Prologue

The cruise that I participated on was a multi-part project that spanned
several weeks. I came on board for the final, and most interesting part
of the project. Those parts you can read about in my log entries,
however some background and technical information may be useful to
better understand the operation.

The cruise took place onboard the NOAA *R/V Shearwater*. The project was
called a Quantitative Finfish Abundance and Exploration of the Channel
Islands Marine Protected Areas. A cooperative Remotely Operated Vehicle
(ROV) study with the California Department of Fish and Game, Marine
Applied Research and Exploration, and the Channel Islands National
Marine Sanctuary.

When I arrived, the bulk of the work had been completed and it was time
for the experimental portions of the project to take place. These
experiments were designed to ensure the reliability, precision, and
accuracy of the quantitative data collected by ROV survey. The basic
operations involved live boating the ROV along predetermined track
lines. That is, the RV Shearwater would proceed along a predetermined
line on the surface that the ROV was also independently operating on at
the ocean floor. The ROV had a range of 50 meters from the stern of the
RV Shearwater. The ROV pilot had on-screen-display (OSD) from the video
cameras mounted on the ROV, as well as an OSD that displayed the ROV
position relative to the mother ship. This display is generated with the
use of a sonar beacon mounted on the ROV and a sonar receiver lowered
over the side of the mother ship.

On to the logs...

Saturday 9/30

Arrive at the *R/V Shearwater*. Got the lay of the land...and the sea.
Only the captain was on board for the evening.

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Sunday 10/1 6:00am

Head out of the Santa Barbara Harbor in transit to Santa Cruz Island to
pick up the research crew. With the team of scientists on board, we head
out for our destination of East Point on Santa Rosa Island for the first
deployment of the ROV.

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The weather turned on us, with the winds blowing and the rain pounding.
The seas got rough and the going was slow. This being the first day out,
the sea legs had yet to be adjusted. This was the cause for a quick
retreat to the head...

Finally made it to our testing location. Weather was dismal as the ROV
was launched. Today's mission was to "paint" fish with lasers mounted
along side the ROV camera. This was a very interesting procedure
designed to measure fish length. Essentially capturing a fish on video
and "painting" it with two laser dots at the known distance of 11 cm.
Total fish length can then be calculated either by determining fish
camera fish length and laser dot space, or by using the screen width and
the fish length in comparison.

This day I became umbilical tender and hydraulic operator for launching
and retrieving the ROV. I also observed the underwater video and fish
painting process. This was a very interesting day becoming part of the
crew and assisting in the operations of the ROV while live boating it
and collecting data.

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Due to a couple of technical issues, we returned to Santa Barbara for
the night.

Monday 10/2

While crewmembers were working on correcting the technical issues, I
assisted others with setting up lines for the next set of experiments.
This required setting up vinyl covered steel cables at a length of 110
meters and marking them with colored flags every 10 meters that would be
easy to view through the ROV cameras. These cables were also set up with
loops on each end for linking together, or for securing weights. The
cables were then spooled for ease of deployment and stowed for later
use.

The technical issues as well were repaired and again we set out to sea.
This day's destination was Anacapa Island. With some sonar scanning, a
sight was selected for the next sets of experiments, to determine
accuracy of transect distance precision across the spatial dimension.

For this experiment, the 110 meter cables were laid across the bottom
with high relief profiles. This distance of cable would provide a length
of 100 meters to run with the ROV. Divers also swam the line and took
depth readings along the cable. The cable ran up and down over rocks and
various substrates that are considered fish habitat. The concept being
that there were more lineal feet of fish habitat in this relief than
straight line distance. The ROV recorded this distance, but this was a
means to determine if those recordings were an accurate measurement.

The sight we were working was spectacular. We were on the southern tip
of Anacapa Island. The shoreline of the island was shear rocky cliffs.
The cliffs are a major nesting and roosting sight for the endangered
California Brown Pelicans, they were everywhere both on the cliffs and
circling in the sky. The area was also populated with sea lions. They
were very amusing swimming around the boat and with their barks echoing
off the cliffs of the island.

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height="3.316666666666667in"}

After the work here was done, we headed north for a protected cove to
drop anchor for the night.

Tuesday 10/3

This day we headed back toward Anacapa to continue the track line
experiments. Another shallow depth sight was selected toward the North
end of the island. The same procedures were used here laying out the
cable lengths that were then checked by divers and then run with the
ROV.

The water was thick with small baitfish that was being fed on by schools
of Bonita. This was a sight to see, and was particularly amusing to see
the pelicans dive-bombing into the water also feeding on the baitfish.
This went on for most of the day.

Operations went well today and when complete the gear was collected and
stowed. We headed off to another protected cove for the nights
anchorage.

Wednesday 10/4

We continued the track line experiments today. Work was going well so we
started preparations for the next upcoming experiment.

The preparations consisted of setting up fish models of various sizes
and securing weights to then to enable deployment of them floating
various heights off the bottom. The fish models were constructed of a
flat piece of neoprene with color copied pictures of the local
significant fish species laminated and attached to the sides.

The sight of the day was a pod of dolphins leaping out of the water and
splashing around in some sort of frenzy. We assumed the must have been
feeding, but were not really close enough to tell exactly what was going
on.

Today's tasks went well and I went out on the Avon to retrieve the
cables and the divers. With all back onboard, we headed off to the
nights anchorage.

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Thursday 10/5

Today we set out for a deep water sight to continue the track line
experiment. The previous sights had been in the 10 to 20 meter depth
zones. Today we would run the track line experiment in a 50 meter depth
zone. This posed a different set of circumstances. The tracking cable
was spooled into a basket for deployment. It was then deployed
skillfully and precisely by the well experienced deck officer. With the
cable in place, the ROV was launched to run the line. This depth was to
deep to send divers down, so the ROV did all the work. Tracking went
well and the ROV was brought back on board.

Recovery of the gear was a bit more difficult. We had to haul back the
cable and weights with a power winch as opposed to winding it back by
hand in shallow water. After we got about half of the length back, it
got jammed and snapped so fast my head spun. At least the experiment was
completed.

After gathering and comparing the ROV data with the diver collected data
it was apparent that the ROV collected nearly identical data to the
diver collected data. This experiment seemed to be a success. ROV use
and procedures seemed to be a reliable means to determine transect
distance across the spatial dimension by my observations. Naturally the
collected data would be reviewed later by the scientists on board to
accurately determine the results.

During the day we continued to prepare the fish models for deployment
tonight. With the track line experiments complete, we headed for a
location suitable for the fish model experiment. This experiment was
conducted in the evening to simulate the light conditions in the typical
habitat depth of 50 meters. The point of the experiment was to determine
the accuracy of fish length as determined by ROV survey. The ROV survey
used both paired lasers and distance sonar to determine fish length.
When these procedures are utilized on fish models of known length, the
scientists could determine if the process could be accurate when video
capturing wild fish in the test zone.

As we arrived at the experiment location, the sun was setting and a most
beautiful full moon was rising over a distant peak of Anacapa.

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height="3.8833333333333333in"}

Divers were used to strategically deploy the models to simulate
populations of wild fish. The ROV was deployed and ran the line of fish
models while video capturing the images. Tonight I had an opportunity to
pilot the ROV. I thoroughly enjoyed this opportunity and spent some time
observing some flat fish scurrying about the bottom as I waited for the
divers to collect the fish models. Soon all was complete, the divers
came back on board, and we recovered the ROV safely. We remained at this
location for the night, it was quite beautiful.

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height="3.8833333333333333in"}

Friday 10/6...the final day.

Today was a public relations day. We returned to Anacapa and met up with
the California Dept. of Fish and Game boat, the *R/V Garibaldi*. They
had brought some local writers and reporters out to cover the project.
We still went on with the normal operations of surveying fish
populations. It was another great day on board the NOAA *R/V Shearwater*
as a participant in the Teacher at Sea Program! Back to Santa Barbara we
cruised.