Field Trip 11/19/2013

NOAA Manchester Facility (Clam Bay)

Weather Conditions:
Rainy and Overcast
Upper 40s F
Winds 5-10 knots northeast
High Tide

Special Thanks are needed for the NOAA Dive team, who adeptly found the samples and relocated them to the floating docks. The crew members on the dive team were as follows:

Paul HillmanJon LeeRob EndicottEwann Berntson
Divers were deployed to the site by boat with help from Matt Cooke and the NOAA dive team. Divers left the dock at 9:30 and found the oysters by 11 AM. Twelve trays were retrieved from a depth of around 8 feet.

Trays partially covered with Ulva (sp) and had light sedimentation.

Upon opening the trays we found very slight sedimentation on the tiles but heavier sedimentation on the windscreen bags. Tiles has also accumulated a yellow/orange film which looked to be some kind of bacteria or something but didn't seem to cause any issues with the oysters. The trays had predators in them, mostly dungeoness crabs (0-5 per tray), Snails and drills (0-4 per tray), Shrimp (sp) (2-7 per tray), Eels called gunnels (1-2 per tray), and one tray had a sculpin in it. Trays also had several scallops in them varying between 2-8 per tray.

Trays were assembled into hanging devices but left on dock until a suitable butane torch could be purchased to melt the ends of the nylon rope for hanging the trays as the previous one developed a leak and was unsafe to use. Trays were hung in the D1 floating dock Net Pen with protective anti-predator netting surrounding them. All trays were hung to a depth of roughly 6-10 feet within a 25 foot span.

Pictures and location to be uploaded shortly.