NOAA Teacher at Sea
Bill Henske
Aboard NOAA Ship Nancy Foster
June 14 – 29, 2015
Mission: Spawning Aggregation Survey
Geographical Area: Florida Keys and Dry Tortugas
Date: Wednesday, June 24, 2015
Weather Data from the Bridge: East to southwest winds 15-20 kts. Decreasing to 10 to 15 kts. Seas 3 to 5 ft. Isolated showers and thunderstorms.
Science and Technology Log
Integrated Tracking of Aquatic Animals of the Gulf Coast
One of the best games you can play in the pool is Sharks and Minnows. The premise of this game is that you and your school are small fish that have to travel from one side of the pool to the other without getting caught by the shark. If you are caught you get turned into a shark for the next round. Eventually the sharks are well distributed, preventing any minnows from getting through.
I am reminded of this as the fin fish team from FWC sets up a grand game of sharks and minnows for fisheries science. Over the past week we have been setting up several arrays of acoustic receivers that catch tagged fishes’ signals as they swim through the Florida Keys reef system. The plan is designed to capture fish moving within and between different parts of the ecosystem. Any tagged fish coming into Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary should come into contact with one of the receivers, as will any fish traveling out. The placement of the receivers on the west and east of the sanctuary create and “entrance” and “exit” for tagged fish.
Within the sanctuary there are now several concentrated grids of receivers in places that make for good fish habitat (aka good fishing spots). The VR2 receivers can record the identification number of the tagged fish as well as the time and date they connected to the receiver and their distance from the receiver. When the receivers are collected, that data can be downloaded and a picture of fish movement created. The data from the FWC’s arrays and tagged fish will be incorporated into a more extensive project called ITAG (Integrated Tracking of Aquatic Animals of the Gulf Coast). In this project, collaborators share their acoustic tag data and receiver logs with each other, extending the reach of all project. In the vastness of our marine environments, any one project will produce only a small snapshot of what is happening. By collaborating between projects, the complexity of fisheries and ecosystems might be more easily untangled.
Today we set up individual stations of a new device which uses an acoustic release. These are for much deeper sites containing “humps” which are relief features rising 100 to 200 feet about the surrounding sea floor. Because of the relief, humps offer a large variety of habitats in a small amount of space, creating a highly diverse area for aquatic life. Since these deeper areas are inaccessible to most divers, the receivers we set out can be triggered to return to the surface. When data is ready to be collected in a few months, a device will be lowered into the water that communicates with the receiver using sound. This device, called a VR100, can trigger the receivers to jettison themselves to the surface with the help of two small floats. At that time the receivers can be collected from a small boat.
This video below shows our deployment of the acoustic release receiver from the side of the Nancy Foster.
Personal Log
City in the Sea
The Nancy Foster has been at sea since February of this year. While it resupplies every few weeks, most of the vital functions for human habitation are performed on board. The ship is, for its officers, crew, and science passengers, a small floating city.
Electricity requirements for a large ship are quite high. If you factor in air conditioning, navigation systems, lighting, motors and pumps, kitchen, and scientific tools, the energy consumption equals a small hamlet. Amazingly, this electricity is all created on board with the ship’s generator and a copious amount of marine diesel.
Food is loaded on at ports but that doesn’t mean it isn’t fresh and delicious. Each day Bob and Lito prepare breakfast, lunch, and dinner for all of the scientists and crew. These delicious multi-course meals keep all the members of this floating city very happy. Just like the hungry generators, the humans energy levels are kept well stocked.
There is no sewage processing on board the ship. Ship waste is carried in large tanks until it can be released into open ocean, far from land. Once in the ocean, its nutrients are quickly consumed by hungry phytoplankton and converted into energy for the next level of the food chain. Food waste is also separated from recycling and “garbage”. Food waste, after being ground, is composted at sea.
With 40 people on board eating, showering, and using the head, the ship needs to produce water on a continual basis. The ship keeps a reserve supply and when it goes down, The Nancy Foster has a device that uses excess heat from the engines and generators to distill water from the ocean.
Cities need organization and a specialized workforce to get all of these things done. The NOAA Corps Officers make sure the ship stays on course and its mission objectives are met. The ships crew ensures the small craft are launched safely, everyone is fed, and the ship keeps humming and running smoothly. The science staff are visitors, enjoying all of the amenities of the ship while using its resources to complete their scientific missions. Many of the science staff cruise with the Nancy Foster every year, while for some, it is their first time.
How did you get here?
I asked several of the scientists on board what they wanted to do when they were in middle school and how they became involved in marine science and research. My middle school students are just starting to think about who they are and who they want to be. I wanted to get some background information on how some of the scientists here got their start.
J. – A biologist had no clue what he wanted to do when he was in middle school and this trend continued until college! He loved fish and applied for an entry level fisheries job and has been at it ever since.
R. – Thinks she wanted to be a writer in middle school based on a paper she read from back then. After pursuing her interest in ecology she is now writing about conservation issues for NOAA.
S. – She always loved science and math – After studying geology she had a chance to go to sea. Loved it more than her geology work and now scans the sea floor of the Gulf of Mexico. She won’t tell you where the treasure is!
P. – He took a test when he was in middle school that said he was not particularly interested in anything. What he always liked was fish. After a couple related jobs he has worked in fisheries for many years.
S. – When he was in middle school he wanted to be rich and work in biology. He now works in biology!
One of the major commonalities among the scientists is that they followed, or in some cases, rediscovered their interest. As a teacher, I hope I can help my students find what they are passionate about.
By the numbers:
