This has been a very busy week aboard the R/V Sharp. The first couple of days on the 2nd leg of the cruise was spent running HAB CAM operations. I have been going over the ship’s weather system, winch system, VIDDS system, and Flow Through system with KG. My job has been to create schematics of each system in power point to update the ships manual. Also, every day I record the data from the underway system, and use a sling psychrometer to get a relative humidity reading. I have to change the filter on the flow through system, and give it a fresh water flush about every other day.
After the first couple of days on the cruise, the HAB CAM was recovered, and we jumped right into dredging. We have been working a busy schedule, averaging in the neighborhood, of one dredge every hour. The science team has set up dredge stations in protected areas, that are closed to fishing, as well as areas that are open to harvesting scallops. The science team records the scallop catches, as well as any predators that feed on scallops, such as sea stars and crabs.
I have enjoyed working on deck assisting in deploying and recovering the dredge, and after the dredge hits the deck, we help the science team sort through the catch. We have also performed CTD cast at some of the stations, and KG has allowed me to prep the CTD to enter the water, as well as work on the computer end of things in the tech lab.
Yesterday, I got the chance to assist with performing a termination to the EM cable that goes to the CTD. On the last cast attempt we made, the EM cable jumped the sheave, and damaged the cable, so we had to repair it.
We are currently in port at Woods Hole, Massachusetts, and the next group from the science team are coming aboard. The weather offshore may keep us at the dock an extra day. If it does, we may get to tour the new research vessel the Neil Armstrong, which would be pretty cool.
Till next time,
Chris Petroff
