This months adventure...begins Tuesday

[shresearchdude]

I'm going back out to sea and will post my adventure -and of course the fish, the time I do it depends on the shift I get. Leaving the pier in RI and headed north, likely into the Gulf of Maine area Tuesday15th-25th. I'll try to remember to bring my new Cannon onto the boat this time. (duh)
I will have to wait to download pictures until I get back. I'll bring my laptop with me to store pics so I won't need a bucket full of bytes.

And some background:

On each leg, up to 13 Center scientists and volunteers sample fish and shellfish populations and collect environmental data at each station. Throughout the 25-year program, data collection has occupied over 30,000 person-days. Universities and colleges, high schools, and state and Federal agencies have contributed personnel to this effort, and private citizens have also assisted.
Work is conducted on a 24-hour basis with two watches of 5-6 individuals standing 6-hour on and 6-hour off schedules. At each station the net is towed for 30 minutes at 6.5 km/hour (3.5 knots) relative to the bottom measured by the ship's doppler speed log. The catch is sorted by species, weighed to the nearest 0.1 kg, and measured. Age samples and stomach content observations are taken, and sex and maturity stage data are noted. Location, depth, time, weather conditions, water temperature, and trawl performance data are also recorded.

In addition to assessment-related applications, the surveys have provided data and sample material for countless studies on the biology and distribution of fish and invertebrate species which could not have been obtained from any other source. Cooperative work with researchers in other Federal and state agencies and academic institutions, including collection of plankton and pathology samples and observations on sea birds and marine mammals, has been a major responsibility. On a broader scale, the NEFC survey database is being used extensively for ecosystems research, focusing particularly on predator-prey relationships, recruitment processes, effects of environmental changes and impacts of pollution, oil drilling, and ocean dumping.
Since the autumn of 1963 over 60 standard bottom trawl survey cruises have been conducted, providing information on the abundance, biology, and distribution of the living marine resources of the Northwest Atlantic and environmental conditions affecting them. The resulting database is temporally the longest and most comprehensive of its kind. It also has proven invaluable for resource monitoring and biological research. Survey design and procedures have been basically unchanged throughout the history of the survey although technological improvements have been made as necessary to improve precision and operational efficiency.

I'll be aboard the R/V Bigelow which will replace the older R/V Albatross(1962) Currently the ships are conducting side by side calibration tests of gear, electronics, etc...
Bigelow stats:
http://www.moc.noaa.gov/hb/index.htm

[Reelron]

Good luck on the trip. Stay dry but most of all stay safe. Maybe when you get back you could give me an idea of how one might volunteer to help on one of these trips?

[captmatt]

Hey John, have a safe trip. I look forward to your reports that come from your trips.

Fair winds and following seas. Looking forward to the reports, I love the talk of all the different fish and such.

[shresearchdude]

Reelron check yer mail

[Reelron]

Originally Posted by shresearchdude

Reelron check yer mail

Got it John, Thank you.

[shresearchdude]

Left the pier @10am. I got the Midnite to noon shift again. If anything I'll post something after my shift and before I crash for the day. Forecast looks nice for the week to come.

[shresearchdude]

Since the ship(1964) we're out here to compare and calibrate equipment to is stuck at the dock with mechanical issues, there won't be anything interesting going on where I am until maybe tomorrow afternoon. We will likely be trying out some different equipment like getting the camera that they intend to put on the nets at some point - working. Probably won't catch any fish or risk losing a net until the other boat gets on site.
Good thing they plan on retiring the old boat...

probably shouldn't state how nice it is out here...

137 ft
water temp 44degrees
dolphins wandering around the boat
beautiful sunset(the last one I'll see for 10 days with my shift?)

[shresearchdude]

At last both boats are up and running with the first nets hitting the water during my sleep mode. Catches are light right now... winter flounder, yellowtail flounder, a little halibut(don't know what kind), some small cod, herring,longhorn sculpins(one of my favorites) and some misc stuff.

To see where the ship is hit this link, enter shiptracker, and choose the Henry Bigelow.

http://shiptracker.noaa.gov/

[shresearchdude]

Aargh! The sea does not yield it's bounty easy.

After the first couple of tows one of the nets had half it's length torn away by the bottom. Then a couple of clean tows - but then all of the net and the gear on it worth $$ was no longer attached to the wire or the doors. The problem with random stations is that sometimes you don't get to tow where the clean, soft, sandy bottom is(or sometimes where the fish are). There are many stations where the capt has to search out an area to tow, there are even areas where we don't tow anymore due to gear loss. We spent a couple of hours trying to find the lost gear with no success and have rigged up another net and it's gear and will continue looking for "good" bottom. There are plans to get a better set of grapple gear from the other boat and go back to the scene of the crime and spend some more time trying to get it back.