This week the other MATE intern and I were introduced to our mentor for the voyage and given a tour of the R/V Sharp and its different functions as well as how data is collected and stored within the ship’s computer system. Our job is to work with a NOAA fisheries science team and assist them with their scallop survey where ever we are needed. For the past few days, this has mainly been in the form of co-piloting or piloting the habcam directly, keeping it about 2 meters off the seafloor and taking pictures as it is dragged along, or in annotating the many pictures that come from the habcam marking any species of mention like sea robins or snake eels. and measuring the scallops we are able to find. So far this is all we have been required to do as this entire first leg will habcam only, the next leg will have both habcam and dredging up the many different species we have seen and marked with our annotations. I am looking forward to getting to see the different species in person.
