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Mission Log: Week 3 August 16 - 20 2004
After Hurricane Charley, visibility conditions underwater were marginal but we actually completed 5 days of research diving offshore North Carolina. On Tuesday we invited the press to the RV Cape Fear to witness some of our research and diving activities first hand. We finished the week by collecting the most lionfish yet from any 1 location or dive. Five more lionfish were also collected alive in order to conduct laboratory spawning and reproductive studies. Many of the Lionfish collected so far appeared to be spawning off the coast of North Carolina. Lionfish also appear to primarily targeting small fishes of a variety of species as their main source of food. Much research remains in order to determine just how lionfish are affecting their new habitat.
Dive team 1 (lionfish observer group)
Christine Addison, Glen Taylor, Paula Whitfield
Dive team 2 (hunter/gatherer group)
Doug Kesling and Jay Styron
Safety Diver: Morgan Bailey
RV Cape Fear Crew: Captain Dan Aspenleiter,
Chuck Ruch, Michael Rodaway
Day 1, Monday August 16 2004: A beautiful glassy day to begin the week. On our first dive site (HB6) we went to was one of the closest sites of our research mission and we did not observe or collect any lionfish at this location. This is only the second site (out of 15) that we have not observed lionfish throughout the course of the mission.
At our second dive site of the day our goal was to collect live lionfish for reproductive studies and for demonstration purposes on press day (Tuesday). Three lionfish were collected alive combined with 9 others for a total of 12 lionfish (HB7).
A lone lionfish on hardbottom habitat. Lionfish are commonly seen in groups as well as solitary like you see here in this photograph. (NURC photo - Doug Kesling)
Day 2, Tuesday August 17 2004: Our good weather continues for Press Day. Various members of the press meet us near site HB8 which is approximately 45 miles southeast of Masonboro Inlet. Although dive team 1 did not observe any lionfish on this dive, The hunter gatherer team collected 2 more live lionfish at this location. The NURC and NOAA researchers describe the status of the research to members of the press and answer their questions.
On our second dive of the day we travel much farther offshore and experience an apparent Gulf Stream Upwelling event HB9. Gulf Stream upwelling is a natural phenomenon that occurs in the summer when the deep, cold, nutrient rich waters flowing under the gulf stream slide up the continental shelf creating a very noticeable cold water thermocline. Although the water on the surface was almost 80 degrees F on the bottom it was 65 degrees. Any lionfish residing along the southeast region of the United States will have to endure these kinds of intermittent cold water events. One lionfish was collected at this site.
Cape Fear the Captain gets as close to the marker buoy as possible
and then the divers fall backward into the water.
(NOAA photo - Christine Addison
ready to offer support to divers. Once the divers deploy their liftbag
the chase boat (seen here with Paula Whitfield and crew member Chuck Ruch) follows and the deploys the Oxygen regulators.
(NOAA photo - Christine Addison)
Day 3, Wednesday August 18 2004: Since weather was holding out we headed much farther northeast about 25 miles offshore of Cape Lookout (HB10). We set out to explore a charted wreck, but it turned out to be our deepest and smallest hardbottom site yet. Within 30 seconds of descending to148 ft of water we saw our first lionfish and ended up seeing nine different lionfish at this relatively isolated location. The hunter/gatherer team of Jay Styron and Doug Kesling collected 13 lionfish and at this point that was the most lionfish collected at any one location.
At the second site we decided to check out a very obscure area (HB11) that had very little relief when viewed on the Fathometer, but it yielded yet another surprise. When we arrived at the bottom in 145 ft of water there was no hard bottom except one rock and only sand in sight. Then as we explored further we came across a very limited area of intermittent bed rock chunks just breaking through the surface of sand. This area was no bigger than 75 square feet and there were lots of Trigger fishes and you guessed it...Lionfish! To see lionfish at such minimal structure as this was pretty amazing. The hunter/gatherer team ended up collecting 2 lionfish from this small location.
Diver Jay Styron on the 18 Fathom wreck searching for lionfish. (NURC photo - Doug Kesling) |
The most lionfish collected on any one dive was 28, on the 18 Fathom
wreck. Researchers are interested in finding out why lionfish congregate more at some locations than others. (NOAA photo - Christine Addison) |
Day 4, Thursday August 19 2004: Overnight we traveled almost 70 miles South to the 18 Fathom wreck where many lionfish reports had been made. At this point we expected to see a lot of lionfish at this site and we were not disappointed. The observer team saw at least 15 lionfish and the ever efficient hunters (Jay Styron and Doug Kesling) collected 28 lionfish during 1 dive alone!
We decided to dive this wreck again and we ended up collecting 25 more lionfish. Next year we will be interested to see how many new lionfish recruit to this wreck. Throughout our research in August a total of 137 lionfish were collected at 13 different locations. But, if we include preliminary sampling in June the total comes to 145 lionfish at 15 different locations. This far surpasses our original expectations and we now realize more than ever that the lionfish is actually thriving in water depths greater than 120 ft in North Carolina.
Parting Shot: Week 3
and Jay Styron company. (NURC photo - Doug Kesling)
(NURC photo - Doug Kesling)
Resources:
To see dive operation plan go to NURC
website