiful pigments on the sky’s canvas, an eternal embrace between the first ember of light and a lucid sky.”
Yet there is one difference between lionfish and humans that became most apparent over the course of my cruise. Whereas lionfish may harm the local ecosystem by lowering the number and diversity of native fish in the Atlantic, deep-sea divers are in a unique position to help our society by increasing our knowledge and creating a better understanding of the importance of preserving native habitats.
Reflections…
On the final morning of the cruise my eyes met a resplendent sunrise that shot stars across the shimmering waters of an endless sea. As we headed to the east I grew quiet within… the bow of the ship almost seemed to leave traces of beautiful pigments on the sky’s canvas, an eternal embrace between the first ember of light and a lucid sky. Land is but hours away, but the memories of this journey will never leave my mind.
Who could forget such a fascinating, diverse group of personalities; Paula the lionfish enthusiast, Doug underwater photographer extraordinaire, Jay and the underwater hunt, Casey and the underwater flex, Christine the lion queen, Roldan king of transect, and last but certainly not least, Joe and the quest for Choco-tacos.
Today the divers explored Lobster Rock, collecting a total of 23 lionfish for the flow through aquarium aboard the ship. Water from the ocean flows into and out of the tank yhrough pipes on the deck to simulate the ocean environment. This brings the total laboratory aquarium at Beaufort.
Today I also interviewed the Chief Scientist, Paula Whitfield. Most amazing to me was how her life story evolved from a childhood fascination with Jacques Cousteau to her current passion for lionfish research. Paula grew up watching the underwater videos of Jacques Cousteau, and it was at that point that she knew she wanted to become a diver. “I was a diver first, but the more I dove, the more I was formulating questions in my mind…I was curious about everything that had to do with water and marine life.” She worked for a sea grass ecologist for many years, not running the show, but she saw how the scientific process worked. Her desire to become a marine biologist grew stronger, and that’s when she decided to return to school to get her graduate degree.
Recently collected lionfish from the ocean floor are transferred to a flow through aquarium aboard the ship.
So how did Paula become one of the leading scientists in lionfish research? She responds: “It stemmed from my recreational diving – I was diving constantly in my spare time, and working for a charter boat business that attracted recreational divers from all over the world.” And then one day she began seeing lionfish off the coast of North Carolina, which was very unusual for this area. Paula knew they were Pacific fish, but she needed proof that lionfish were now in the Atlantic. “From that point on, I collected evidence was finally able to convince NOAA when a world-renown scorpion fish expert confirmed that her collected specimens were lionfish.
Once Paula was aboard a diving ship, and she was ordered to do a routine dive to the ocean bottom. The first thing she saw was right angle patterns, which hardly exist in nature. All of the sudden Paula saw a porthole lying in the sand. Back then she wasn’t a technical diver with all the fancy gear she has today. So she clutched the porthole with her knees and climbed up the anchor line. When Paula reached the surface, everyone aboard the ship stared at her in disbelief when she said: “I think it’s a wreck. I have a porthole.” She fondly remembers feeling “excited to be the first person to dive a virgin shipwreck.”
Diver and Marine Biologist Paula Whitfield swims alongside a lionfish, the focus of her research.
What Paula finds most fascinating about lionfish is how they established themselves in such large numbers in the Atlantic within a short period of time. Because of this she calls lionfish the “ultimate survivors.” But overall, she feels very affectionate towards all sea creatures, including “everything from sea spiders and feather dusters to larger fish because it’s such a different world down there. It’s important for us to know how we’re affecting that world in order to make a positive change.”
Paula’s words of advice for those who want to become marine biologists: “I think it’s important if you can become a diver – just to be able to put your head in the water to see what’s going on is more rewarding than just dropping sensors into the ocean. It opens more doors, and by seeing the environment firsthand you are able to formulate more questions about it. All this helps you become a better marine biologist, even if you don’t dive all the time.”
