NOAA Teacher at Sea
Aboard R/V Savannah
August 16 — 26, 2011
Mission: Reef Fish Survey
Geographical Area: Atlantic Ocean (Off the Georgia and Florida Coasts)
Date: Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Weather Data from the Bridge (the wheelhouse, where the controls of the ship are)
E-NE Wind at 10 knots (This means wind is travelling 10 nautical miles per hour,
1.15 statute miles = 1 nautical mile)
Sea depth where we traveled today ranged from 33 meters to 74 meters
Seas 2-4 feet (measure of the height of the back of the waves, lower the number = calmer seas and steadier boat)
Science and Technology Log
IRENE: On Tuesday evening, we discussed the impact of Hurricane Irene on our cruise plans, and scientists and crew needed to make a decision about when we should return to dock. Originally, the plan was to return in the morning on Friday, August 26, but due to projections of Irene, they predicted that the seas would be too rough for us to lay traps beyond Wednesday (8/24). When the seas are too rough, the traps bounce around and cameras do not pick up a steady, reliable picture. When seas get to be 6-7 feet+ on a boat the size of the R/V Savannah (92 feet long), it also makes our work (and life) on the boat very difficult. Additionally, with Irene’s landfall projected in North Carolina, where half of the scientists live, they would need to get home in time to secure their homes and potentially evacuate. Not in the case of Irene, but if a hurricane was expected to hit Savannah/Skidaway, where the boat moors, the ship’s crew would need to prepare for a hurricane-mooring. To do this, they would run the ship up the Savannah River and put on a navy anchor that weighs 3,000 pounds. Even with the use of the electric crane, it’s not an easy task to pull a 3,000 pound anchor onboard. This would not be done unless a direct hit to the area was expected. It has been done once before to the Savannah in the 10 years of her existence. The forecast did not project Savannah to be affected by Irene, so we did not need to prepare for a hurricane mooring.
After difficult deliberation on Tuesday night about hurricane Irene’s potential Category (see how hurricanes are ranked here), and considering the success of the research accomplished on the trip already, scientists decided the most practical and reasonable decision was to dock Tuesday night, unpack Wednesday morning, and allow North Carolina scientists to return to their homes by Wednesday night. (From reports I received post-Irene, there was landfall of the hurricane eye over their houses, but the storm weakened between Wednesday night and Saturday and was Category 1 when it came ashore. None of them sustained significant loss. Many downed trees and three days without power, but no floods or structure damage. Phew!)
NOAA’s National Weather Service is the sole official voice of the U.S. government for issuing warnings during life-threatening weather situations. Follow Seattle’s “Weather Story” at NOAA’s National Weather Service.
OUR RESEARCH PROCESS…A STORY CONCLUDED
Here on my final blog entry, I want to finish the story of our research process. Here’s the story I’ve told so far, in outline form:
- research begins with baiting fish traps and attaching cameras, and we stand-by on deck
- when we arrive at a research location with reef fish habitat (as observed via depth sounder and GPS), we drop the trap to the bottom and it sits for 90 minutes; buoys float above each trap so we can find and retrieve them near where traps were deployed, we run the Conductivity, Temperature, and Depth Profiler (CTD) to get information about abiotic conditions at each sampling site. The CTD takes vertical water column profiles, measuring: Pressure, Temperature, Conductivity/Salinity, Chlorophyll fluorometer, Color dissolved organic matter fluorometer (CDOM), Photosynthetic Active Radiation (PAR), Backscatter, Dissolved oxygen, and Transmissometer -10 and 25 cm path lengths
- after 90 minutes have passed, we return to the traps and pick them up, and secure the fish caught
- we identify each fish, measure length, weight, and frequency (how many fish were caught), and then keep the fish that our research is targeting
- in the wet lab, we dissect target fish, removing parts of fish that are sent back to the lab for further research
AT THIS POINT, WE ARE DONE with our research with the bodies of the fish, but we have 99% OF THE FISH’S BODY LEFT! What should we do?
I was very impressed with the compassionate and humane action the scientists do with the fish after research. Scientific research guidelines don’t dictate what a research study should do with edible fish flesh. We could have just discarded fish back into the ocean. However, scientists see an opportunity to provide food to people in need of nutritional support in our communities, and they coordinated with a regional food bank in Savannah to do just that. Despite the work and time it takes to process the fish for donation, it did not seem to be considered a burden at all by any of the scientists.
To process the fish for donation, we cut fish into fillets, wrap the fillets in butcher paper, and freeze them onboard the ship.
When we reached land, Warren
contacted the regional food bank, who came out to the dock with a refrigerated truck to pick up fish. Within a few days the fish was distributed through charitable organizations in the region to people who were most in need.
These scientists are not just natural scientists but social scientists too! (just as I fancy myself!)
Interview with Raymond Sweatte, captain of R/V Savannah
Marian: What makes a good crew?
Raymond: A crew that sees things that need to be done and does them because they know it all goes smoother when they do.
M: Have you ever run into or had a close call running into another ship?
Raymond: No, but the closest I came was when I was passing under the bridge at the Skidaway when a barge was coming through at the same time. Because it was easier for me to maneuver, I pulled over to side to let the barge use the majority of the channel. But the barge stayed on my side of the channel and was coming right at me. My boat was leaning upon the bank so there was no where for me to go. I got him on the horn and asked, “What’s going on?” He pulled over right away. He was new and very apologetic.
M: Have you ever been in a terrible storm before?
Raymond: A few times we’ve had 15-16 foot seas coming back from the Gulf. When you have a north wind at 35 knots [strong wind coming from the North] and north-going current opposing the wind, the seas get very rough. Waves were coming up over the ship. [picture Marian’s eyes VERY wide at this point in the conversation] When seas are really rough, you get lifted up out of bed and down again. I remember trying to sleep one night in rough seas when my head kept hitting against the wall, so I turned around so my feet were up hitting against the wall.
M: What were things like before radar, satellite, and so many electronic navigation tools
you use today?
Raymond: Things were not as accurate. Communication was on a single sideband, navigation was with Loran-C, though VHF radio was somewhat the same as now. To follow ships and determine their speed we had radar on dash but we had to use an eye cup we looked into to correlate with the radar, and then go over to the chart to plot them. Then, we did it again six minutes later and multiplied by 10 to find their speed. Now we have an automatic identification system [we can click on a ship on the radar] that tells us where they are, who they are, where they came from, where they are going, and what they are doing.
M: What are the right-of-ways when vessels are crossing paths; who moves when two vessels are in course to collide?
Raymond: [On ships, aircraft and piloted spacecraft] a red light is on the left or port side of the craft and a green is on the right or starboard side. When two vessels have crossing paths, each will see a red or green light. If you’re looking at another vessel’s port side you see red, and it’s his right-of-way. If you are on their starboard side, you see the green light, and the right is yours.
Also, right-of-way rules give priority to vessels with the most difficulty maneuvering. The ranks in right-of-way, starting with the highest are:
1)Not under command
2)Restricted in ability to maneuver
3)Constrained by draft (stay away from shallower water to avoid running aground)
Remember this mnemonic: New Reels Catch Fish So Purchase Some.
M: Who’s easier to talk to, a Navy Sub Captain or a Coast Guard Helicopter Pilot?
Raymond: I don’t have a problem talking with any of them. Coast Guard generally would call you first. Navy sub pilots I’ve found to be very cordial. They have changed their course when we had traps out.
M: What message would you say to students interested in being a captain?
Raymond: All kids have to follow their own heart. If they like water and this environment, they should follow their heart and become a captain.
Thank you Captain Raymond! It was a genuine pleasure to talk to you and experience life at sea under your command and with such a stellar crew. It is no wonder you are revered by everyone you work with. Read more about Captain Raymond Sweatte in the Savannah Morning News!
The powerful significance of this trip for me was that I did not just study a science lesson from a book or lab, but I was essentially given a chance to live a different life, that of a fisheries field biologist. I did not dabble in the work; it was a full explosion into the curiosities, reasonings, and daily routines of working with live fish and fish guts while sharing friendship, humor and stories with scientists and crew aboard a boat that was a small bounded island of rich human culture within a vast ocean of life and scientific questions waiting to be answered. I loved it. If only I didn’t love teaching more…I could definitely live that life. Thanks NOAA, thanks NC SEFIS folks, thanks SC DNR folks, and thanks Skidaway Institute of Oceanography folks. You are all in my heart and in my classroom!
At night especially, when looking out at the seascape, I noticed flying, bug-looking specimens scurrying out of and into the ocean’s surface. WHAT WERE THEY?! I wondered. So I asked and learned they were FLYING FISH! A few of them flew right up on the vessel’s work deck. Their wings are modifications of the pectoral fins. They are so fascinating and their coloring was greenish/blue iridescence, a stunningly beautiful color!
RED SNAPPER: PROTECTED STATUS
“The Gulf and South Atlantic red snapper populations are currently at very low levels (overfished), and both red snapper populations are being harvested at too high a rate (overfishing).” See more where this quote came from at Fish Watch: US Seafood Facts.
It was clear to me how significant the concern for the red snapper population was when I learned that funding for this fisheries survey was drastically increased following the recent determination that red snapper were overfished and overfishing was occurring. Fisheries managers, field biologists and members of the general public all want to see the red snapper population improve. This cruise provided scientific data that will be useful when the status of the U.S. South Atlantic red snapper population is assessed again.
History of measuring speed in NAUTICAL MILES:
Wonder how a vessel’s speed was measured hundreds of years ago? Log Lines, knotted ropes with a log tied to one end and knots every nautical mile and one-tenth of a nautical mile, were tossed off the end of the ship while the knotted rope unraveled behind it. When the sand on a minute sand glass ran out, the rope was reeled back in and the knots counted to determine ship’s speed in knots-per-minute.
LIONFISH: INVASIVE SPECIES
In its native waters of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, the lionfish population is not a problem. There it has natural predators and natural parasites to keep it from overpopulating, yet it can survive well enough to maintain a healthy sustainable population. However, in the Caribbean waters and along the Eastern Coast of the United States, the lionfish has recently been introduced, and the effects are alarming. “Lionfish have the potential to become the most disastrous marine invasion in history by drastically reducing the abundance of coral reef fishes and leaving behind a devastated ecosystem.” See more where this quote came from at NOAA’s research on invasive lionfish here. In the U.S. south Atlantic, they consume large quantities of reef fish and have no natural predators or parasites. Their population is thriving in large numbers, and it is devastating other fish species. Mark Hixon, Oregon State University zoology professor, co-authored a study in 2008 with Mark Albins that showed “a lionfish can kill three-quarters of a reef’s fish population in just five weeks.” Read NPR story here. This is a cool way to view an environmental problem: see this animated map of the lionfish invasion! Red Snapper