Featured Scientist: Meet Sydney!

Meet Sydney, who has been an undergraduate student intern at the SEFSC FORCES Lab since Fall 2016! Read about her goals for her first research cruise in her own words...

Sydney models our safety gear

My name is Sydney Harned and I'm a junior at the University of Miami. My goal for this cruise is to learn as much as I can! 

This is my first research cruise, so I'm here to gain some real world experience in the marine biology field. It's been really neat to see scientists specializing in different research areas coming together to work on a project together. 

Sydney is a pro at running the Bongo net!

Since I'm still an undergrad I don't have a specific research focus yet, but I'm hoping to pursue marine genetics in graduate school. For my senior thesis, I'll be using genetics to determine presence/absence of Bluefin Tuna eggs at different stations in the Gulf of Mexico from a previous cruise!

Return of the Tuna!

And....we're back! Back in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM), on the hunt for larval bluefin tuna (BFT)! The next two legs of our survey will be focused on finding patches of bluefin larvae (Thunnus thynnus), and studying the biogeochemical habitat in which we find them. We are joined by some familiar collaborators from the University of Miami-RSMAS, El Colegio de la Frontera Sur (ECOSUR), and the Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO), as well as some new team members!

A glimpse of some of the new equipment we'll be using!

Why is this important? Well, you may know that BFT are one of the mostly highly sought after fish in the commercial industry, as they are large, delicious, and highly valuable. But this also means that they are being over exploited - which means that the levels at which they are currently fished are not sustainable long-term. Atlantic BFT are highly migratory species (HMS), distributed throughout the northern Atlantic Ocean. However, they migrate south to the GoM and the Mediterranean Sea to spawn only once a year during the summer months.

The FORCES lab studies the early life stages of tunas in order to tell their "origin story." Why do the adults travel miles and miles to this specific area? Are there certain oceanic features that provide a protective nursery habitat for the larvae and increase their chances for survival? Are there certain biochemical gradients in these waters that help the larvae grow faster or more fit for surviving the pelagic environment? How will forecasted changes in this environment affect larvae in the coming decades?

LOTS of water filtration will be involved!

We are incredibly excited to be embarking upon a brand new set of surveys with several new partners in order to start to answer some of these questions.  We even more thrilled that our new research team was selected as one of the few projects funded by the NOAA RESTORE Act Science Program! This Science Program funds "research, observation, and monitoring to support long-term sustainability in the GoM ecosystem, including fish stocks, fish habitat, and fishing industries" (for more on the program, click here). The FORCES Lab at the NOAA Southeast Fisheries Science Center teamed up with Scripps Institute of Oceanography, Florida State University, and the University of Hawaii at Manoa to examine the "Effects of nitrogen sources and plankton food web dynamics on habitat quality for larval BFT."  Together, we will use net tows, satellite data, oceanographic models, and drifters, to find patches of bluefin tuna larvae in the GoM and then we will follow these patches over the next few days. Every day we will sample (around the clock!) the in situ conditions and characteristics of the patch, in order to obtain a bottom-up understanding of BFT recruitment in the GoM. We will share with you more as we keep drifting with the tunas!

We can't wait to share this new journey with you!

Don't worry, we'll still show you loads of sunsets at sea

Outreach & Education in St. Croix

Students from St. Croix 7th Day Adventist School pose in front of the Nancy Foster in Frederiksted, St. Croix

One of our favorite parts of our annual surveys is being able to pull into port and welcome local students on board for a small glimpse into what we do at sea. We know this can be inspirational for many young people who may be interested in pursuing a marine science career, and we greatly value these events during our port visits. It isn't often your school field trip takes you on board a NOAA research vessel!

This year, we pulled into St. Croix, the southernmost of the U.S. Virgin Islands. We welcomed two groups on board, and, with the help of the Nancy Foster's NOAA Corps officers, shared what life and research is like at sea.

Students from the AZ Academy try their hand at sorting plankton under the microscope in the ship's wet lab

We were first visited by an all-female group of students from the AZ Academy, who are part of a community transfer project entitled "Diving for Debris," part of the "Pride in Our Seas, Pride in Ourselves" project at the University of the Virgin Islands, and funded by the NOAA Marine Debris Program. Two-thirds of our own science team was comprised of women - we truly value supporting young women who have an interest in science. These ladies have bright futures ahead of them! 

Students from the AZ Academy work together to match larval fish photos with their adult counterparts

Students from St. Croix 7th Day Adventist School check out plankton under the microscope

Our second group of students joined us from the St. Croix 7th Day Adventist School in Christiansted, who work with the outreach and education specialists at the VI-EPSCoR program. 22 students and 3 teachers toured the ship, visited the wet lab, and examined larval fish and plankton samples under the microscope. These middle and high school students were high-energy, and some wanted to stay on the ship and sail with us!

ENS Keith Hanson shows students from St. Croix 7th Day Adventist School the steering controls on the bridge

Featured Scientist: Meet Dan!

Our annual surveys would not be possible without our wonderful collaborators from around the world. We'll dedicate several future blog posts to highlight these individuals, so that you can learn more about them, their research, and the valuable contributions they make to the survey. You can find previous posts here. Today we feature Dr. Dan Otis from the University of South Florida!

My name is Dr. Dan Otis, and I work at the University of South Florida’s College of Marine Science in the Institute for Marine Remote Sensing (IMaRS). The primary focus of my work is using satellite measurements to study the color of the ocean. The color of the ocean as viewed from space can provide information about what is in the water. Three main things that I look for that change the color of the ocean are chlorophyll-a, colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM) and suspended sediments. Chlorophyll-a is a pigment that plants use to harvest light energy and carry out photosynthesis. In the ocean, this is done by algae called phytoplankton. Examining trends and patterns in the amount of chlorophyll-a in the ocean tells us where phytoplankton are most abundant and can allow us to track features in the surface waters of the ocean.

This is my third year on the USVI leg of this cruise and while I’m out here, I filter lots of water to measure phytoplankton and CDOM, and also use an instrument called a radiometer that measures the color of the ocean surface. I then compare what I see at the surface to what the satellite sees from space. This year, I have also been providing imagery from a several ocean color satellites to scientists on board, so we can see how phytoplankton is distributed in the waters of the USVI and how water movement may be affecting larval fish. Ocean color satellites generally collect one “scene” or picture of the ocean surface in a location every 1-2 days.  However, there are often clouds that get in the way, so we make composites of several daily scenes to remove clouds. The  image below is a composite of several images collected by the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) sensor during the cruise. This is called a “false-color” image where different colors represent different concentrations of chlorophyll-a, which can be interpreted using the color bar to the right of the image. The units in this case are mg/m3.

Composite image of chlorophyll-a during cruise

Featured Scientist: Meet Kristen!

Our annual surveys would not be possible without our wonderful collaborators from around the world. We'll dedicate several future blog posts to highlight these individuals, so that you can learn more about them, their research, and the valuable contributions they make to the survey. You can find previous posts here. Today we feature Kristen Ewen from the University of the Virgin Islands!

My name is Kristen Ewen, and I'm a first year Masters Student at the University of the Virgin Islands!

Kristen deploys a biodegradable drifter

My thesis project looks to model population connectivity of large bodied parrotfish of the genus Scarus within the USVI. The reason why we are focused on parrotfish is because they are one of the largest herbivores on Caribbean reefs. They remove excess algae which allows for coral dominated reefs. These fish are also delicious! Which makes them a huge staple in the artisanal fisheries of the territory. However, their populations have declined recently, primarily due to overfishing, reducing their contribution to these ecosystem services.  To better manage this genus, computer models can be developed to take larval fish found in the water column and trace them back to where they were born.  These sites where these fish are reproducing can then be protected to increase the chance of repopulating the surrounding reefs.

Kristen communicates from inside the wet lab with the winch operator, the back deck, and the bridge during a net tow

Since I am using the larval fish data collected on this cruise, I wanted to come aboard to really understand the collection process rather then just reading about it.  From this experience aboard the Nancy Foster I now have the complete story. I may have come for the sampling methods, but stayed for the cute baby parrotfish!

Beast mode! Kristen flexes her muscles on the back deck

Featured Scientist: Meet Sennai!

Our annual surveys would not be possible without our wonderful collaborators from around the world. We'll dedicate several future blog posts to highlight these individuals, so that you can learn more about them, their research, and the valuable contributions they make to the survey. You can find previous posts here. Today we feature Sennai Habtes from the University of the Virgin Islands!

Sennai Habtes has been a longtime collaborator with the FORCES lab, since his days as a PhD student. We are always excited to get to sail with him each year! Sennai is a Research Assistant Professor of Biological Oceanography at the Center for Marine and Environmental Studies, University of the Virgin Islands.

"This year I am working with the scientists of the NOAA SEFSC, Dr. Dan Otis from the University of South Florida, and Dr. David Lindo from the City University of New York, to understand how physical oceanographic processes affect larval dispersal around spawning periods. We are particularly interested in two phenomena: where do grouper larvae go after they are spawned, and how the oceanographic conditions surrounding high biological productivity areas in the USVI and Puerto Rico have an impact. Myctoperca venenosa, or the Yellowfin Grouper, spawn approximately 8-10 days after the full moon from January until April, at spawning aggregations sites along the shelf surrounding the USVI (primarily along the Gramanik Bank, on the South Drop). Although we routinely sample for larval fish during the times of year when grouper are actively spawning around the USVI, we have very little luck catching these larvae. We believe this may because they target zones with particular currents that transport the larvae below the surface. During this cruise we are using specialized nets called a MOCNESS (Multiple Openning and Closing Net Environmental Sampling System) to sample the area surrounding the spawning aggregations. This will allow us to determine where in the water column these larvae are transported.

Grouper larva, ~5mm length
Photo credit: FORCES Lab

"Additionally, we are targeting Lang Bank on St. Croix, to determine how oceanographic conditions, which support a high biological region there, influence the transport of larval fish. Along with our traditional measurements of oceanographic conditions, and net sampling of zooplankton and ichthyoplankton (larval fish) we are also using satellite imagery to identify interesting features that may help in either transporting the larvae faster or retaining them in coastal areas surrounding the USVI. These are two smaller studies that we have implemented in this years cruise to help understand how the coastal oceanography around the USVI and PR affect larval recruitment (addition of new fish into adult populations) and connectivity (transport, ultimately allowing for better management of marine fish populations in the Eastern Caribbean."

Satellite image shows the oceanography of the US Virgin Islands, with tracks of the drifters deployed on NF-17-03.
Image courtesy of Dr. Dan Otis - Institute for Marine Remote Sensing USF-CMS

For more on Sennai’s research see his faculty webpage at UVI: http://www.uvi.edu/directory/profiles/staff/habtes-sennai-y.aspx
or this recent news post from the team at the VI-EPSCoR program about Sennai’s background and his research: https://www.viepscor.org/news/2017/4/12/drhabtes

Featured Scientist: Meet Sarah!

Our annual surveys would not be possible without our wonderful collaborators from around the world. We'll dedicate several future blog posts to highlight these individuals, so that you can learn more about them, their research, and the valuable contributions they make to the survey. You can find previous posts here. Today we feature Sarah Heidmann from the University of the Virgin Islands!

Sarah (L) and Jess sort some live plankton samples on board!

My name is Sarah Heidmann, and I'm a second-year Masters student in Marine and Environmental Sciences at the University of the Virgin Islands. I'm originally from California and completed my undergraduate degree at Oregon State, both of which shaped my interest in the ocean, marine science, and SCUBA diving. 

Giovanni (L) and Sarah deploy cod ends for the MOCNESS tow. Photo credit: LTJG Niki Norton

My time on this cruise is thanks to my committee member and mentor, Sennai Habtes. I'm excited to be immersed in living and working on the ocean, experiencing life on a ship and participating in oceanographic research. It's a nice change from my own work, which involves nearshore fishing and diving. I am using acoustic tracking technology to study the movements of mutton snapper in a bay on St. Thomas, as well as at a spawning aggregation on St. Croix. 

You can follow me on Twitter (@SarahLHeidmann) to get updates on my research!

The St. Thomas crew! L-R: Kristen, Sarah, Sennai, Vanessa, and Alexis! T-shirt design by Kat Dale