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Wednesday, February 1, 2012

GRNMS - photo taken by Greg Mcfall

During their 2011 field season, NOAA Ship Nancy Foster conducted two dive-intensive projects in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. These projects took place inside Grays Reef National Marine Sanctuary (GRNMS) and Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary (FGBNMS). Each project was a combination of diving, ship-based multi-beam mapping and oceanographic sampling.

Nancy Foster's GRNMS project took place ~20nm off the coast of Georgia in May 2011 and included habitat mapping and characterization and a continued investigation into predator-prey interactions between benthic and pelagic piscivorous fishes and their prey. During the 14-day project, the ship's divers, scientists, and sanctuary staff conducted over 330 scientific dives in support of the mission and 2 working dives servicing the local Ocean Data Acquisition System (ODAS) buoy.

In August, Nancy Foster scientists and crew completed another dive-intensive project in the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary. FGBNMS is located ~70 to 115nm off the coast of Texas. During this project, technical divers and safety/support divers conducted over 180 dives. The goal of this project was to survey fish and benthic populations between depths of 110 and 150 fsw. Ship-based mapping and acoustic sampling was completed, in combination with the technical dives, to begin development of a benthic habitat map of both East and West banks in the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary.

Technical divers Brian Degan and Christine Buckel conducting research in FGBNMS. Photo taken by Mike Williams (CIOERT);

Technical diver Christine Buckel conducting a biodiversity study in FGBNMS.

Photo taken by Mike Williams (CIOERT)

Technical diver Mike Williams (CIOERT) conducting research in FGBNMS.

Photo taken by Christine Buckel (NOS/NCCOS/CCFHR/AERRB)

Safety diver ENS Jamie Park during a safety stop seen carrying gear passed over by the technical divers. Photo taken by Christine Buckel (NOS/NCCOS/CCFHR/AERRB)."