Marine Technical Internship Blog

After departing from Lewes, Delaware for sea, I began my watch routine aboard the R/V Hugh R. Sharp. We’re supporting NOAA Fisheries in their annual sea scallop survey for the East coast, which approximates the health and population of scallops and other organisms to prepare allowable fishing limits for the region’s fishermen. This is done through a combination of dredging and deployment of the HABCAM – a towed camera vehicle that takes millions of pictures of the bottom. While the HABCAM is in the water, there’s little to do besides learn the daily routine of a marine technician – including working with the vessel’s surface mapping system, CTD, data acquisition network, and assisting the science team in any of their technical needs. My experience on vessels has helped a lot in acclimating to the watch schedule and vessel life, really allowing me to hit the ground running in terms of learning. Although this leg of the cruise only saw me participate in one dredge, I have never been happier working with a team to essentially haul “dirt and critters” from the sea floor, knowing I’m playing a role in a significant scientific mission. I’m also very pleased to say that the very first vessel I’ve been able to pilot after receiving my Third Mate’s license was the Hugh R. Sharp, and I’m thankful for the crew for giving me many opportunities to cross train between the deck and science departments. More to come! – Shaun Teter

                Hello all,

                Over the past week I spent my time aboard the R/V Hugh R. Sharp, learning about the systems, running cable, and deployment and recovery of a HABCAM system and a dredge system. I spent my time learning under two gentlemen, a pervious MATE intern and current marine technician, Christian Kernsian, and another former MATE intern and current deckhand/marine technician, Huxley. I’ve bonded with the other intern Shaun Teter over our different experiences from his time being from California Maritime Academy and mine, at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg. We seem to have had similar awe in being chosen for such a huge internship both for the experience and our careers. I will breakdown the first week by showing the best and worst parts as of yet.

                Arriving on Sunday, I spent my morning traveling to first the Philadelphia airport, where I met Shaun, then a connection to the Salisbury Airport in Maryland. The head of the marine technicians at the University of Delaware, Timothy Deering, met us at gate as soon as we arrived, which wasn’t hard as it was a single gate airport. We had quick chats about what we would be doing on board, the people we would be shadowing, and some life advice about Shaun and I’s next steps in our careers. As we traveled to the University of Delaware’s Marine Operations location, “you don’t have to know everything” really started ringing in my ears. Being that I don’t know specifically the type of work a marine technician does, reassurance that not being perfect is part of the job and learning how to adapt quickly may be just as important. When we arrived, Mr. Deering showed us the vessel from the deck, wet/dry labs, galley, 01 deck, bridge, below deck, auxiliary room and engine room. He quickly explained where our state room was and explained to us a quick overview of the ships systems that we would be responsible for, the Surface Monitoring System, cameras, CTD maintenance and any other task the science team needs as far as technology is concerned. Mr. Deering departed for a few hours leaving us with the “Dummies Guide to the R/V Hugh R. Sharp” which was a wealth of knowledge on procedures, instrument information, and general troubleshooting. After dinner, our day was officially over for an early morning tomorrow at 0645.

                On Monday, Shaun and I met the crew at their early morning meeting. We finally met Christian and Huxley who would be our main mentors for the next 6 weeks. The first day was mostly preparing everything for when we ship on Wednesday. Our first order of business was Christian showing us to the systems that we will be working with, where to look for calibrations, how the Surface Monitoring System (SMS) works, where its located in the auxiliary room and how to flush it with freshwater when flow rates get too low or once every 24 hours. We then traveled to Mr. Deering’s office where our first problem was given to us, the intake for the SMS was having issues with bubbles getting in, so he suggested that the intake for the wet lab be switched with the intake for the SMS and have a backup pump to bypass if need be. After a couple of hose clamps were removed and switched, the SMS was ready for a test. We tested it by flushing it and then pumping in seawater.

                 Next, we were asked to run a VGA connection from the winch room to dry lab that was connected to the winch room camera, a quick an easy task for us interns. Christian, Shaun and I then learned how to terminate the VGA cable with a connector to get signal going. I’m understanding the necessity for learning and adapting.

Then we moved two fridges out of the dry lab to make room for more counter space for scientist. The third was left for tomorrow as it was much heavier and required more maneuverability. I’m quickly realizing that this career will be interesting and require much work.

                The last major item to be addressed was the Knudsen (echosounder) was not transmitting data to the science team’s monitoring computer.  The issue stemmed from a previous termination of a serial cable that ended up shorting the serial splitter which caused the computer to restart and not transmit any data. Mr. Deering had to step in to test each end of the connection to find the source of the problem with it being faulty wire connectors. Once, replaced with another splitter, all systems seemed to work better. A day well done!

                For Tuesday, the splitter shorted again because of trying to secure the splitter, this time a quicker fix, but still took much time. We also finally removed the freezer and had to remove some items from the wall to make it fit on through. After that, most of the day was pretty tame. Not much was required as far as us interns. The science team was having issues with the fiber optics cable that ran to the HABCAM system, a system of taking consecutive images at depth while recording different environmental parameters such as salinity, depth, temperature, fluorescence, pitch, and roll. This was a bit beyond us so most of the day was spent with Shaun and I conversing over experiences at sea. His being very different as he was aboard training vessels and commercial vessel to learn to be maritime personnel where I spent most of my experiences as part of the science team. For dinner, we met the volunteers for the science team and had dinner at the local Irish pub, an exciting start to the week.

                For Wednesday, we finally set sail! Unfortunately, we set sail later than expected, around 0830. Before leaving, we conducted static test on the fiber optic cable at 5000 lbs. for five minutes to make sure the connection would be stable. After leaving, Christian showed us the procedure for starting the logs for the SMS, then starting the flow from the intake and making sure all values being recorded were correct. Around this time, we talked about watch schedules with Huxley and I on the 0000-0600 and 1200-1800 and Christian and Shaun on the opposite until the next leg.

The first watch was Huxley and I, where the first HABCAM cast took place. It was test to make sure all systems were running. Huxley, Chuck (engineer) and I set the first cast. Huxley showed me what to do and how to coordinate with Chuck when lowering the HABCAM into the water. Once in, our job was done, and it was up to the science team to control it from there. A few minutes later, we picked it up using the winch and tugger cable. The recovery was performed better than when deploying it for the first time. Soon thereafter, we made another deployment this time for a full 36 hours. The rest of the time was Huxley showing me the system some more and different task that need to be performed every so often such as cleaning the filter to the pump when getting clogged. Our watch was over very quickly and another day over.

For Thursday, now is time for the reality of marine technician work, when everything is going as planned, there is not too much work us to do. Huxley and I did not have much to do in regard to science, but some housekeeping task were in order for our 0000 watch. We cleaned the bathrooms, took the trash to the bow storage and drilled out some broken plugs from the deck. Our watch was quick, but more was sure to come later, so I better count my blessings. On the second watch of the night, the only notable thing was I cleaned and flushed the SMS system by myself when the flow rate was below 45 mL/s.

For Friday, the most eventful day as of yet, starting at 1100 yesterday the 17^th, lunch was in order with chicken parmesan sandwiches. Very shortly afterwards, the fun began. We were finally in the midst of scallop dredge instead of the HABCAM. First, Huxley, Chuck and I retracted the HABCAM to the port side deck as always. We had the main winch drag it to the surface and the smaller winch pull it aboard. Once it was secure, we tied of the cable to the HABCAM and were ready to start getting the dredge together. A few steps were taken to get it ready. On the previous watch, I watched a POV video of Christian getting the dredge back on board from last year, which helped me figure out what to do for this dredge. First, unsecured the rolled-up metal bag from the from metal beam. This unrolled the bag to place down the ramp. Next, we secured the dredge to the winch. We had to find a shackle that fit around the ring which took a few attempts and a little hammering. Then I had to clip the metal cable on the port side winch block to the winch attached to the table and clip the other end to the metal chain on the back end of the dredge where the bag ends to unroll it. We secured the front of the dredge to a lock chain, so it didn’t move during this process. Once unrolled, we ran the cable back through the port side winch block, unclipped it from the table winch, and had the dredge raised by the center winch. Chuck let it down into the water and the first dredge was started.

                There was a miscommunication with the science team about letting the dredge into the water, a misfire of sorts being that they didn’t know we started it so their timing was off. We figured we would have to cast again once it came aboard. Now comes the fun part, as the dredge came up, Huxley and I attached two hooks to either side of the dredge and pulled it aboard using the table winch. From there we locked it in place and disconnected the dredge from the table winch. I grabbed the cable attached to the bungee on the port side winch block, then fed it to the other side where we connected it to the back side of the dredge. Raising it up it was clear that the rope bag on the inside was dislodged from the metal mesh making it difficult to empty the bag. After man attempts at dumping the bag with racks and shovels, we decided as is was good enough for the science team to sort out the pile. The dredge was pulled back onto the ramp and tied off. Huxley and I started shoveling the pile of sand dollars, star fish, fish, scallops and other marine life to the edge of the table to allow the sorting to take place. Once the table was clear, we pulled up the dredge again to finish dumping it onto the table. We repeated the process as before, but this time the bag was empty. Another sorting effort and we were able to start figuring out a solution to the bag problem.

                The first idea was to lift the metal bag on itself to possibly move the rope bag into place and secure it, but the capabilities made it difficult to get enough reach. The final solution was the get the crane and move the bag to the deck for manual reconnection. A couple of tag lines were attached, and the crane picked it up gently. We place it on the starboard side and ratcheted it down. Then the crane was used to grab the center of the metal mesh to allow movement of the rope bag. Pete (Scientist), Huxley and I started attaching the bag to the mesh with metal wire on all sides, then lifted to the table to get the underside of the bag as well. Shortly after, with three hours in, we sent another dredge out, this time much smoother. The pull up was the same, with Huxley and I hooking the dredge and pulling it up with table winch, then getting the cable on the port side winch block to hook the metal back, thus emptying the bag fully on the first try. We shovel the results to the edge of the table for sorting. As the science team was doing their procedures, out watch was over with a HABCAM pull, two dredges, and a fixed bag. Dinner was a delicious feast of ribs, mac and cheese and salad.

                As for the next watch at 2300, it started with Christian having issues with the CTD files not running in a batch scripting process properly. Errors with fluorescence and oxygen sensors were unfortunately occurring. No data seemed to have been recorded on these sensors. I tried looking at the scripts to see where possible errors were, but I couldn’t seem to find the source. I found in the Dummies Guide a manual way of getting the CTD files processed. After processing with unit conversion, wild edit, and serial plot, I may have found the issues. I looked at the **.cnv file which showed all the data points and the three sensors had corrupted data. For the fluorescence, it was reading -73, I suppose is its NaN and for oxygen large values, which again might be its NaN. I also tried files from a previous cruise with varied results, but it seems as though the cast did not record for those sensors. Since Christian was asleep at this point, I put a pin in it until he woke up. From there, not much occurred. I mostly talked with the science team about various subjects. We talked about fish species and graduate school while they were working the HABCAM (it was back in the water while asleep). Time passed relatively quickly with breakfast ending the day, sausage, bacon, eggs, toast, and French toast, my favorite. Another bedtime for me.

                Friday, another afternoon watch mostly uneventful. All systems seemed to have been running smoothly so again not much to do for the next six hours. I ended up helping Huxley do a bit of painting on the sorting table as it is very rusted from years of use. I talked more with science team about various subjects, but not much work was needed to be done.

                When I get to port, I will upload a few images.

Best,

-Sebastian D. 5/18/19 EDT 1937

Huxley and I pulling the HABCAM on 5/19/2019

The Marine Technicians Command Center

Hello all,

              Tomorrow, I am heading to Delaware for a six-week adventure aboard the R/V Hugh R. Sharp out of the University of Delaware working with scallops. After graduating from the University of South Florida (USF) St. Petersburg in May of 2018 with a degree in Environmental Science and Policy, I spent my time in two very different internships that lead me to applying to MATE. I had no experience on decks before graduating, but quickly after I’ve racked up quite a few days at sea. Both internships were part of the USF College of Marine Science, a graduate studies college focusing in oceanography. I started in the Ocean Circulation Lab, where I gained experience in mooring deployment and bottom mount recovery. I learned about various meteorological instruments and how to retrofit housings, calibrate, download data and secure to buoys for deployment. During bottom mount recovery, I learned about ADCPs and got certified for science diving. From there, I was led into a position with the Institute for Marine Remote Sensing (IMaRS), where I learned about image processing, computer networks, and biological sampling methods. I had multiple opportunities to cast CTDs aboard the R/V Walton Smith along the Florida Keys and into Florida Bay for biological samples of algae. I’ve spent one to nine days at a time aboard research vessel working hard.

              I learned about the MATE internship from my mentor, Jason Law, out of the Ocean Circulation Group. Upon hearing about it, my world changed. The more I read about marine technician work, the more I wanted to be a part of this program. It relates all my interest of the science on the ocean, working with instruments, working with scientist and crew, and gathering data. The adaptability is very enticing and working on decks is highly desirable. I’m looking very forward to the next six-weeks. I’ve never had an opportunity to work with HABCAMs or scallop dredging, but I’m willing and ready to give it all I’ve got.

              Last day of preparing, I’m finalizing all my gear and preparing for a long flight up to Delaware. The most nerve-racking part of any cruise is not having everything I need, but once out to sea, I’ll work with what I’ve got. I can’t wait for tomorrow and meet my mentors and the other intern, Shaun Teter.

Best,

-Sebastian D.

Leg 2 of 3 of the annual Atlantic scallop survey aboard the Hugh R. Sharp, and I’m busily shoveling all manner of marine muck in front of a team of dedicated volunteers.  The dredge net, deployed over and over again at stations across Georges’ Bank, hauls back everything from scallops to monkfish (pictured), all of which are measured and analyzed by the NOAA team on board for the survey. Even in the howling wind and rain, Helly Hansens coated in mud and marine viscera, my enthusiasm does not wane. That is, until I watch the tension gauge on the dredge winch spike to a healthy 12,000 pounds, and we haul up a giant bag of rocks. Safety is still the primary concern here, but any missteps or environmental interference in the deployment or recovery process of the net can cause it to “flip” underwater, essentially dumping the dredge load back into the ocean, or even tearing the bag. This leg featured 5 flips (one by yours truly) and 2.5 bag tears, a new record!

In all seriousness, there’s still much to be learned in the dredging operation. My deck safety training comes in useful here, managing winches and the A-frame in a careful dance of hydraulics, wire and mud to get the science team the samples they need. Every few stations, I’ve been able to individually operate the vessel’s CTD. It boasts very impressive, almost completely hands free system, allowing the technician to stay stationed in the data acquisition room, watching the live data stream and communicating the deployment of the CTD to a remote operator. The dredge operations operate almost like an assembly line, but are a welcome break from the endless HABCAM towing days. With leg 2 complete, we enjoy a brief stop in Wood’s Hole, MA, before heading out for the final leg of the survey. More soon!

Having recently graduated from the California Maritime Academy as a licensed Third Mate and aspiring marine technician, I am eager to begin my career in supporting marine research at sea. I’ve had the great honor of beginning my path with the Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) program, which will place me on the research vessel Hugh R. Sharp in a few days’ time.

While not my first time aboard a research vessel, nor my first time at sea, the MATE experience will be a new and immeasurably important experience to me. To prepare for the extensive hands-on experience and networking opportunities I will receive, I’ve spent time reviewing numerous marine science and technology-related topics while reflecting on the experiences in research support that I have had so far. My past experience leading research cruises and working with conductivity, temperature, and depth (CTD) sensors should show in my time aboard.

Waiting for me is a red-eye flight and rain on the East coast, but I still look forward to bringing my skill set in both marine technology and maritime operations to support the crew aboard the Sharp.

More soon, and smooth sailing to my fellow MATE interns.

– Shaun Teter