Background (Purpose of cruise): This research cruise is one of the principle sampling events for NOAA's SEFIS Program (Southeast Fisheries Independent Survey). The purpose of the SEFIS program is to record population sizes for reef fishes (primarily groupers and snappers) found in an area of the Atlantic called the South Atlantic Bight (SAB), which extends from Cape Hatteras in the north to Cape Canaveral in the south. This is an incredibly huge area and rather a large task, but it's an important one to get right.
The federal law known as Magnuson-Stevens dictates that all fisheries within United States territorial waters must be maintained at a "sustainable level." Basically, this means that fisheries (commercial and recreational) are not allowed to catch more fish of a given species than can be replaced by the population continuing to breed.
In order to have even a guess at how many fish may be killed, NOAA has to know with some degree of certainty how many there are. There are two main types of data which contribute to NOAA understanding how many fish exist in a population. Those are fisheries dependent data (information about the fish that fishermen keep, which is influenced by current regulations, how much $$ they are going to make on that species, etc.) and fisheries independent data (information created by scientists searching for fish irrespective of these outside factors).
For many years the primary form of data for snapper and grouper fisheries in the SAB has been fisheries dependent data. This state of affairs has created a scenario in which fisheries managers never see data on small/young snappers (since they are illegal for fishers to keep). Therefore, the population models have said that the snapper populations are small, with very few young individuals (because fishers are not allowed to keep them, and this was the only source of data available). Enter SEFIS, a program designed to collect the fishery-independent data necessary to create a more accurate picture of the fish populations and possibly increase the total allowable catch for the fishery in the future. (Hopefully that long-winded explanation gives a little background on how fisheries decisions are made & why anyone would want to do this in the first place...)
Now for my involvement: throughout my career as a fisheries biologist (which I was before I became a teacher) and other wanderings since college, I've been on a number of research cruises & sailing voyages. By and large, I have enjoyed them & I have always learned quite a bit from each trip. I was offered the opportunity to join this cruise & I thought that it would be an excellent opportunity to increase my knowledge of fisheries as well as possibly come up with some new experiences to share with my students.
Sometimes I feel like I am packing to go on a Mars mission when I start packing to go offshore. I'm sure this is over-stating the case, but I always remember when headed offshore that there are no stores out there. If I forget something, I will live without it until I get back. In many cases, this isn't really a big deal. Do I strictly NEED my ipad? Of course not. If I forgot it or the charger, I would survive. Camera, same thing. Of course, other things are a little more of a bummer if I forget them. Underwear, for example. Living basically outdoors for 2 weeks with a single pair of underwear would be a major bummer. Toothbrush? same deal. So, I make a list & start a couple days ahead of time. The other analogy I can draw to traveling to outer space is that I always want to pack as efficiently as possible. I want to have all of the gear I will use, but I don't want to lug extra stuff with me that I will have to store in my bunk if I'm not going to be using it.
Throughout the cruise I will be attempting to update this blog with additional background on fisheries, my role on the scientific crew, information about working aboard this ship, and any interesting critters we happen to see or catch. Stay tuned...
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