Wednesday, June 02, 2010

Dive Type: Science/REEF

Dive Sites: Butterfly House [Carmel]/Carmel City Beach

Dive Times: 0854/1115

Dive Lengths: 38 mins/34 mins

Temps: 49 F./49 F.

Max Depths: 86 ft/46 ft

Viz: Site #1: +/-30 ft. Site #2: /10-15 ft.

Marine Life Seen: Bat Stars, Strawberry Anemones, Sunflower Stars, Noble Dorids, Brown Cowries and a Ratfish [Hydrolagus colliei], Orange Cup Coral, Purple Hydrocoral, Gumboot Chitons, Kelp Greenling, Leather Stars, Brittle Stars, Cobalt Sponge, Orange Puffballs….

Buddies: Barb and Jackie

Highlights:

Dive #1: Butterfly House, Carmel

The first dive was a spectacular wall dive between two pinnacles on a sandy bottom, where was saw a Spotted Ratfish and Jackie got some video of it. Although Ratfish are common in the PNW and locally, they are extremely rare above very deep depths in San
Diego, so this was a rare treat.

See here for more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spotted_ratfish

Dive #2: Carmel City Beach

This dive was recommended by Christy Semmens, the Science Director for REEF as a good spot for ‘species diversity,’ and indeed it was, even though it was just a sandy are off of Carmel City Beach. We saw our first Kelp Greenling here, something also rarely seen in San Diego.

Someone else saw a Pacific Giant Octopus, under a large rock and was able to get some photos of it.

Very interesting stuff!

After years reviving local kelp beds with seedlings nurtured by students, marine biologist Nancy Caruso is attempting underwater farming with a different species: she’s intent on reintroducing the nearly wiped out green abalone to the rock reefs off Laguna Beach.

After west coast abalone stocks collapsed in recent decades, the species became a rallying cry for marine conservationists. Commercial and recreational harvesting of the mollusk was banned in 1996. Now, Caruso’s one-woman crusade will rely on aquaculture to regenerate what some researchers deem a local marine ecosystem in decline.

See here for more: http://www.lagunabeachindependent.com/news/2010-04-09/Front_Page/Sea_Forester_Plants_a_Rare_Species.html

An Orange County scientist who spent years growing kelp forests offshore is firing up volunteers for her newest project: breeding green abalone in local schools, then releasing them into the wild.
Nancy Caruso, a marine biologist and head of the “Get Inspired!” non-profit organization, caught three good-sized abalone off Laguna Beach Saturday with help from her dive team. She kept the abalone in tanks overnight to get fecal samples, and returned them to their offshore hideout the next day.

http://greenoc.freedomblogging.com/2010/03/30/scientist-captures-elusive-abalone-off-o-c/21727/

Springtime greetings to all:

in light of the recent ‘jump’ in Sevengill shark sightings locally,  both here in San Diego and even one up in  in Little Corona [OC] in January of this year,  I thought now might be a good time to renew my annual call for Sevengill shark sighting submissions for our sister site, the Sevengill website at: http://sevengillsharksightings.org

<—-See link at lower left, with the green Sevengill shark.

Basically, I’m requesting the data in any form: dive reports w/out photos [anecdotal], photographs and/or videos.

While obviously, we can’t pay anyone [no revenue or ads are accepted on the website--it's strictly for personal interest and marine researchers] I can promise you the following:

–full credit by name [obviously] for dive reports: please include as much ‘hard data’ as you can from your dive computer, such as time of day, depth, water temperature, visibility and general water conditions. The more data you can supply, the better.

–for photos: if you haven’t done so, I can insert a watermark with your name and a copyright symbol © Your Name Here/ 2010/All Rights Reserved. You retain the rights to the photo and I or anyone else will have to ask your permission to reuse it. Your photos will be posted on a copyright protected server which does not allow ‘right click’ downloads.

–for videos: both You Tube and Vimeo are fine, but try to put your name and location in the video, as well as time of day and date, as I can’t do that for you, but I can give you full credit. I recommend Vimeo for any Hi Def video and for ease of use.

That’s it!

We’re coming to ‘that time of year’ now, where Sevengill sightings take a jump and I think we’re in a position to get some really interesting data this year and you can help.

For you science divers out there, we’re in touch with  Vallorie Hodges, DSO of the Oregon Coastal Aquarium [which has 10 Sevengills] and Dr. Christy Pattengill-Semmens, Director of Science Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF) and they are all  following developments down here with interest. As is well-know shark photographer Marty Snyderman, by the way.

For those of you who are REEFers [as well as those of you who are not ], Janna Nichols, Outreach Coordinator and Marine Life ID Instructor for REEF in the Pacific Northwest, has said that you are welcome to go to Reef.org and create a log in ID, if you haven’t done so already–even if you are NOT a REEF surveyor--and, record your Sevengill encounter in their database.

There are instructions for non-REEFers to record their encounters on my  website, on the left-hand side, under ‘Procedure for Entering Sevengill Sightings in REEF’s Database.’

I am a REEFer myself and can answer any questions you may have on the procedure as well and I’m happy to help.

Thanks so much for your help–as I say: this should be a really interesting year for Sevengills, who appear to be congregating in increasing numbers at La Jolla Cove and elsewhere.

A final note about GPS numbers: if you send them to me, they will remain confidential, for the protection of the sharks, and never be posed,  but may be shared with marine science researchers.

As always, when around animals in the wild [which is what sharks are] and predators, use common sense and never place your personal safety at risk to ‘get that photo or video.’ Safety is first, data second. The incidence of attacks on divers by Sevengills is statistically  very low compared with other species of shark, but never assume anything: they will always be a predator.

Thanks!

Mike Bear

Email: scubapro.bear@gmail.com
Cell: (619) 630-4367
Twitter: rapturedeep

http://raptureofthedeep.org/

http://www.examiner.com/x-38501-San-Diego-Scuba-Diving-Examiner

Video: Courtesy: Phil Cruver

Little Corona de Mar Beach, CA/Photo: Barbara Lloyd

Marine Biologist Nancy Caruso Briefs Divers/Photo: Michael Bear

Saturday, three divers from San Diego, Barbara Lloyd, Jim Kinane and Michael Bear assisted marine biologist Nancy Caruso  in collecting abalone specimens from Little Corona Del Mar Beach, with the aid of a special collection permit issued by the California Dept. of Fish and Game authorizing such sample collecting for scientific purposes.

The goal was to carefully remove selected abalone specimens, so that the feces could be sent to a lab to be tested for the presence of a bacteria associated with a condition  known as ‘Withering Foot Disease,’ and then, returned to where they were found.

See here for more:  http://www.examiner.com/x-38501-San-Diego-Scuba-Diving-Examiner~y2010m3d13-San-Diego-divers-assist-marine-biologist-in-abalone-study#

Date: Sunday, 6-14-09

Location: Wreck Alley, NOSC  Tower

Time:  12:02 pm

Dive Length: 37 mins

Viz: 15 ft.

Max Depth: 61 ft

Mix: 31%

Temps:  68 F/61 F on bottom

Surface Conditions:  2-3 ft. swells and 15-20 knot winds w/whitcaps

Dive buddies:  Barb and NOAA Jim on hisscooter

Purpose: REEF Survey

Marine Life Observed:

Fish: Numerous Blacksmith, juvenile and adult, Surfperch, Blackeyed Gobies, Painted Greenlings, Opaleye, Sheephead, male and female, but more female, Senoritas

Invertebrates: Strawberry Anemones, Golden Gorgonians, numerous Giant Spined Sea Stars, Moon Sponge, Rock Scallops, Stalked Tunicates, Pterygophera californicus [Northern Sea  Palm], Macrocystis

Remarks:

After  a bit of dithering on Sunday and one cancelation, we got  a late start and decided to head out to the NOSC Tower in Wreck Alley for a REEF Survey and take some video. It was really ended up being  3 solo dives, all occurring at the time in the same general vicinity.
We had some swells and a good, stiff 15 knot wind, which picked up as the afternoon wore on, making for a choppy ride out and a great  day for sailboats.

We tied up to the Tower and it was then that I discovered that  I had a short fill on my tank, missing 600 lbs., so I knew this wasn’t going to be a long dive.

Nonetheless,  despite the surface conditions,  viz was a respectable 15 ft. once we got on the bottom and I ended up with a productive REEF Survey, including the fish and invertebrates you see listed above.

The only  invert I couldn’t ID was some sort of sponge I have only seen on the Tower and it looks like an oblong shaped, soft pancake, about 4-8 inches long, attached by a short stem to various hard objects in the area.

Need less to say, I surfaced first, to find the Scuba Do dancing on 3 ft swells, and our boat surrounded by at least 25 colorful sailboats, all enjoying the stiff, 15 knot wind……some of them not exactly under expert control and several of them veered  scarily close to the boat, but no mishaps occurred.
Dive safe, everyone……

To perform tasks in the deepest depths, engineers had to design a one-of-a-kind manipulator arm for the new depth submergence vehicle Nereus.
Matt Heintz is a research engineer in the Deep Submergence Lab at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). He started his career at WHOI as a pilot for the human-occupied submersible Alvin. In 1999, he began developing the second iteration of the remotely operated vehicle Jason. Both of those vehicles use manipulator arms to collect samples and measurements on the seafloor. Heintz was responsible for developing a hydraulic power unit, sampling apparatus, and a manipulator arm with “good kinematics,” or ranges of motion, for WHOI’s newest deep-sea vehicle Nereus.
See below for more:
http://www.whoi.edu/oceanus/viewArticle.do?id=57660&sectionid=1001

A robotic vehicle named Nereus has made the deepest ocean dive ever – 6.8 miles (10,902 meters), a team of scientists and engineers reported yesterday. At this depth, Nereus was able to explore the Challenger Deep – the ocean’s lowest point, located in the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific.

Nereus took the plunge Sunday. It was the first exploration of the Marina Trench since 1998.

“Much of the ocean’s depths remain unexplored,” said Julie Morris, director of the National Science Foundation‘s Division of Ocean Sciences, which funded the project. “Ocean scientists now have a unique tool to gather images, data and samples from everywhere in the oceans, rather than those parts shallower than 6,500 meters (4 miles). With its innovative technology, Nereus allows us to study and understand previously inaccessible ocean regions.”

Nereus is a new type of ocean vehicle, called a hybrid remotely operated vehicle (HROV). It is controlled by scientists aboard a surface ship via a fiber-optic tether. In addition to being able to dive deep, Nereus can also switch to a free swimming mode.

“The team is pleased that Nereus has been successful in reaching the very bottom of the ocean to return imagery and samples from such a hostile world” said Andy Bowen, project manager and principal developer of Nereus at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). “With a robot like Nereus we can now explore anywhere in the ocean. The trenches are virtually unexplored, and Nereus will enable new discoveries there.”

Nereus has a lightweight tethering system. A traditional system uses steel-reinforced cable made of copper that powers a vehicle, and optical fibers that enable information to be passed between the ship and the vehicle. But if such a cable were used to reach the Mariana Trench, it would snap under its own weight before it traveled that deep.

To solve the problem, the Nereus team adapted fiber-optic technology developed by the Navy’s Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific to carry real-time video and other data between the Nereus and the surface crew. Close to the diameter of a human hair and with a breaking strength of only 8 pounds, the tether is composed of glass fiber with a very thin protective jacket of plastic.

WHOI engineers also developed a hydraulically operated, lightweight robotic manipulator arm that could operate under intense pressure.

Overall, the deep-diving vehicle weighs nearly 3 tons in air and is about 14 feet (4.25 meters) long and about 8 feet (2.3 meters) wide. It is powered by more than 4,000 lithium-ion batteries.

During its dive to the Challenger Deep, Nereus spent more than 10 hours on the bottom. It sent live video back to the ship through its fiber-optic tether and collected biological and geological samples with its manipulator arm.

“The samples collected by the vehicle include sediment from the tectonic plates that meet at the trench and, for the first time, rocks from deep exposures of the Earth’s crust close to mantle depths south of the Challenger Deep,” said geologist Patty Fryer of the University of Hawaii, who also went on the expedition. “We will know the full story once shore-based analyses are completed back in the laboratory this summer. We can integrate them with the new mapping data to tell a story of plate collision in greater detail than ever before accomplished in the world’s oceans.”

Nereus was also funded by the Office of Naval Research, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Russell Family Foundation and WHOI.