Let the Research Begin!

After making it outside of the Marshall Islands we officially began our research. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the purpose of this research trip was to study plastic pollution of the Western Garbage Patch, an area in the North Pacific Ocean that had not been surveyed in nearly a quarter of a century. This historic research incorporated several data retrieval methods. Our main collection samples came from our trawls, a device used to skim the surface of the water. Once research commenced we launched three different trawls of different speeds and mesh sizes into the water for varying times, speeds and distances. This was our primary data set; our secondary set came from fifty minute debris surveys and random debris sightings.

Our first trawl-The High Speed Trawl-was used at you guessed it, high speeds! This elongated mesh trawl with a 500 micron mesh cod end was deployed before and after setting the Manta Trawl.

The Manta Trawl was the most scientific of all the trawls. Deployment and retrieval of the manta was very important as this was a 60 minute timed sample that travelled at a speed of 2 knots. Although similar in appearance to the high speed trawl the manta had elongated wings like a manta ray, making it more streamlined in the water. Its 333 micron mesh screen allowed for capture of small organisms.

The folding manta, a spin-off design of the manta, was used for educational purposes. Once the manta was deployed the folding manta went out as well.

All trawls were deployed on the leeward side of the boat off of the spinnaker boom, where they were monitored by different watch teams on board. After pulling in the trawls by hand all samples had to be processed, this was one of my main jobs;  processing a majority of the samples before turning them over to Marcus for further analyzing  and labelling.

Apart from collecting data for the 5 GYRES organization we were also collecting data for several other research agencies like NOAA, Woods Hole and Scripps Institutes. Woods Hole is looking at microbes in the water column versus microbes on pieces of plastic debris and determining their comparisons. The collection method for this process was quite intricate and timely; it was also another task I took pleasure in being responsible for. After grabbing a bucket of water from the side of the boat, I began the sampling process by forcing 4000ml of water through a syringe into a vile filled with a cotton material (trapping the microbes) followed by adding a preserving solution to the vile. Another form of data collection that I was often responsible for was collecting Halobates for Scripps Research Institute. Halobates are tiny micro organisms that reside in the water column. At Scripps, they are testing if these organisms are indicator species for marine debris, which is ironic because the more debris we had in a sample the more Halobates we found. Very neat stuff!

                                                   Deployed Manta Trawl

                                         Collecting Halobates from the Manta Trawl sample Credit: Valerie B.

                                         Repairing the high speed trawl Credit: C. Box

                                                   More Halobates collections Credit: C. Matzke

Pulling in the manta at night

About to process a sample Credit: Hank Carson

                                         

Destination Non Marshall Islands Territory

“Sailing..........takes me away..........”

I think that’s how that song from way back when goes. It was a good day for sailing as we woke up to great weather and good winds. With our main sail hoisted and our jib unfurled, we were finally underway, bidding farewell to the Marshall Islands.........well to Majuro and its surrounding areas at least. Before we could begin any of our scientific research we had to be outside of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of The Marshall Islands. The EEZ is a zone within 200 miles of any country that is reserved strictly for that country only. So no fishing, drilling for oil, ‘weird science’, or anything aside from transiting is allowed in these waters, unless it is being done by that country. I’m not sure if you’ve ever seen a map of the Marshall Islands but the place is HUGE! There are islands scattered all over the place and with over 2000 of them our trek outside of the EEZ would not be in a timely manner.

It took us four days to get outside of Kwajalein which was 441km northwest of Majuro. Kwajalein, the largest atoll in the world, is 283km long with coral reefs enclosing its boomerang shaped lagoon of 2,173.8 sq. Km. That’s a lot of island! Although we were right outside of Kwajalein it was not visible to us. Throughout the trip the only time we would spot land would be departing Majuro and entering Japan. Two days later we made it to Bikini Atoll, an uninhabited island in the Marshalls used as a nuclear bomb testing facility. From 1946-1958, 23 nuclear blasts in the atmosphere shook Bikini atoll, at a cost of $91 billion in today’s dollars, leaving a legacy of contamination, cancer, leukemia, thyroid problems, miscarriages, “jellyfish’ babies, and irreversible genetic damages (Micronesia Handbook, David Stanley). After making it 200 miles past Bikini we officially began our research.

. ...........come sail away with me

On the afternoon of May 2, 2012, the Sea Dragon, equipped with its 14 crew members, hauled anchor and slowly worked our way out of the Majuro atoll lagoon.  After motoring for about an hour and twenty minutes we anchored outside of a remote island just before Eneko Island. With some time to kill before sunset we launched the dinghy boat into the water and went on an adventure to the little island. This little paradise was a pretty neat spot as it had several huts, a lady and her son, pigs (of all things), a floating dock with a water slide, an amazing windward view of the ocean and not to mention amazing snorkelling. I did a backward roll off of the dinghy and snorkelled around a little before making my way to shore to help Carolynn, my watch mate, conduct a beach transect of macro and micro plastic. We were in search of nerdles, which are tiny pre production plastic pellets that are found on nearly every beach in the world. Unfortunately the sand was too coarse to properly analyze for micro plastics so we continued with macro sampling. Luckily we didn’t find much plastic, but that doesn’t mean there was any present.  Once done with transects I raced back to the leeward side of the island to gear up for re-entry into the water. While snorkelling I was thinking about how awesome it would be to see a Moorish Idol, a pacific species of fish that I have always been fascinated with. BAM! They came out of what seemed to be my thoughts, a pair of Moorish Idols just moseying their way across my path. TOO COOL!! I swam off in excitement to see what else I would come across. The reef was beautiful! There was fish and (relatively) healthy coral everywhere. Clownfish, anemones, wrasses, groupers, triggerfish, surgeonfish and even more Moorish idols surrounded me as I investigated their home. With the exception of the Moorish idol, I must admit it killed me seeing all those fish and not being able to key them down to species but my fish I.D skills did allow me to group them into families so I was happy about that.

With the sun minutes away from setting I decided to ditch the dingy and swim back to the boat. While en route back to Sea Dragon there was a sunken airplane and a helicopter adjacent to each other, really cool sight to see. Both wrecks sat in about 40-50 feet of water with giant coral heads next to them. One of the coral heads had this beautiful green whip coral nearly 15 feet long trailing off of it; neat stuff! My journey swimming into the sunset continued until I returned to the boat.

                                         Island we anchored outside of

                                         Coarse sand on beach  Credit: Carolynn Box

                                         Oceanside of the island       Credit: Carolynn Box

                                         Beach Plastic Transect             Credit: Carolynn Box

                                          Tsk..tsk..tsk.......it's everywhere   Credit: C.Box

                                         BB, Shanlee and Valerie getting ready to explore Credit: C.Box

                                         Marcus and his new toy

                                                   Credit: Cynthia Matzke

                                         Credit: Cynthia Matzke

                                         Credit: Cynthia Matzke

                                         Peak-a-boo   Credit: Cynthia Matzke 

Yokwe Means Hello and Goodbye

After spending an amazing two days and two nights in Majuro it was time to say my peace to the beautiful Atoll Island. With eight hours to kill before boarding our sailboat the Sea Dragon, I decided to go on a solo adventure around town to experience a tad bit more of Majuro while I had the chance.

“Taxi”, I yelled playfully while walking with Dale, one of the captains of Sea Dragon. We both laughed as he exclaimed that you can take the girl out of the islands but you can’t take the island out of the girl. After flagging down a taxi we bid ‘Yokwe’ to our taxi driver and continued on into town. Dale got off at the Customs and Immigration building to make sure all systems were ago for us to leave the island. Once he got out I continued on throughout the town.  I was in search of a particular t-shirt that I saw a local guy wearing so I got a list of stores that might have it from Tony, a waiter at the hotel where we were staying. My final destination would be Payless Shopping Mart but not before stopping at any and every store or building that caught my eye. Marshall Islands National Museum and Library was my first stop, I figured there was no time like the present to learn a bit more about the history of the Marshall Islands. Unfortunately there was not much of the library and museum to see. After climbing up the stairs, tracking down the librarian and asking her to open the museum portion of the building I had to make a u-turn out of the building. She explained that museum hadn’t been opened in years........well maybe months because of a mold problem they had. Boy was she telling the truth! The scent was unbearable not a possible health risk. I continued on with my exploration walk, comparing the environment around me to the environment back home in The Bahamas; very subtle similarities but subtle differences.

After knocking around town for another hour I found my t-shirt, not exactly what I wanted but it would make do. Before I knew it, it was time to head back to the hotel to meet the team to begin preparations for our departure.

So long Majuro, soon I will return to explore your gorgeous land and steer you away from plastic; but not before tackling plastic issues in my country first!

                                         It's KLG-the locals don't even know what it means!

                                         KLG alternative options

                                         National Museum

                                         Republic of Marshall Islands Flag

                                                   Local Craft Vendor

                                                   They must love University of Kentucky in Majuro

                                         Look at that-a local potcake!

Stop, Pause, Rewind

3,000 miles, nearly 20 days at sea and one incredible journey later, our crew has finally made it to Japan.  After spending three weeks at sea the entire crew was pretty excited to return to land; although it was bittersweet. We arrived in Japanese waters two days ago and docked at the Yokohama Bayside Marina yesterday. Our entire team enjoyed a fun-filled celebratory night in Shin-sugita where we dined at a local Japanese restaurant before heading back to the Sea Dragon to spend our last night on board.

Living in the middle of the ocean on a sailboat strips you of certain amenities, like internet; hence why my blog hasn’t been updated for the past few weeks, my apologies for keeping you all in suspense.  So join me as I turn back the clock and live each day as if I was still out to sea and take you through the day to day activities of a marine researcher!

Why?

Looking at these pictures it is evident that I am having quite the adventure, but do you really know why or how I ended up here? Well pull up a seat, it's story time.


Over the course of three days in early February, Dr. Marcus Eriksen of the 5 Gyres Institute (www.5gyres.org) visited my place of employment The Cape Eleuthera Institute (www.ceibahamas.org) to host a mini conference on the impacts of marine plastic pollution. I was fortunate enough to attend a presentation given by Marcus and was instantly captivated. His approach to marine plastic pollution and marine debris sparked a flame that lead me on a path to reinvent the plastic mindset of The Bahamas. 


For weeks I worked on a proposal; Refusing, Reducing, Reusing, and Recycling plastics within The Bahamas, that would allow me to  take part in this research trip. After being in circulation for nearly two months my proposal began to catch dust until Dr. Eriksen and his team invited me to take part in this expedition. 

Although world travelling seems like 'a jolly ole time', this trip will serve as my formal training experience to tackle the plastic pollution and marine debris issue within my country. Most of what we eat, drink or use in any way comes packaged in petroleum plastic- a material designed to last forever yet used for products that we use for as little as thirty seconds then throw away. Plastic creates toxic pollution at every stage of its existence: manufacture, use, and disposal. This is a material that the Earth cannot digest. Every bit of plastic that has ever been created still exists, including the small amount that has been incinerated and has become toxic particulate matter. In the environment, plastic breaks down into small particles that release toxic chemicals into the environment. These particles are ingested by wildlife on land and in the ocean, contaminating the food chain from the smallest plankton to the largest whale. To address the plastic dilemma within The Bahamas; I have proposed several items that are listed below:


1) Starting on the island of Eleuthera we would create a research project at the Cape Eleuthera Institute that would explore:


a. Depolymerising plastic debris in an effort to produce crude oil to be refined into petroleum  products; essentially gasoline and diesel fuel to run vehicles


b. Using plastic debris to create an alternative resource for building materials


c. Correlation of plastics in the Exuma Sound gyre and its effect on filter feeding fish within the sound and surrounding areas of the Atlantic Ocean


d. Organize marine debris cleanup summer camps for middle school/high school students


e. Initiate plastic awareness campaigns throughout The Bahamas and the wider Caribbean through community outreach and public service by offering  seminars and workshops

                                             In Majuro, Marshall Islands some stores have already began taking     necessary steps to reduce plastic use.

On the sea again.........

Today we will begin sailing. Internet on board while out to sea is very limited so blogs may be few and far between. To track the sea dragon visit the link below:

/tracking.gmn-usa.com/cgi-bin/fleet_setup.pl?ID=476c6f62616c204d6172696e65204e6574776f726b731b70616e6578706c6f72651b626c756577617465727361696c696e671b302e36333533363035333137343137353332

And to get to know our amazing crew visit:

http://www.algalita.org/blog/?p=2952