• Sergeant Major (Abudefduf saxatilis) – A post at Larval Images about one of my favorite ecosystems and one of the great juvenile fish that are commonly found there.
• Budget Hacking – A post here about the importance of NOAA for the myriad jobs they do, many of which are important for public safetly and economic security in addition to research. A post that I feel is a very important read, especially as the 2012 budget fight may still cut NOAA deeply, including the satellite’s needed to track and predict severe weather events as well as we do. Without NOAA’s work I think it is safe to say the Alabama death toll would have definitely  been significantly higher.
• Gulf of Mexico Dolphin Mortality Event – Posted as Scientist in Residence at Deep Sea News – in which I use the data from NOAA to take a more slightly more detailed look at deaths of dolphins since the oil spill in the Gulf, and explain the box and whisker plot.
• Dolphin Whiskers – now only Babies – published a few days later here, to address the concern that there is a higher that normal number of babies washing ashore, but the graph, as presented by NOAA and in the MSM, does not really support that claim. So again come out the box and whisker plots.
• My ‘Seascape of Fear’ – A second posting as  Deep Sea News Scientist in Residence, I discuss my recent trip to Belize as a teaching assistant for a coral reef fish ecology class and the arrival in Belize of the highly invasive Lionfish.
• How does a floating plastic duckie end up where it does? – A guest Blog post at Scientific American Part of a four post series on drifting junk in the oceans and how, sometimes, they can help us explore and learn more about the ocean currents. Other posts in the series include a review by Lindsey Hoshaw of the book Moby Duck (I’ll post my own review here later, I liked the book quite a bit more than Lindsey), an interview by David Manly with Moby Duck author Donovan Hohn, and a Matthew Garcia review of Dr. Curtis Ebbesmeyer’s bookFlotsametrics and the Floating World about tracing accidental drifters and the information they can give us.
• Is It Time to Relax Fishing Regulations? – Another Scientist in Residence post at DSN, this was a response to fisheries biologist Ray Hilborn’s recent op-ed in the New York Times advocating a relaxation of the current fishing regulations. (Enric Sala, Peter Singer, Daniel Pauly and Mark Kurlansky all replied to the paper.)
• Finally, Reflections, posted here, in which I examine where I have been, where I am and the options going forward.

Hopefully in the next few days we will have a guest posting or two here by Johann. Discussing some of his recent adventures and science from his point of view.

In addition to the postings there are several new YouTube videos I uploaded in the past weeks, mostly of the underwater variety.

One of the things I have to keep coming back to is “What do I want to be when I grow up”

But that has never been a simple question. When I was young I wanted to be a scientist and an explorer. I was excited and my imagination ignited by archeology, marine biology and the space program. I devoured national geographic magazines, Wild Kingdom and Jaques Cousteau’s specials. I remember reading and re-reading the articles by Dr. Eugenie Scott on the amazing fish of the Red Sea and sharks in general. I remember reading about Dr. Sylvia Earle’s descent to 1250m in a hard suit and her Tektite mission. I know it may sound crazy, but one of the highlights of my brief science career so far was to dive on the Aquarius site as a science diver… the descendant of Tektite, it was, part way to an old dream come true – to live and work in an underwater habitat studying the seas for hours and hours at a time. One day I still hope to make that dream come true.

Science diver approaching the NOAA/UNCW Aquarius Habitat off Key Largo, Florida

But my path took a strange turn and instead of going to Woods Hole or Scripts or Harbor Branch, I ended up in the Army working as an advanced communications specialist using, trouble shooting and fixing just about every type of communication technology in the Army, but specializing in satellite systems. It could be a challenging job, especially in remote combat deployments, but it really didn’t make me stretch. I spent my spare time reading and improving my animation skills as a form of entertainment. In Central America I learned to scuba dive and spent as much time on Roatan Island as I could, doing 3-4 dives a day. The more I dove, the more I needed to learn about the fish and invertebrates I was seeing. I subscribed to several diving magazines and bought every marine biology book my scuba instructor could get from the States. I invited my future wife to meet me in Roatan, unfortunately she declined.

Sunset on the Meso-American Reef. Copyright E. Heupel

After the army I worked in the computer industry in engineering and eventually web development until the bubble burst. When that happened I returned to school, studying computer systems and graphic design. Unfortunately returning to school also revealed that I had a memory issue. Tammy knew before, but I denied it of course. Unfortunately the tricks I had learned to use on the job, didn’t translate well to the academic environment. I struggled to find a new way of learning and studying, while my grades sank, eventually forcing me to admit defeat temporarily as I withdrew from school.

Fast forward to five years ago when I took advantage of an opportunity to again return to school. This time in Oceanography. I had since learned to deal with my memory issues with new strategies. I started slow, with only two classes, but soon took on a full course load completing the four year degree in three and a half years with a job, a family and still managed a 3.5 GPA. My old skills in electronics, optics, video production and web design all served me well working in labs and earning me opportunities to work with Remotely Operated Vehicles. At the end of undergraduate I knew I needed to take this further, I needed to revisit my old dream of being a scientist working in, on and under the ocean.

The motley crew of the SHRMP 2010 habitat monitoring program mission. Copyright E. Heupel

I was accepted to the graduate program and began learning more about sustainable fisheries and GIS than I thought was possible to learn (and yet I have still only learned a spall portion) . It has been a good run, but now it is almost over. I want to go on further, but I know I need a change in direction. My interests lay more with larval and juvenile marine organisms and their ecosystem roles (besides the stock answer I get from many: “as food” – too damn easy), or in the ecology of deep sea and mangroves and with invasive species in connection to any of the previous. I have at least a hundred questions banging around in my head, and I am loathe to even try to pick only one and say -> This is it.

One of my favorite fish of the mangroves is the juvenile sergeant major. Very cute, shy and nervous - darting constantly around the patch of mangrove they call home. Copyright E. Heupel

More than that there is the question of what good is a PhD, and is the cost too high to justify. I have put my family through a lot already. It has been financially very hard, and we have done without a lot. I have been fortunate that this program knows me, and knows the type of contribution I can make, and also understands that my family is the most important thing in my life. I will never be one of those scientists (or PhD students) so driven by the research that I sacrifice my family (which I have seem too much of in the past 5 years). Driven yes. If I had a spare $10,000 right now I would be on a plane to Belize to chase down one of my burning questions on invasive species and My Seascape of Fear (actually budgeted with no salary it a hair over 10,000). But I’m not going to throw my family under the bus to get there.

Which brings it once again back to what I want to do with the degree. I would like to be able to design and conduct my own research, which I would need a PhD for. I enjoy teaching small to medium size classes, as long as there is at least one or two kids turned on to learning. At a University or college a PhD is generally the ticket for admission to that. At community colleges, a PhD can be required, or a hinderance.

As for the most singlehandedly enjoyable thing I have done in the past 5 years – it would be the outreach efforts at Aquarius. Doing the science, putting on a live show, broadcasting it to kids in their classrooms and online – both doing science and helping to communicate it to a larger audience. That was for me a real rush. Many of the people involved in that team effort did not have PhD’s, but then again many did. I enjoyed the fact that we were communicating conservation, physics and biology directly and passionately to an audience eager to learn.

The marvelous crew of the Aquarius 2010 If Reefs Could Talk mission. Copyright E. Heupel

If I stopped right now, my ideal job, would be either as a freelance science communicator specializing in video and online production or it would be with one of the NURC centers or a similar scientific research organization or NGO where I can put my myriad skills to work – oceanography, diver, science outreach, video, animation, web, database, photography (normal and U/W) and ROV pilot (in training right now). But… likely I would not be able to do my own research, which is important to me.

If I were 23 and single, the answer for me would be easy – go for the PhD and study larval and juvenile ecology issues, especially in the mangroves and deep sea. But I’m not 23, or single. And I wouldn’t trade my family for anything, but it does mean I need to figure the 4-6 years of making (if I’m lucky) $30,000/yr while working very long hours into the equation.

A pair of undergraduate science divers from UCONN working with NOAA and UCONN scientists in the Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary. Copyright E. Heupel

In short:

NOAA is a pretty lean organization operating on a budget that has been essentially flat for the past 5 years (minus two new joint NASA, NOAA and DoD programs to build and launch new weather satellite systems to replace the aging fleet currently in use). Most of the NOAA departments provide either significant public safety services, economic and food sustainability, or both. They also provide significant direct and indirect educational and outreach opportunities to children, educators, and the public. Cutting NOAA by the ~10% proposed will have direct short term and long term negative impacts on every American.

Maybe it would help people who are unfamiliar with NOAA to understand why this is such a big deal, if I explain what NOAA is.

NOAA is a relatively small organization, approximately 7,000 people, nestled under the Department of Commerce (but some argue it should be its own department). It was started in 1970 by President Richard Nixon, but it was formed from many extant government organizations that date back to 1807. NOAA was created to better protect American life and property, for as President Nixon put it:

The oceans and atmosphere are interacting parts of the total environmental system upon which we depend, not only for the quality of our lives, but for life itself.

We face immediate and compelling needs for better protection of life and property from natural hazards, and for a better understanding of the total environment — an understanding which will enable us more effectively to monitor and predict its actions, and ultimately, perhaps to exercise some degree of control over them.

We also face a compelling need for exploration and development leading to the intelligent use of our marine resources. We must understand the nature of these resources, and assure their development without either contaminating the marine environment or upsetting its balance.

Establishment of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — NOAA — within the Department of Commerce would enable us to approach these tasks in a coordinated way.

Much of NOAA’s job is directly related to either protecting American lives and property or protecting American long term economic interests (National Marine Fisheries Service). It’s the responsibility of NOAA to report on and predict all the weather on land or sea and the contents of the seas out to our Exclusive Economic Zone or EEZ (the area of ocean from the US coastline to 200 nautical miles out to sea). For years now (essentially since they were founded in 1970), they have been surviving on a pretty trim budget for what they do. For the 2012 fiscal year the President’s budget has NOAA at $5.5 billion, a bit less that we spend on the Federal Prison System ($6.8B) and roughly equivalent to NASA’s Science budget ($5B), the Army’s Training and Recruiting Budget ($5B) or… a hair less than the Budget for the Legislative Branch ($5.6B).

Two NOAA/UNCW Aquarius working divers prepare to splash to recover saturation divers in the habitat. Image J. Brugger

So what do we (meaning the general public) get for $5.5B?

Let’s start with the oldest branches of NOAA – The National Geodetic Survey (NGS) and the Office of Coast Survey (OCS). Both arise from the Survey of the Coast agency created by President Thomas Jefferson to create the essential charts of the new nation’s navigable waters to ensure safe commerce and defense. Today the OCS continues this mission and is responsible for charting the 3.5 million square miles of our Exclusive Economic Zone. This is an ongoing process as storms and other natural processes continue to shape the sea floor topography. In addition, shipwrecks happen and containers fall overboard, all creating new topography and obstacles to safe navigation, etc. Even if topography didn’t change, our technology continues to improve, allowing more accurate and finer resolution maps to be produced. NOAA data from the NGS also provides us with the spatial reference systems that appear on almost every map produced in the U.S. They are responsible for the Continuously Operating Reference System which augments the GPS system to provide sub-meter 3D spatial position accuracy. Possibly one of the most important tasks of NGS, at least for anyone who ever flies, is the extremely high resolution and accuracy information the NGS collects around all airports and provides to the FAA so they can develop safe instrument augmented and instrument only take-off and landing approaches and help determine maximum take off loads. These are clear public safety and economic benefit that we shouldn’t do without.

National Weather Service (NWS), anyone?

I have had the pleasure of living in many states across our beautiful country. Everywhere I’ve lived three things have held true:

• “If you don’t like the weather, just wait a few minutes….”
• There is some form of extreme weather event that is common enough to be on everyone’s mind when the proper season hits
• and finally, in large part because of the first two… many people rely on the national and regional forecasts and warnings provided by the NWS to safely plan their (select (m)any) day, weekend, week, planting, major event, flights, boating, diving (personal favorite), and, in many cases, work.

I’ve personally lived through hurricanes, tornados, horrendous hail storms, desert flash floods, severe coastal flooding, Nor-Easters with gale force winds, 117 degree F summer droughts and extreme cold snaps. In large part I survived them all because I could prepare or take immediate shelter thanks to the advanced warnings provided by the NWS. Many people in this nation, whether they realize it or not, are in the same debt for life and for property to the NWS.

NOAA WP-3D Hurrican Hunters taking off to fly into the eye of another hurricane.

Now to the controversial part of NOAA, or at least historically the most controversial, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). They are responsible for the stewardship of our nation’s marine species and the habitats on which those species depend. NMFS is an old agency originating in the 1870s, with the first fisheries lab in Woods Hole established by the first Fish Commissioner Spencer F. Baird and his left hand man, Vinal Edwards (Employee number 1). Their first task was to try and determine the fate of coastal fish along southern Massachusetts – small boat hand line fishermen and sport fishermen blamed pound net fishermen (erecting nets from the shore) for the disappearance of once plentiful coastal species such as tautog, scup, striped bass, and sea bass.

Today the main job of NMFS remains the monitoring of commercially important fish stocks, predicting the future stock levels and protecting both the future viability of those stocks and the habitats on which they depend. From an economic and societal perspective, all those stocks belong to every American. They are considered a natural resource, which belong to all the people, just as much as the federal forests or fresh waters do. Theirs is not an easy task, and especially here in New England, they are little loved, even though they are doing their best to use the best science available to walk a narrow line – providing enough protections for the fish, a national resource, while not causing undue harm to the fishing community, a limited group of private parties which pay few to no rents for the access to the resources. Already short-handed, the folks at NMFS ensure future food security and economic sustainability.

The NOAA ship Nancy Foster, part of the East Coast NOAA fleet of research and fisheries survey vessels.

The Rest of NOAA

NOAA also conducts extensive research on climate change, ocean acidification, and marine invasive species impacts. They maintain a fleet of 19 research ships and a dozen aircraft. The ships are a mix of oceanography and fisheries research vessels with a Pacific and an Atlantic fleet. The aircraft are mostly used for weather data gathering, including hurricane hunters that take their planes for a wild bronco ride straight through hurricanes and into the eye in order to measure the maximum eyewall winds and eye pressure, essential measurements for predicting the current storm track and helping model future storm behaviors. A professional uniformed corp of sailors, science technicians and airmen operate and maintain these vessels, many of which spent extended time in the Gulf responding to the oil spill.

Did I mention the National Marine Sanctuaries program? Think of it as the National Parks but on - and under - the sea. I have had the privilege of working in three of the sanctuaries, and hope to eventually visit them all. Each sanctuary has its own goals and rules, but in general it is to preserve a culturally, historically, or biologically important area of the sea set aside as a marine protected area. “Marine protected area” is a very loose term. Through much of Stellwagen Bank NMS commercial fishing is allowed exactly as it is throughout the rest of the Gulf of Maine. Other sanctuaries, Like Gray’s Reef NMS and the Florida Keys NMS have varying levels of prohibitions on commercial fishing, or gear types allowed within their boundaries. Each sanctuary employs a small (10-12 full time staff) but very dedicated team of scientists, NOAA Corps, administrators and educators to coordinate and conduct research and reach out to the local and regional communities. Gray’s Reef sponsors a Marine Film Fest every year, along with excellent online educational materials. The Florida Keys now sponsor Lionfish Derbies to catch as many lionfish as possible.

After the evening debriefing, the crew of scientists, educators and outreach specialists continue to discuss the highs and lows of the day and how to make tomorrow even better.

I have been privileged to work with NOAA using their assets for our own research, collaborating with their scientists, helping them undertake a series of interactive broadcast from under the sea to thousands of kids across the nation, linking kids thousands of miles from the sea directly to active ocean research, and giving them the chance to directly ask questions of the researchers and divers.

So where would you cut?

Each part of NOAA directly affects either public safety, current and future food and economic security, or both. If you cut the NWS, you risk putting American lives and property at risk. Cut NMFS and you endanger the sustainability of our fish stocks and risk our future food supplies. Cut the satellites or the uniformed service or reduce the fleet and the other NOAA departments are all reduced in their ability to do their jobs. Cut the outreach and education and you are not just taking away the ability to share the oceans with millions of kids across the nation and significantly reducing the number of teachers’ learning resources, you are dangerously reducing the number of people who will do all these vitally important jobs in the future. Any organization that focuses on science education is important in the 21st Century. We can’t afford to fall even further behind the rest of the world. The price we pay is saving a dollar today at the cost of tens of thousands in lost opportunities tomorrow.

How short-sighted can the people who want to axe NOAA be? The NOAA budget is a scant $5.5 billion and their true operating budget has been essentially flat since 2006. Is this really where you want to cut the budget? To me it smells of self-serving climate change denialism vengeance more than realistic budgetary considerations.

Edit: Dan Satterfield at The AGU Blog has an excellent article highlighting exactly what the loss of the new satellite programs will mean.

The Johnson Sea Link II being deployed from the R/V Seward Johnson for Life on the Edge 2005

Some people question the real need for manned submersibles, arguing that ROV‘s like Hercules, Jason and Kraken II can do anything a manned vehicle can do, only better and safer. It’s a valid question, and one that needs to be repeatedly asked, especially as more advanced ROV’s designed from the ground up for science come on line. But my answer today is that there is a need for both of them still. ROVs can not go everywhere an HOV can, and their mobility and responsiveness are limited, compared to HOVs, by the ever-present tether to the mother ship. An ROV also lacks the ability to provide 3D visual-spatial analysis and true in-situ contextual observations which only a scientist and pilot on the spot can provide, at least with todays technology. ROV’s while extremely capable are still a telepresence technology, and many of those that have used both HOVs and ROVs, such as Dr. Craig McClain at Deep Sea News, attest that something significant is lost in that translation.

These experiences combined to give me a first hand knowledge of an environment, that previously I had only studied remotely. I studied the deep sea for three years before my first deep dive and my understanding, although incomplete, of this environment has radically changed since those dives in the JSL.

Perhaps more important, these manned submersibles stir the imaginations of young minds, leading them, like me, to dream abut exploring the sea, maybe one day sitting in awe within a submersible 1 kilometer below the surface, surrounded by organisms we are still only beginning to comprehend fully.

Please help us let those in control of the JSLs fate aware of the JSLs importance to science and to our ability to understand the seas and stir the imaginations of the young explorers in our midst. Young explorers like Johann. Please GO SIGN A PETITION TO STOP THEIR LOSS.

So, a bit more on the new NOAA Cooperative Institute, since that also directly affects my future. NURC-NA&GL, along with all the other NURC centers, are NOAA supported, non-federal organizations under NOAA’s National Undersea Research Program (NURP). NURC-NA&GL’s mission is as a center for excellence in research related to the North Atlantic and Great Lakes region. They work with NOAA scientists on long term research goals including developing oceanographic research technologies (such as the Kraken II), fisheries and conservation research, historical site identification and documentation along with major outreach efforts. They are also tasked with Postdoc and graduate student training to provide the next generation of oceanographers. Unfortunately NURC-NA&GL may lose all NOAA funding with the establishment of the new center at HBOI, as it will replace the four existing East Coast NURC centers, including the one at UCONN. Personally I think cutting support for the existing centers is a mistake, even though the new Cooperative Institute sounds wonderful.

So my summer and the next two years are set, sort of. There are still some questions (second year funding, nailing down the thesis topic, now that we have health insurance, do we have another baby, etc., etc.), but at least the path forward is clear enough to begin charging down it! The summer will be hectic, split between two projects for NURC (video and GIS outreach products for high school teachers and students to use and possibly video highlights from a recent deep sea cruise), two projects for Prof. A. (both habitat related), a cruise for Prof. A, and then the remainder of my time will be dedicated to finishing up an outreach book and cards for grades K-12+ on molluscs. Whew!

*Johann pointed out that even Playmobil recognizes the JSLs and their full sphere compartments as the iconic submersible.

What is your iconic research submersible? Is it Human operated or remote?

Whatever it is, please do Sign the petition to keep the JSLs operating.

Check out the Deep Sea News collection of JSL videos.

While the gents at Deep Sea News get time on some of the best manned and remotely operated vehicles out there, the rest of us don’t have to sit it completely out. I think some time this winter Tammy and Johann and I will build a homebrew ROV to explore some of the local shores. Maybe we can find some of the stomatopods that live in the Mystic estuary for a test cruise.

Mantis Shrimp (Squilla empusa)
Originally uploaded by Littoraria.

There were regional and national qualifying competitions leading up to the final competition at UCSD. In the New England regional competition the New York City Home Educators Association (NYCHEA) came in close second to Blue Hills Technical High School of Canton Mass., in the 12volt powered Ranger class (as reported in the June 2008 Marine Technology Reporter article). Both teams advanced to the UCSD international finals where the NYCHEA team walked away with a hotly contested Ranger class. Only 10.4 points separated NYCHEA’s winning score of 386.8 points and the fifth place finisher; less than 2 points separated NYCHEA and the second place Edgewater High School team from Florida.

The Alvin on deployment — one of the submersibles used
on the Sea Mounts along with the Hercules and Argus
tandem ROV system.
Image from mpi-bremen.de

From Deep Sea News comes a post that is right on time for me. Deep Sea News is a science blog run by a Post-Doc from MBARI, a research assistant from TAMU-Corpus Christi and a Graduate Student at Penn State. They cover all things Deep Sea (below 1000m).

One might think that’s a lot to cover…in a way it is, considering that almost 80% of the earth’s ecosystems, by volume, is deep sea (1000m or deeper), but…the truth is we have only explored less than 1% of that area. Even 48 years after the Triest reached the deepest spot in the sea.

I am fortunate to work with a professor at Avery Point who has explored part of the deep sea ecosystem. He focused his attention on the sea mounts that form a chain from the continental shelf of eastern North America to the mid-Atlantic Ridge then on to the Azore Islands. These sea mounts may act as “islands” in the deep sea that intermediate depth deep sea, bottom dwelling fish (those that live between 200m and 4000m depths) use as stepping stones across the much deeper abyssal plains. During a recent cruise his team documented 7 new deep sea octocoral species in 10 days of diving. I have seen some of the video from that cruise, along with pictures of what a trawled zone looks like before and after the trawl. I hope that a ban on dep sea trawls comes to pass since the trawlers now have the capability to reach over 2km down and leave scars across the bottom that stretch for kilometers.

Before he heads to Rome for an FAO meeting on limiting deep sea trawling, I have to meet with him for a new HD video editing project I will be doing with him about cephalopods. Hopefully I will also be able to work with him on some future deep sea video surveying work as well. The ultimate would be deep sea cephalopod behavior and ecology studies!! (or mangroves… but there are few cephalopods in the mangroves.)

(Via Wired.com)

For me that’s a very cool thing to have had happen on your birthday. Unfortunately even today, 48 years later, much of the world ocean remains largely unexplored. It’s expensive and potentially very dangerous, but unlike space exploration there is little attention paid to it beyond the community of scientists and explorers that are directly involved. Almost half a century ago today we reached the very bottom of the seas, the deepest spot (relative to sea level), ironically as we remember the first man to reach the highest spot on earth (again relative to sea level), a feat achieved only 7 years prior to the Challenger Deep dive. I love the fact that if everest were somehow dumped into the Mariana Trench at the Challenger Deep, it would still have over two kilometers of blue ocean above it.

While not much of an exploration, as a bit of a birthday present to myself, I will get an orientation class on a rebreather our DSO got ahold of for tomorrow. How awesome would it be to do long term mangrove and reef behavior studies and transects with no bubbles influencing the animals.