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Day 1: 7-27-2006 Departure
Personnel
- Paula Whitfield: NOAA Principal Investigator
- Doug Kesling: NURC - UNCW Dive Operations Supervisor, diver
- Christine Addison: NOAA research diver
- Brian Degan: NOAA research diver
- Jay Styron: NURC – UNCW Dive Operations and diver
- Wilson Freshwater: UNCW research diver
- Jennifer Dorton: UNCW- CORMP research diver
- James Morris: NOAA research scientist
- Barry King: technical assistant
- Norbert Wu: underwater cinematographer
- Curtis Callaway: photographer/cinematographer
- Betsy Crowfoot: field producer/writer
NOAA Ship Nancy Foster departed the Port of Morehead City at 9 am. Our first destination was a natural hard bottom location 35 miles due south of Beaufort Inlet. We plan to complete three dives to conduct visual fish surveys of both native species and lionfish. Divers will also collect lionfish specimens to examine diet, reproduction, genetics, age, and growth. This information is needed to understand how lionfish are affecting the coastal marine ecosystem.
Natural hard bottom and artificial habitats, such as reefs and ship wrecks, along the North Carolina coast have become prime habitats for the venomous Indo-Pacific lionfish. This is one of the most recent marine invasive species to become established (reproducing and dispersing) in the Atlantic Ocean. Until 2000, lionfish were thought to exist only in the Indo-Pacific region. Six years later, they have become common along the coast of North Carolina, in water depths from 100 to 150 ft. Our team has completed training in both deep diving and decompression techniques to allow them to dive to the depths where lionfish our found along this coast.
We hope to increase public awareness of the potential consequences of the lionfish invasion and of marine invasive species in general through a collaboration with the Essential Image Source Foundation. They are developing educational outreach products which can be seen at their website. On this cruise, underwater cinematographer Norbert Wu will shoot high definition video footage of habitats off of North Carolina which alongside NOAA researchers to add content to these educational products. In addition, writer/producer Betsy Crowfoot will include a blog about life on the lionfish cruise.
