Wednesday, May 20, 2009

#14: Acceptance

By writing this one last blog that I promised, I am finally accepting that the trip is over and that I will not miraculously wake up tomorrow to the rocking of the boat, my shipmates shining faces, or the smell of salt water and sunscreen. *sigh*

All I can say to summerize is that I had the most amazing experience, and I wish everyone the chance to do something like this in their lifetime.

I also want to use this post to send a HUGE thank you to our participants. Russ, Don, Scott, Susan, Lionel, Sean and Terry made this trip happen with their support. All their hard work, from repairing busted nets, taking pictures, caring for the fish, helping with the education programs, staying up all night to pack fish and donating their computer equipment, made it a succesful and enjoyeable one.

Thanks to Captain John and Captain Lou for safely moving us all over and around Bimini, and sharing your stories, laughter and magic tricks. Thanks to Matt for keeping us VERY well fed, and making good strong coffee.

Thanks to Sherrie, Jeremy and Chris. I've never had so much fun working.

I could never thank Deb enough for sending me on the trip.

Thanks to Megan for putting together an education program that was destined for success.

And thanks to all you who read the blog! I hope you enjoyed, and I hope you'll stay connected to the aquarium's work and to the ocean!

Live Blue

- Bronwyn

Labels: Bronwyn, homecoming, May 2009

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

#12: Packing Fish All.... Night.... Long....

We pulled an all-nighter last night. Haven't done that since college. The fish had a flight at 7 am this morning, so we started packing them at 11 pm last night and worked straight through until they got dropped off at the airport. The packing of fish was a well oiled machine and everyone was working non-stop.

Susan and Lionel were setting up boxes. Terry was filling bags with water

Chris, Scott and I were catching (or should I say re-catching) the fish from their tanks.

Jeremy was putting fish into the correct sized bags

Sean was running bagged fish over to get sealed off

Sherrie and Captain Lou were adding pure oxygen to the bags and sealing them off

Deb was marking the Styrofoam boxes with the kind of fish packed in them. Don and Russ were cross referencing what fish had been packed with our collecting log. Captain John was stacking the Styrofoam boxes into cardboard boxes and sealing them up.

We finished packing all but four of the fish in about 4 hours. Of course the last four were the biggest fish we had, and the most challenging to pack up.

Remember those two white spotted file fish I was so excited about? And how one of them got close enough that I could see it's teeth? Well those teeth were great at biting through the bag, and it drains the water out. The problem was finally solved by drilling holes in a bucket and submerging it in a bag with water ... after trying a few other things that didn't work. That was another one from yours truly, the Tufts alumni Chris Doller.

The cowfish (above) and the barracuda are big, and can also bite through their bags, but layering cardboard between the layers of bags seemed to work for them.

All the boxes of fish made it safely to the Aquarium and will be in quarantine for at least 6 weeks to watch for any parasites that we wouldn't want to spread to our exhibit. After that you may start to see some of the more obvious fish go on exhibit ... the file fish, the barracuda, the cowfish. But be on the lookout for some of the more under appreciated animals, like the beautiful sponges, feather dusters and tunicates.

The participants on this trip have gone home. For staff the rest of the trip is mostly cleaning the boat and packing away all our gear.

I'm going through a bit of withdrawal from scuba diving and all the participants I've lived with for the past 11 days, so I'm going to ease myself off it a bit by posting some more short stories and great pictures from the trip that haven't made the blog yet over the next few days. So I'm not done yet, keep checking back.

-Bronwyn

Labels: barracuda, boxes, Bronwyn, cowfish, file fish, May 2009, packing

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

#11: Celebrating a Succesful Education Program at the Bimini School

I'm sorry for not posting a blog last night. We took the RIB (the red inflatable boat) into town to have a good time because it was on our list of things to do.

We needed to go have a good time and celebrate because …

We ran a WILDLY successful education program for the Bimini school. We invited students and teachers to come onto the boat and learn about the Aquarium's collecting trips. About 30 kids and 4 teachers came and participated in 4 education activities. We relied on our aquarist staff and participants to lead the different activities, and everyone rocked it.

Fish Husbandry
Chris and Don rocked. They had the kids completely engaged, leaning over the platforms to observe the fishes different behaviors, using an aquascope to get a closer look at their shapes and colors and helping to feed the fish their last meal before they were shipped. I think the coolest part was that the kids were sharing their own names and stories of the fish we collected. One of our commenters wanted to know if you can eat black durgon (mom). Apparently you can and according to one student they are delicious! But before you run to the store to pick it up, check the Aquarium's sustainable seafood list to see if it's a good seafood choice.

Invertebrates
Expedition members Jeremy and Susan had the students picking up and identifying different adaptations these little creatures have. Jeremy was a natural, acting out different behaviors and encouraging them to pick up and touch the animals. Susan, a gynecologist, had a chance to mentor a student who wants to become a gynecologist.

Fish Collection
Biologist Sherrie and team member Russ threw themselves into the activity, they were both down on the ground demonstrating the process, and surely keeping the kids entertained on the process. They also encouraged students to think critically about the challenges and problem solving associated with catching fish for our exhibits.

Invasive Species
I ran this activity with expedition team member Scott, and was so impressed with how bright these students were. They had done a unit on invasive plant species and were able to apply what they had already learned to the invasive lionfish now found in the Bahamas. Scott jumped in to run the last group by himself so that I could roam around and observe the other activities. He told me that the kids asked what the lionfish's natural predators are in the Pacific, and he didn't know the answer so he said "Dragons." I'm still not entirely sure if he was joking or not.

To wrap up I asked the students to jot down anything they would want our blog readers to know about where they live or their experience on the boat. Here's what they had to say...

"We have the best waters in the world!" - Gezelle

"It is VERY beautiful" -Cristal

"The people are very hospitable" - Levia

"They take their jobs very seriously and the fishes are beautiful" - Latrowia

"We learned a lot about the fishes we have on our island and in our waters and we now know that our water is the best in the world" - Shanique

We sent them off with "Live Blue" Aquarium hats (you can see the "Live Blue" t-shirts here) and an I.D. Booklet of all the fish we were hoping to collect. In return one student thanked us on behalf of her school, and we all, even Russ, teared up a bit.

Now I need to take a minute to try and right something. After the program we walked around town and ran into Marie, an aspiring Marine Biologist. I invited her to come check out the boat and all the animals we collected. Just as we were pulling away from the dock she showed up with her family and we missed them. It was the most disappointing part of the trip for me, to let this young lady down, so ... Marie from Ontario, if you're reading this, I'm so sorry we missed you, and please email me.

-Bronwyn

Labels: Bimini, Bronwyn, Education Program, lionfish, May 2009

Monday, May 11, 2009

#10: Quick night dive report

By the way, the night dive I mentioned in this post was awesome. I was so focused on keeping my partners work area lit, without crashing into them, that my imagination couldn't run wild and I didn't freak out.

I was pretending to turn Deb's air off before she jumped in the water.

Huge shout out to Don for trying to repair my salty power cord and to Russ for supplying me with an alternate power source.

-Bronwyn

Labels: Bronwyn, May 2009, night dive

Sunday, May 10, 2009

#9: Trash and/or Treasure?

Okay, it's time. It's all been beautiful fish and dolphins so far, but now I need to share the less glamorous side of what can be found on the ocean floor.

Wanna know what made me think of it?

So, I was sending the blog the other night, enjoying the warm, clear Bahamian night. When I stood up to go inside I heard a ding ... doink ... splash. My power cord fell off my lap, under the crack in the side of the boat and into the ocean. I fished it out first thing in the morning, but it made me think of all the other things that end up in the ocean and DON'T get fished out.

Then today we dove at a wreck site, the Sapona. During World War I steel was scarce, so Henry Ford experimented with making the Liberty ships that carried crew out of concrete. In 1926 a hurricane grounded the ship in shallow water, 15-20 ft. It was then used as a base for rum runners, and later for target practice for WWII planes. The Lost Avenger fleet went missing after using it for target practice and became one of the first stories of planes going missing in the Bermuda Triangle.

When you swim around it there's this constant distinct crackling noise. Schools of fish take cover under its massive propeller. Thousands of invertebrates stick and grow on its frame. People, just like us, come to dive and explore the wreckage. So what is it? History? An artificial habitat? Pollution?

I didn't keep a count, but so far we've seen about a dozen bottles and cans, a propane tank, a knife, and three garden statues of a goat, pig and sheep Not too bad I suppose, but what would the coastline of a much more highly populated area look like?

I have not seen any plastic trash, presumably because currents seem to push plastics out to the Giant Pacific Garbage Patch. It's no joke, look it up.

I don't think this blog is the place to lay out my plan of action to solve the world's problems, but I hope it makes us think about our impact, and how we might be able to reduce it, one action at a time.

-Bronwyn

Labels: Bronwyn, May 2009, recycle, sapona, waste

Friday, May 8, 2009

#8: "They're SO beautiful!"

We swam with dolphins today.

Photo credit: Lionel Galway

Now, no disrespect to all the other amazing fish and corals and other reef animals we've had the privilege to see (I have a shout out to some awesome fish below) but I'd sound like a bumbling idiot if I tried to explain how amazing it was to be so close to them. But I'll try anyway ...

They were curious, swimming under and around us, and when they were bored with us, which was long before we would have been bored with them, they just took off.

You could hear all the clicking sounds they make to communicate with each other. Maybe they were commenting on how incredibly clumsy we were in the water. I felt like such an awkward doofous next to them.

Photo credit: Lionel Galway

Sherrie was beside herself, and is now enduring the jokes we've been making about her technique of holding her hands behind her back to "look more like them." We can joke all we want, but the dolphins did come the closest to Sherrie.

Photo credit: Lionel Galway

Before anyone gets alarmed by our swim with the dolphins I would like to make a few short statements:

1. We were not looking for dolphins. We noticed them playing on the wake behind our boat, so we stopped and jumped off the back of the boat.

2. We were not chasing the dolphins. Not even Michael Phelps can chase these animals down. You cannot chase a dolphin in a mask, snorkel and fins. Compared to dolphins, we stink at swimming.

3. If they were feeling threatened by us, they would have been long gone before I even had my face down in the water.

4. These are the kinds of experiences that make anyone appreciate these animals more, and want to protect them and their environment.

And that shout out to the fish ... We now have two white spotted file fish. Don and Russ caught the male with the color blocking first, but since these fish bond with their mate we had to catch the female in order to be able to keep them. On our second dive we found the female. Here they are together:

I know it seems odd that we were able to catch them both, but on two separate dives. How do we know we got the right one?

These fish don't travel far within the reef, and we didn't see any other of these species in the area we were. So it was a good find, and lucky that we caught the female on the second dive. If we hadn't we would have had to put the male back. When I was taking this picture the male was being very shy at first, but then kept getting closer and closer to my legs. When it got close enough for me to see his teeth I decided I had enough pictures. I don't know if he was going to bite me, but I think I'd bite me if I were a fish, especially if I was defending my territory and my mate.

I know Deb said something in an earlier blog about a possible Barracuda feeding. What Deb and I are now learning is that the Barracuda are picky eaters, and can go weeks without food. Sooooo ... we'll keep you posted on that. Tomorrow we're planning a night dive so I may not get around to a post. I needed to say that mostly so that my mother doesn't start worrying about my safety when she sees I haven't posted anything for the day.

-Bronwyn

Labels: barracuda, Bronwyn, dolphins, file fish, May 2009

Thursday, May 7, 2009

#6: We don't mess around (with safety)

So, I realize that the collecting trip looks like it's all fun and leisure ... and it is for the most part; our work is fun work, but with a VERY healthy dose of safety. Today's dives really highlighted the precautions we take when diving. Up until today our dives had been no deeper than 45 ft., but today we found a new dive site. When we swam down and hit bottom our gauges read 77 ft. We were all looking at each other with that "whoa" look on our faces (which looks really different through a dive mask.)

But why does going deeper require more caution? There's something about nitrogen I don't quite understand, but I just spent an hour talking with Captain Lou (a VERY experienced Dive Master) to try and understand why we stop and hang out in one spot for a few minutes on our way to the surface.

Here's my layman's attempt to explain it. The deeper you go, the more pressure is put on your body. Oxygen still moves through your body as you inhale and exhale, but for some reason, nitrogen tends to build up and not flow through your body the way it should. Coming to the surface slowly (a gradual release of pressure on your body) allows your body to gradually reabsorb and release the built up nitrogen.

The deeper you go, the more it builds up, and the more time you should give you body to readjust. If that doesn't make any sense, please do not hold it against Captain Lou, he tried his best to help be understand. On a side note ... We also bring the fish we've collected to the surface very slowly by leaving them in a barrel underwater and slowly raising it onto the boat. Fish have a swim bladder, an air filled sac, that controls their buoyancy in the water. If we bring them to the surface too fast, the air in their swim bladder can expand, causing them to float and tilt to one side. Not good.

Okay back to safety. I do know this about deeper dives ... it's darker, and you're further from the boat which makes it harder to orient yourself and make sure you haven't strayed too far. When diving at any depth there may also be currents that can cause you to slowly drift away. As a precaution we always dive with a buddy, and we always take a compass reading so you know which direction to swim to get back to the boat.

We also have a safety observer for every dive. The observers job is to watch for anyone coming to the surface in distress. I almost always look distressed when I surface because I'm winded and my mask has usually filled with water, and everyone knows it now, but everyone still checks to make sure I'm okay. That's good safety.

-Bronwyn

Labels: Bronwyn, catching fish, Diving, May 2009, nitrogen, safety

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

#4: Patience and Planning

These are the virtues needed to catch fish. Here's why ... we go down 30-40 feet underwater with long hoses attached to a large tank, wetsuit, flippers, mask, two vinyl nets and a vinyl catch bag. We do NOT use any chemicals to knock fish out, we do NOT use dynamite to stun (or kill) them, nor do we trawl the ocean floor to catch them.

With the minimum impact methods we use for collecting, the only advantage a person can have over the fish they're trying to catch is patience and planning. I have very little patience, but I'm working on it, and planning how to catch a fish with your dive partner is really hard underwater while breathing off your regulator. You can do some planning before you go underwater, but all you're plans change as soon as someone sees that scrawled filefish or some other prize fish.

Deb, our Director of Visitor Experience at the aquarium, says she learned a very valuable lesson in patience today from a Queen Angelfish. Deb floated with her nets over a coral head for 5-10 minutes before the fish decided to dart out of the coral and right into one of her nets.

This was particularly exciting for Deb since she had to let a beautiful Queen triggerfish go, and it was her first catch! But ... Queen triggers are listed on the IUCN redlist of endangered and threatened species, and we won't take anything that is on that, or any other threatened or endangered list.

Had I been more patient I may have noticed this creature tucked under some coral. One of our participants, Terry, who has logged over 400 dives, had to flag me down and point it out.

Here's one end of it.

Wanna take a guess as to what it is?

It was a spotted moray eel. Thanks Terry!

After all the patience and planning underwater, we surface to take breaks between dives. Planning ahead is critical to ensure that there are plenty of cold things in the fridge to drink...the air from the scuba tanks is very dry and I come up pretty parched.

The drink of choice for Sherrie (our expedition leader and Senior Aquarist) is Yoo-hoo. That is correct, Yoo-hoo. And I have to say, despite the high fructose corn syrup, it is surprisingly refreshing after a dive...or maybe I'm just so thirsty I don't care. Let's see what Chris thinks.

I guess you'll just have to try it. (I sense a sponsorship coming our way!)

A preview of tomorrow...

Find out why we put the tallest person on the boat inside a small, boxy, net looking thing.

-Bronwyn

Labels: Bronwyn, May 2009, moray eel, triggerfish

Monday, May 4, 2009

#3: Bring on the Fish

We left port around 9am this morning and cruised down the Miami river, taking in the views and passing under AT LEAST 8 drawbridges.

Six hours later, after some Dramamine induced napping, we arrived in Alice Town on Bimini. Notice the difference in water color from the Miami river?

Along the way I was awake just long enough to see some flying fish. Those things are amazing! The fish was out of the water long enough for me to say "Whoa, there's a flying fish! Wait no, it must be a bird. Chris, is that a fish? Whoa, really? They can glide that far?" Yup, they can. It was awesome. And then the Dramamine hit me and I passed out.

After clearing customs in Alice Town we took off to Rainbow Reef for the checkout dive, so everyone could test out their equipment. And then ... Our first collecting dive! It was pretty successful and we now have a trumpet fish, banded and foureye butterfly fish, harlequin bass, orange spotted file fish and some sharp nose puffers. Not bad!

The fish you see in the buckets went right into the large holding tanks. But now I have to get up at 6:30 to begin caring for our new charges, so I'm gonna call it a night and go dream of flying fish. Oh, one last thing worth mentioning ... dinner was amazing. Tuna steaks ... on the grill. If that strikes you as odd, check out the aquarium sustainable seafood to learn more about how we support making wise seafood choices.

Many people in the world rely on fish as their primary source of protein, so we just need to be smart about what kind of fish we eat and how it's harvested. The part about dinner that struck me as odd was the grill. Really? A grill on a boat? Yup, and it was great.

-Bronwyn

Labels: Bronwyn, Butterfly fish, file fish, Fish Counting, Flying Fish, May 2009, Miami, puffers, trumpet fish

Sunday, May 3, 2009

#2: Hello and Goodbye

We said hello to our dive participants today. Our team of four has now grown to a team of 12, and when our captains and chef arrive tomorrow we'll be complete.

We wanted everyone to feel welcome and cared for, so we cleaned the common areas, made their beds, and Deb cooked a delicious meal (with her husband Scott as sous chef). I can't help it...I'm very proud of my bed making skills and am including a picture.

Doesn't it look like a wave?

I took this picture on our walk to the grocery store for the view of the trip issued t-shirts (can you tell what fish it is?) and realized that we would be saying goodbye to walking long distances. For the next ten days we will not be able to walk more than 80 ft without walking off the boat (unless of course we want to walk in circles). But don't worry, with all the diving and chasing fish, we'll be getting plenty of exercise so it's well worth the trade off.

We're also saying goodbye to Miami, not that I really spent much time getting to know it, but it has been fun to watch all kinds of things moving up and down the river.

Goodnight now...tomorrow I'll be writing from the Bahamas. Remember...Live Blue...buy a smaller boat.

-Bronwyn

Labels: Bronwyn, departure, May 2009, Miami

Saturday, May 2, 2009

#1: Testing...Testing..

Yep, that's what we're doing here ... a whole lot of testing. We're 36 hours away from cruising down the Miami River, headed to the Bahamas aboard the Coral Reef II. To find out why, check out this previous post for a little background.

I've been testing new equipment that will help us be more active with the blog while we're far away from the comforts of regular wireless communications. Technology is not exactly my area of expertise, and this is the first time I've blogged, so I've been tempted to chuck this equipment into the river more than once ... BUT there are sometimes Manatees swimming in there, so I don't.

Chris, Jeremy and Sherrie (the aquarist staff on the trip) were testing our life support systems by filling tanks and running the pumps. This is an all day task. Waiting for tanks to fill is like waiting for a watched pot to boil, so there was lots of scrubbing and cleaning while we waited.

The final result of a days work...It may not be the Bellagio, but it's pretty impressive to see all the tanks filling with water for the first time, and I've figured out how to share it with you all.

Stay tuned, we haven't even left Florida yet and there will be MUCH more to come ...

-Bronwyn

Labels: Bronwyn, May 2009, preparation, testing

About

The New England Aquarium replenishes the fishes and invertebrates in our Caribbean reef exhibits with two annual expeditions to the Bahamas. During these expeditions, the Aquarium's biologists work very closely with the Bahamas Ministry of Fisheries. A Bahamian official comes on board during the trip to monitor our collecting techniques.
We don't take anything on the IUCN Red List, or any species that are endangered or threatened. After about a week of collecting we carefully ship the animals back to Boston so eventually they can be viewed by the Aquarium's visitors.