snapper – Page 2 – NOAA Teacher at Sea Blog

August 3, 2011March 12, 2021

Jennifer Goldner: Ready to Sail, August 2, 2011

NOAA Teacher at Sea
Jennifer Goldner
Aboard NOAA Ship Oregon II
August 11 — 24, 2011

Mission: Shark Longline Survey
Geographical Area: Southern Atlantic/Gulf of Mexico
Date: August 2, 2011

If you asked me 35 years ago, “Who is your hero?” My reply would’ve been, “Wonder Woman.” If you asked me the same question today, my answer would be “lifelong learners.” It is due to these people that solutions are being found for clean water, that animals are being saved, and that people are being educated at just how fragile our earth is right now. NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) is full of such people (Jennifer Hammond, Liz McMahon, Rob Ostheimer, Elizabeth Bullock, for starters). I have been in contact with each of these individuals. They have one thing in common: a passion about learning. To this end, NOAA has a Teacher at Sea program. This season over 30 were chosen out of the United States. Each of us will be on a different voyage. This is where I come in because I am a 2011 Teacher at Sea. So, who am I?

My name is Jennifer Goldner. I teach 5^th grade science in Room 8 in Jay Upper Elementary School in Jay, Oklahoma. Our town is small in size, but we have big ideas. If we don’t have resources, we find a way to get a project done. Here are just a few of the things we have done: our class has been featured in Popular Science and on Channel 6 News; we’ve worked with U.S. Satellite and Laboratory and NASA; and we’ve designed and built a tree house. We recently took a trip to Space Camp where we took home top honors of having the highest accuracy in completing our missions.

Speaking of mission, let’s get down to business: my NOAA Teacher at Sea assignment. Though I have been to the ocean, I have never sailed on a ship.

Take the poll to tell me if you have traveled on the ocean. I will be traveling aboard the Oregon II in the Gulf of Mexico, August 11-24^th.

There are 3 main types of ships: 1. fisheries research ship, 2. hydrographic survey ship, and 3. oceanic and atmospheric ship. I am on the most physically challenging of all the cruises: the fisheries cruise. I, along with the crew, will be doing 12 hour work shifts. We will be doing a shark and snapper longline survey. I am privileged to be studying with Chief Scientist Mark Grace. His work precedes him. I have already been told he is top notch. He is the Shark Unit Leader. I cannot wait to learn from him! The crew consists of about 30 people, including officers, fishermen, deck crew, engineers, electronics crew, cooks, scientists, and 1 teacher (that would be me). NOAA Ship Oregon II, also referred to as “O2”, is headed by Commanding Officer, Master Dave Nelson. Again, I have heard rave reviews about him. I am anxious to meet him in person!

As for my travel plans, I will fly in to Jacksonville, Florida. I will then spend the night on my new “home away from home,” NOAA Ship Oregon II, in Mayport, Florida. We will depart on August 11^th and sail around the entire coast of Florida. O2 will travel to Pascagoula, Mississippi, arriving on August 24^th. You can follow us on the Ship Tracker.

Current Cruise (8-2-11) for Oregon II on The Ship Tracker — Current Cruise (8-2-11) for NOAA Ship Oregon II on The Ship Tracker

While at sea I will be posting 2-3 blogs a week. Please join in on our polls, read along about our voyage, and post comments and questions. Let’s show NOAA that we are lifelong learners who value the importance of oceanic research. Besides, if you have read this entire blog entry, that makes you my hero.

July 18, 2011April 28, 2021

Maureen Anderson: Introduction, July 15, 2011

NOAA Teacher at Sea
Maureen Anderson
Aboard NOAA Ship Oregon II
July 25 — August 9, 2011

Mission: Shark Longline Survey
Geographical Area: Southern Atlantic/Gulf of Mexico
Date: July 15, 2011

Personal Log

Maureen Anderson, Science Instructor, MS442, Brooklyn NY

Hello! I’d like to introduce myself. My name is Maureen Anderson and I teach middle school science at MS442 in Brooklyn, NY. In one week, I will be leaving for my NOAA Teacher at Sea trip aboard NOAA Ship Oregon II. I’m very excited to be a part of this survey! I don’t have a very strong background in science (I have 4 years of teaching experience – 3 in math and 1 in science), so I’m eager to learn as much as I can and share it with my students and community when I return.

Here’s a little bit of information about the trip. I will be helping scientists survey various fish species in the Gulf of Mexico, with a focus on sharks and snapper. Our boat leaves from Pascagoula, Mississippi on 7/25 and returns to Mayport, Florida on 8/9. We will cruise from one station to another to do hauls and sort through our catch. In this way, scientists get an idea about how many species are in this area and the overall health of these species.

A lot of people have already told me many shark jokes, or given me tips for how to handle a shark. But guess what? I won’t be dealing with sharks in the water directly (no diving on this trip). My students ask me tons of questions about sharks. While I sometimes encounter them during scuba diving, I really don’t know too much about them. So I’m looking forward to learning more about how to identify different shark species and finding out about the their overall health in this area of the world. Overall, I’m also eager to learn about how everything works on a ship, and about the different kinds of science jobs and careers of the crew.

Red Snapper — Red snapper (Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.org)

The Atlantic Sharpnose Shark (photo courtesy of Discovery.com)

I have never slept on a boat before, so I’m hoping that I have no problem adjusting to life at sea for 16 days. I have a ready-to-go seasickness patch just in case… Other than that, I am excited and eager to learn!

I will aim to make a blog post about 3 times a week, so please check back. Feel free to post your comments, feedback, and questions along the way!

June 26, 2011April 28, 2021

John Taylor-Lehman, June 26, 2011

NOAA Teacher at Sea
John Taylor-Lehman
Onboard R/V Savannah
June 24 – July 1, 2011
NOAA Teacher at Sea: John Taylor-Lehman
Ship: R/V Savannah
Mission: Fisheries Survey
Geographical area of the cruise: Continental Shelf off of Florida
Date: Monday 26, June 2011

Weather Data from the Bridge
South West Winds 10-15 knots
Cloudy
Barometric Pressure 29.73

Science and Technology Log

I assisted in deploying and retrieving 6 “chevron” fish traps at a time. This was done several times at designated sites. The traps are pushed off the back of the boat (fantail) and winched up along the starboard side. Two buoys are attached to each trap. The traps rest on the bottom of the Atlantic between 45 and 230 ft. deep. Locations are determined before the cruise but can be changed if necessary. Ideal locations have hard bottom with some relief.

taylor-lehman_log02_page_1_image_0001 — Here I am (left) getting traps ready with the crew

Traps are baited with 24 “menhaden”, which is a type of fish. Some of the bait is suspended in the trap while other rests on the bottom. The traps “soak” for 90 minutes before being retrieved. There is great anticipation as each trap is being winched aboard the ship. We are all hoping for large numbers of our target fish: grouper and snapper.

This collection technique has been used for 22 years, which allows valid comparisons of data over time. The fish found in the traps thus far are: gag grouper, Warsaw grouper, red snapper, vermillion snapper, sand perch, black sea bass, gray triggerfish.

Personal Log

The entire science staff and ship crew have all been very kind and helpful to me, the novice. They have readily answered all my questions, whether it is about the ship operations or the research being conducted. They have gone out of their way to bring to my attention items or events they think would be of interest to me.

Last evening we spent the last hours of our shift processing black sea bass. I learned how to remove the otoliths from the skull and the reproductive organs from the body cavity. The former can be used to age the fish and the latter to determine maturity and sex.

While walking on the back of the boat last night I heard a great deal of splashing in the water. The lights from the ship were bright enough to illuminate the water below me, so in I was able to see 6 dolphins in the water. They were feeding on the many flying fish that were attracted to the ship’s lights. I imagine a few of the fish were able to escape because the dolphins remained for at least 1.5 hours. Some of the dolphins were able to grab the fish out of the air.

Unusual sights: 4 cruise ships heading south, a double rainbow, oyster toad fish

April 24, 2009April 5, 2021

Taylor Parker, April 24, 2009

NOAA Teacher at Sea
Taylor Parker
Onboard NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette
April 19-29, 2009

Mission: Hawaii Bottom fish Survey
Geographical Area: South side of Oahu
Date: April 24, 2009

Weather Data
2ft rolling swells.
Air temp: 75F.
Slightly cloudy with variable winds 3-5 Knots.

Science and Technology Log

One of the things that I’ve figured out is that fisheries scientists like nets. Big nets, small nets, blue nets and red nets. While I won’t go any further with the rhyme, the nets do collect some rather Suess-like creatures. Tonight, we worked a big net and found those creatures. The big net is the biggest on the boat and is called a Cobb trawl. The Cobb is deployed at night and is designed to capture pelagic organisms at deeper depths than the I/K or regular dip nets.

The target species for this trawl is snappers. It is deployed at night for two reasons: 1) at night there is a better chance the fish won’t be able to avoid the net because they can’t see it and 2) a lot of the fish targeted follow the amount of light that penetrates the surface, they stay at the bottom during the day and swim up at night – this is called vertical migration. The Cobb is about 30 feet long and has a mouth opening of 7.5 feet that gradually tapers down to a foot long detachable cod-end. It can be dropped to different depths depending on the amount of line let out. There is a 2:1 difference, so if 1,000 feet of net is released then it will drop to 500 feet below the surface. The Sette motors at 3 knots for about 3 hours while the Cobb is busy collecting the ocean denizens. The cod-end is only in the water for two of those hours. The scientists have been either targeting two depths and spending an hour at each or have been staying at one site for two hours.

It takes a crew of at least 4 line-handlers, a crane operator, engineers working on the hydraulics and synchronizing between the officers piloting the boat from the stern and those on the fly-bridge just to keep the large net in the water safely. It is a long and coordinated process to retrieve the necessary sample of a couple pounds.

For safety reasons, the scientists are required to stay away from the net until everything is on deck and the winch holding the net is off. But once the Cobb is brought up, it is like horses at a track: there is a rush to see what was caught. And I’ve never seen such large 8-year-olds as the scientists; mesmerized by the hundreds of fish, larvae, jellies and other fascinating creatures the group piles in around the sampling trays and quietly picks through trying to find the rare and unique. The haul is definitely something to get lost within. With so many different fish stacked on top of each other and the seemingly infinite number of marine invertebrates, trying to find a juvenile Snapper or rare Lantern fish with a pair of small forceps is much like those claw-games that keep eating your quarters. Of course, the rare and interesting species are analyzed but the rest of the fish need to be sorted also. While trawling took 3 hours, going through the collection was easily a couple hours.

In the end, I was most intrigued by the eel larvae, the Snaggletooth and the flat fish. If you’ve ever had monsters in your dreams these are probably the culprits. The eel larva is flat, nearly transparent and when stretched out is almost a foot long. It has a black spot (maybe two but it is hard to tell) at the front of its body (you can’t tell that either, really) that I am supposing is its eye. Imaging this creature swimming around my feet is already making me shiver. The Snaggletooth is probably the most horrifying. They are only 5 inches or so but if they were the size of, say, my arm, I would never go in the ocean again. The flat fish babies are just gross. While all of these creatures are going make me sleep with the lights on tonight, they are marvelous representatives of the ocean creatures these NOAA scientists are studying.

Personal Log

The Cobb is interesting because it starts 7.30pm and is a whole lot of nothing with bookends of activity. There is a lot of action to get it out, you watch the net in the water for 3 hours, a lot more activity to get it in and then for two hours is the fish sorting. I knew this before-hand and that is why it took me a week to stay up for it. But today I took a nap in the afternoon and was determined to wait for the net.

I’m very happy I did because I wouldn’t have seen the stars in the cloudless Hawaiian sky on the moonless night, nor would I have been privy to the green bioluminescence off the bow wake. Also, the catch was a catalyst for the scientific banter in the hydro-lab where everything was sorted. Names of fish were flying past me at exceedingly high speeds and were volleyed by the appropriate guttural sound of “ohh” and “awe” from across the lab. It was well worth a late night bed time, even if the Snaggletooth is waiting for me.

Did You Know?

The net is named after John N. Cobb who lived from 1868- 1930. He was, among other things, Dean of the College of Fisheries at University of Washington in 1919, the only college of fisheries at the time. My roommate on the Sette, scientist Bruce Mundy, told me another interesting thing. Just off of where we stationed for the Cobb trawl is the site where Captain Cook was killed by the local Hawaiian population on Valentine’s Day in 1779. He was the first European to reach Hawaii on his way to discover the Northwest Passage. Everything was good on the first trip. After a year, however, he returned and he didn’t manage the local politics well. Hawaiians stole one of his boats and he was subsequently beaten and stabbed after trying to take the Hawaiian’s King as a hostage for ransom of his boat. Nevertheless, the local peoples honored him as they would have their own royalty, giving his funeral similar rites. Apparently there is shrine dedicating his place of death in Kealakekua Bay.

June 26, 2007April 1, 2021

Chris Monsour, June 26, 2007

NOAA Teacher at Sea
Chris Monsour
Onboard NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette
June 12 – July 12, 2007

Mission: Lobster Survey
Geographical Area: Northwestern Hawaiian Islands
Date: June 26, 2007

Above is an example of the bluestriped snapper that was caught off of Necker Island. This species has become a nuisance since it was introduced to the Hawaiian Islands. — Bluestriped snapper that was caught off of Necker Island. This species has become a nuisance since introduced to the Hawaiian Islands.

Science and Technology Log

Today we hauled our first set of lobster traps at Necker Island. I must say the Chief Scientist was right when he said there would be less lobster here. I think we may have caught 25 lobsters out of 160 traps. Very disappointing numbers, less than one lobster per trap. It is possible that the traps were in too deep of water and the substrate being sand made conditions unfavorable. We will be here for 13 more days or for 13 more sets, depending on how you want to look at it. A majority of what we caught today were different types of crustaceans and bluestriped snapper.

The bluestriped snapper is a non-native species that was brought to Hawaii from French Polynesia in the 1950’s. The fish’s native distribution is the Indo-Pacific from east Africa – Tuamotus; north to southern Japan; south to New Caledonia. The fish was brought to Hawaii to fill a vacant niche in the reef community, a shallow water snapper. The bluestriped snapper does not have a good reputation. In Hawaii, the bluestriped snapper share the same habitat with native fishes and this may result in competition for habitat use and food sources. Evidence has been documented which suggests that bluestriped snapper may displace native fish from important refuge habitat. However this remains a controversial topic and more research investigating the ecological niche of L. kasmira is needed. From what I saw today though, the most common fish brought up from the traps was the bluestriped snapper.

NOAA Teacher at Sea Chris Monsour holds up an example of a sponge crab that was captured off Necker Island. — Chris Monsour holds up an example of a sponge crab that was captured off Necker Island.

When I searched the internet for “bluestriped snapper” and “Hawaii”, I found that many of the links discussed the fish as being a great aquarium fish and really no other use. Yes, I will admit the fish are great to look at, but what will be the future impact? The discussion of the bluestriped snapper led into the problems which exists in Lake Erie with the invasive round gobi, zebra mussel, and purple loosestrife. The main difference here in Hawaii is that this species was introduced intentionally and the impact is yet to be seen. Granted, it has been over 50 years since the bluestriped snapper was introduced, but most of the people I have talked to on the ship see it as a nuisance and not a threat.

Today, as mentioned earlier, I saw more species of crustaceans, especially crabs. There were two groups that I have been seeing quite a bit and that is hermit crab and sponge crab. Anyone who has explored a tide pool is familiar with the hermit crab. Although an external skeleton like other crabs covers their front parts, their long soft tails are not protected. Hence, they use empty snail shells for protection and are very difficult to remove.

One of the many hermit crabs that was caught during OSCAR ELTON SETTE’s cruise of the North West Hawaiian Islands poses for a picture. — One of the many hermit crabs that was caught during the cruise poses for a picture.

The other species that has really caught my attention is the sleepy sponge crab. The sleepy sponge crab is considered to be the most evolutionary primitive of the true crabs. As I found out, they are very slowing moving and nocturnal. They use their hindmost legs to carry a piece of sponge over its back. The crab uses the sponge for camouflage and within the sponge is living a whole myriad of other organisms like sea stars and forminifera (algae). Unfortunately as I found out, when the sponge comes off the back of the crab, you can’t put it back on.

Personal Log

I was posed this question by the CO (commanding officer) of the ship: What does a Teacher at Sea do on a transit day after a hard week of lobstering at Maro Reef?

Transit days are spent catching up on reading, laundry and rest. I finished up one book and read the first half on another. On Sunday at twilight we had a pyrotechnic display on the fantail of the ship. Essentially we had to get rid of the expired flares, so we had a good time setting them off. Then on Monday before we set the gear, we had four sets of drills which included a quarters escape drill. Right now though, I am glad to see Necker Island, the first land I have seen in a long time (it resembles Abe Lincoln’s profile). So with this I will be posting another log in a few days.

Questions of the Day

1. What type of relationship exists between the sponge crab, the sponge on it’s back , and anything living in the sponge? Commensalism, mutualism, or parasitism?

A hui hou,… Chris