Q: How do you tell one larval fish from another? A: You get Dr. Lamkin to do it!!!!

 Well this year, one new aspect to sampling was the presence of Dr. John Lamkin the chief scientist for the cruise on board. Part of John's presence is to sort through the samples on board and determine if we are catching any Atlantic Bluefin Tuna (ABT) Larvae. If larvae is found then we may change our sampling pattern and sample more intensely around those oceanographic features.
   Unfortunately for us, and Dr. Lamkin, we have not found any ABT as yet in the samples. However this could be due to the sheer volume of zooplankton in the samples, and/or the small size of the ABT larvae in the samples due how early it is in the spawning season. Dr. Lamkin's expertise is necessary because the identification of larval ABT at this stage in development (1-8 mm total length) is dependent mostly on the correct identification on the pigmentation just before the tail. And can be a very difficult and tedious process when the larvae are this small. Thankfully we've had Dr. Lamkin aboard to handle this task, for the first leg anyway.

"Back to Sampling I go!"
Sennai

What are we doing out here? Well......

          As we are currently on our way into the Bay of Campeche, we have found ourselves with a bit of a transit to our next set of sampling stations. After having full sets of stations to sample pretty much on each of my shifts during the cruise since we got into Mexican waters, this 30 or so hours of transit time has allowed me a little time to catch up on blog posts and get some other much needed work done.
   

So, many of you are probably wondering what all this sampling that I've been doing is? Well in a nutshell we are using satellite imagery to determine frontal boundaries in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM). Frontal Boundaries or fronts are areas which separate water masses of two different densities, and can be identified by marked differences in properties like temperature, salinity, currents, or enhanced chlorophyll concentrations.Currently we are using satellite imagery to identify these regions in the GOM and input these and other properties from past sampling into a model, created by Barbara Muhling at the NOAA Southeast Fisheries Science Center which identifies regions that have a higher possibility of containing Atlantic Bluefin Tuna larvae. Transects (A plotted course with set sampling station locations) is then created to cover the area of interest. The above image is a image of Sea Surface Temperature with our sampling transects (indicated by the X's) overlayed ontop of it. The different colors indicate different Sea Surface Temperatures, and this is an image of our current sampling the beginnings of the Loop Current, just off the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico.
       At each station we sampling using a variety of nets as well as a CTD, which is a sensor that is attached to a winch and profiles the water column as it descends as well as collects water using niskin bottles at three specified depths.

The CTD allows us to record the temperature, salinity, and fluorescence ( the amount of light emitted). A neuston net with a mesh size of 0.950 mm is used to sample the surface of the water as well as sub-surface between 1-10 meters, a bongo net is dropped down to 200 m and towed obliquely (meaning it is raised to the surface continuously sort of in a diagonal line to the surface).
       While all of this is going on we are continually sampling the distribution of fish eggs, and invertebrate zooplankton while underway in between stations using a continuous underway fish egg sampler (CUFES) pronounced "coo-fus".
       Anyway, as we did last year we are partnered with Mexican scientists from INAPESCA, Instituto Nacional de Pesca, the Mexican government's agency similar to NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) in the US. During sampling we split into two teams and work 12 hours on and 12 hours off as we are sampling 24 hours a day. I'm working on the Midnight to Noon shift along with two scientists from INAPESCA, on a usual shift we usually go through about 4-5 stations which take about 1.5 hrs to complete and usually another hour to transit between them, during the transit I am usually processing the chl samples while my sampling partners are running CUFES and cataloging the samples. All of this usually takes the entire transit time so there isn't much of a chance to break even to catch meals. But after I got used to sleeping during the day, which is always a struggle for me the first few days, you pretty much welcome the sampling, because as long as your focused on a task you keep from being tired.
    Well I hope you enjoyed a short look into what we're doing out here, I know it was a little technical but if you have any questions, especially any T.R.U.E. divers or SCUBAnauts out there reading this please ask me about it.  Anyway the weathers been warm, and the seas have been staying Calm!
So take care 'till next post, I'm gonna get some sleep.

Sennai

And we're off!!

Well All,
     I apologize for not setting this up sooner, but do to internet issues on the ship during our initial transit south and the amount of sampling we've been doing since we got the internet up I simply haven't had gotten a chance.
    Anyway as some of you may know I am aboard the R/V Gordon Gunter a NOAA ship stationed at the NOAA Pascagoula Labs in Mississippi.
      I arrived mid-day at the Gulfport airport and after a short stop at the mall to fix my Iphone ( I somehow managed to delete all the numbers during an update) I made it to the docks at Pascagoula just in time to stow my gear and attend the pre-cruise meeting. As NOAA has just completed their new offices and lab spaces here in Pascagoula I was treated to a tour of the new facility by Denice Drass (the field party chief for this cruise), a far cry from the post-Katrina trailers the pre-cruise meeting was held in last year. After the meeting and a final check of the gear on board I was invited to a trivia night in Mobile with some of the new NOAA Corps ensigns on the ship this year, to celebrate my birthday. They even got me a birthday desert pizza. I had no idea pineapples, cherries, chocolate, and mascarpone cheese tasted good on pizza dough, but I highly recommend trying it!!!!
      Unfortunately my luck with electronic devices seemed to deteriorate as our departure scheduled for Friday, April 2 was delayed due to technical issues with the CTD's and other electronic sensors integral for our sampling during the cruise. Despite this we were able to embark the next day around 11 am, and began our transit south into Mexican waters to sample some interesting oceanic features off the Yucatan Peninsula. As we we're pulling out of the Pascagoula River, into open water I caught a fleeting glimpse of a few barrier islands, and thought about the fact that except for a few glimpses of the coast of Cozumel and Cancun, this would be the last bit of land we'd get to see for about 2 weeks. 
       Well I will try to update this blog as regularly as I can, with more detailed information and pictures on the type of sampling we are doing as well as the life aboard the ship. I will be on here for the first two legs of this cruise. So feel free to ask any questions via the blog or my email if you have it, and I will do my best to answer them ASAP. Finally if your interested in where the ship is and the weather or environmental features near where we are click on the NOAA ship tracker to the left of the posts.

"Anyway we're on station now so gotta go, stay tuned for the next post!"
Sennai