USFSP- Week 4
I truly believe that the adventure on the Weatherbird II, a FIO research vessel, was the most intense and educational day of this program thus far. I had been looking forward to spending time on a research vessel, and now that I may be spending quite a bit of time on one during my master’s degree, I figured it could serve as a trial run. Spoiler alert: I am still all for it.
As we left the harbor and headed towards the Skyway Bridge we got a beautiful view of St. Petersburg. Along the way we familiarized ourselves with the vessel’s layout and scanned the water for dolphins and other sea creatures; we were not disappointed. One particularly playful bottlenose dolphin swayed in and out of the wake for about five minutes, occasionally breaking the surface. Once past the Skyway, ahead of us was open water. As we chased the horizon the water turned a deep navy blue. We had clear skies and calm seas which lured us into a false sense of relaxation.
The second we hit the first station (about 25 miles offshore), our vacation ended and the hard work began. We did not stop for the rest of the day. To start the technical aspect of the cruise we had the opportunity to operate a yellow ROV named the Defender. I wished I had played more video games with my brothers to prepare as I struggled with the touchy controller. Despite my struggle I stumbled upon a starfish purely by chance.
For the first station my group ran the dredge which looked eerily similar to a small coffin made of metal grate. While helping the crew pull it onto the boat I noticed a strip of suckers between the metal crates and momentarily froze. A beautiful Pygmy Atlantic Octopus creeped along the inside of the dredge. For context, I am obsessed with cephalopods, and this was the first one I had ever seen outside an aquarium. You can imagine my excitement.
After I finished fangirling I sorted through the shell hash looking for any sign of movement, and my mood quickly changed. We had only dredged for a very short amount of time with a small dredge, and the amount of the seafloor we had pulled up was overwhelming. The idea of dredging an entire of section of the ocean floor repeatedly for any reason was unfathomable. It is unbelievable that these practices are still allowed considering the damage they cause.
Anyway, we spent till sunset sorting the organisms we had collected. ID books and tubs of creatures consumed our lives during that time. It was absolute chaos, but we got it all done and logged. As I identified and released my last specimen I looked up to see a beautiful sunset.
We collected ourselves for about half an hour before restarting the process at night closer to shore. This time around my team was in charge of the plankton nets. I learned the hand signals for lowering and raising the nets to communicate with the technicians on the deck above us. After completing our sampling we prepared ourselves for the sorting and IDing of organisms caught in the otter trawl, but I don’t think anyone could have prepared us for the onslaught of crabs and sea robins we caught. Georgia and I tackled sorting and measuring them with Bekka as our scribe.
Though it was the most physically and mentally demanding day of the program, I think everyone learned a lot. My peers and I are very excited to update our resumes with all of the new skills that we have learned. It confirmed the fact that I would like to partake in a longer research cruise in the future and that I am on the right path to a career that I will love!
Even though this course is not quite over yet, it is difficult to put into words how incredible this program has been. For students seriously considering marine biology as a career, this class should be mandatory. It is an efficient way to determine whether or not marine biology is for you and if it is, which aspect to pursue.
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