Norseman II Crew

I have already posted about the Norseman II’s amazing cooks, Harry Burnett and Kirstin Molan, but they are just part of the fantastic crew. Many of the them have been working on the Norseman II and with our project for years, others were new this year, but all of the crew have been essential to the Transboundary project. To keep that boat running and our nets going out 24 hours a day it takes a motivated crew, from the deckhands to the engineer. Plus we like them because they are fun to be around. 

CAPTAIN

Perry Seyler

Seyler has been an unlimited captain for 25 years and a merchant marine officer working for the commercial shipping industry for the last 15 years. He has been working on the Norseman II for three years because he likes working with scientists and seeing their research in the unique Arctic environment. He worked the full Norseman II season last year (7 charters), his favorite (besides Transboundary) being the walrus charter where they study and follow walrus as sea ice recedes up the Chukchi and Beaufort seas. He hopes to work research vessels full time after retiring next year.

When he isn't on the Norseman II, Seyler works as a contractor for the government on a 900 ft. Navy vessel. After this he will have a couple weeks off and then head to the Mariana Islands, then to San Diego, CA for a Navy exercise. He’ll then head through the Panama Canal to Jacksonville, FL where the vessel will be put on lay berth for a couple of months. After that Seyler will take the vessel to Morocco for another Navy exercise. When he is not working he is home in San Francisco with his three children. 

MATE

Jim Howard

Jim was new to the transboundary project, but did a great job of learning the ropes with the night crew. 

BOATSWAIN

Scott Hameister 

Scotty is our boatswain, or crew boss. He is the supervisor over all deck operations and logistics. He is the guy that makes sure our gears are running and that the scientists are getting the samples that we need. 

ENGINEER

Zach Starrett

Zach started out as a deckhand for the Norseman II and was appointed the engineer position this year. He is a great engineer, but sometimes misses working out on deck where the fun trawls are happening (we miss you too Zach). 

DECKHANDS

Jim Wells

Jim wells has been a staple night shift deckhand on the Transboundary cruises for the last three years. He usually works the full season starting in May, when they bring the boat up from Seattle and works the Norseman II charters until November. He likes working scientific expeditions because every day is different with new research crews switching every couple of weeks. This type of work gives him the opportunity to learn new things every day. Jim has worked for the Norseman II for the past 5 years. When he isn't on the Norseman II he works fishing vessels out of Dutch Harbor, usually from January to March. 

Austin Church 

Austin has worked with the Transboundary team for a couple years now and was this year's day shift winch operator. Because we are running gears all day, the winch operators have to work long hours sitting in one place, but Austin was always very precise, allowing us to consistently perform good trawls and collections. 

Kevin Nagle 

Kevin is a surfer from Seaside, OR who has worked fishing boats out of Seattle, but was new to Transboundary this year. He was a fantastic deck hand who even helped us sort the trawls between letting out and pulling in gear. 

Peter Waterman

Peter is an Iron Maiden fan and according to sources (Alexis Walker) even though this was his first Norseman II charter he acted like a seasoned veteran. 

Jorin Watson 

Jorin, the night crew winch operator (also amazing) has worked on the Norseman II for three years and does maintenance on the boat during the winter in Seattle. Maintenance involves both regular upkeep and renovations to make this former crabbing vessel a high functioning research lab. 

This has been an amazing crew to work with. Their interest in our research and willingness to work hard through all conditions have made these last three research cruises not only fun, but very successful expeditions. Norseman II you will be missed. 

JULIA DISSEN

As a master's student at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, I am researching how lipids (a.k.a. fats) in Arctic forage fish vary by year and region. This work will provide us with better insight into how these fish are involved with energy transfer in the Arctic food web. Through this project I have been given opportunities to work on sample collection expeditions to the Beaufort Sea, perform biochemical analysis at the Kodiak Seafood and Marine Science Center, and work with many creative and inspiring researchers here in Alaska.

Offloading and Goodbyes

After three weeks aboard the R/V Norseman II it was finally time to say goodbye. We were planning on getting off the boat this Thursday, but when the weather report came in on Monday it looked unlikely that we would be able to safely make the crew transfer that day. The wind is supposed to pick up on Wednesday night with seas up to 11 ft. carrying through to the next day. If we stayed on the boat until Thursday, we could have been stuck until the weekend waiting for the wind to die down. Phone calls were made and boats, buses, and planes arranged to take our scientists home today. Last night was a flurry of activity to clean up and pack our gear, but this morning went smoothly with offloading scientists and samples. 

After making the Norseman II our home for the last month and working with this crew for three years, it was hard to say our goodbyes. I had a chance to interview a few of the boat crew members and they all said that this project was one of their favorite charters of the season because of the interesting research and fun people (maybe I got those backwards...). It's sad to end the sampling portion of this project, but it will be exciting to see the results and publications that come from this data. So, even though we are back on land, Arctic Revelry will still be posting updates on this project and other Arctic research. Thanks to everyone who made this research cruise possible, and thanks to AR readers for joining us.  

 DAY SHIFT

NIGHT SHIFT

JULIA DISSEN

As a master's student at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, I am researching how lipids (a.k.a. fats) in Arctic forage fish vary by year and region. This work will provide us with better insight into how these fish are involved with energy transfer in the Arctic food web. Through this project I have been given opportunities to work on sample collection expeditions to the Beaufort Sea, perform biochemical analysis at the Kodiak Seafood and Marine Science Center, and work with many creative and inspiring researchers here in Alaska.

We got word that some poor weather was heading our way, so in a flurry of activity we packed up and headed for shore!

We had a surprise crew member join us today. He's been pretty quiet so far.

Thoughts From BOEM

To protect fish and other small ocean plants and animals during development of oil and gas resources (more than 3 miles off the coast) the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) funded UAF scientists to conduct this unprecedented survey across the Beaufort Sea. These small animals and plants, called lower trophics, are important because they provide food and ecosystem services to the seals, whales, birds, polar bears, and people (the charismatic megafauna) that eat them.  BOEM is studying both the charismatic megafauna and these less charismatic small creatures to understand how to protect the environment during energy development.

It may seem surprising that this research is called unprecedented or ground breaking when BOEM has been studying the arctic marine resources for over 40 years, but in many ways, especially because of the harsh climate and challenging logistics, the Arctic is still a frontier when it comes to both oil and gas resources and biological research.  Most of the historical oil and gas industry interest and BOEM research has been closer to shore and the fish research has concentrated on important subsistence fish living close to the coast. As oil and gas industry interest extends farther from the coast BOEM needs to understand the environment further from shore.  Until 2008, quantitative marine fish surveys in the Beaufort Sea were limited to a few samples in in the NW Beaufort, a few in the SE Beaufort and a few samples near Prudhoe Bay. Since 2008, BOEM has undertaken a series of surveys to learn what fish and lower trophic plants and animals occur farther from shore.

Modern scientific technology and research ships have made the research possible while industry interest and changing climate have made the research higher priority. BOEM is sponsoring the first systematic survey ever conducted across the Beaufort Sea and in a manner that integrates the entire lower half of the food chain.  In one survey we are learning what animals and plants occur here and at the same time a more sophisticated understanding of how they function collectively as the base of an ecosystem, recycling and transferring energy and resources up the food chain to the higher trophic level animals and humans.

An amazing aspect of this study is the tight integration of all the scientists and their various disciplines.  The data they collect are designed to work across all the disciplines to provide that big picture of how the ecosystem functions across the whole ‘lower half’ of the food chain. It is truly inspiring to be in the field witnessing how well the individual scientific experts and the vessel crew work together to make sure every scientist gets the best possible samples and data, and ultimately contribute to a better understanding of this special arctic ecosystem in a way not possible without this integration.  In turn I am able to bring this high quality information to BOEM environmental analysts to understand how to protect these precious arctic resources and the creatures and humans that depend on them during Arctic oil and gas development.

Kate Wedemeyer is a Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) employee and project officer for the Transboundary research. She has assisted aboard the 2013 and 2014 Transboundary cruises on the R/V Norseman II to serve as BOEM's voice for scientific decisions. 

Bacon in the Beaufort

While we have many amazing people on board, hands down the most popular are our head cook Harry Burnett and the night crew cook, Kirstin “Kirdy” Molan. Between the two of them, they serve four meals a day, to 27 people, and so far each day has been incredible (the fourth meal is called “midnight rations,” served as lunch for the night shift). When working long days in the Arctic there is nothing quite like coming inside for a hot meal, and they do everything they can to keep the menu delicious and filling.  

Harry has been with the Norseman II for the last five years, after serving as a Navy Cook for two decades. He likes the additional menu freedom he has working on research vessels, compared to regimented meals on Naval ships. However, this is his last year aboard the R/V Norseman II. He has worked for the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) aboard the R/V Knorr, and next year he will be the chief steward on WHOI’s new vessel, the R/V Neil Armstrong. Harry’s upbeat attitude and culinary masterpieces will definitely be missed by the Norseman II boat crew and visiting scientists. 

Breakfast meats are taken seriously on this boat. 45 lbs of bacon was packed just for this three week cruise. Over the course of the season, the R/V Norseman II will go through 300 lbs of sausage and 400 – 450 lbs of bacon.   

Along with an abundance of breakfast meats and a spectrum of delicious meals, Kirdy has been knocking it out of the park with homemade ice cream, brownies, cookies, and other desserts that disappear as fast as she can make them. 

One of the things that have impressed me the most is the fresh fruits and vegetables served with every meal. Not only does all the food have to be shipped up from lower latitudes, but our cruise won’t resupply for the entire three weeks. Luckily Harry has all sorts of tricks up his sleeve to keep our meals fresh and interesting. Harry advises to take all fresh vegetables out of plastic and wrap in paper towels immediately and to keep frozen vegetables on hand for when the fresh stuff runs out. Also he advises keeping a variety of foods that are easily preserved like couscous, polenta, grits, and orzo, keeping the menu interesting by serving things that most people don’t eat every day or possibly haven’t had before. 

Right now Harry is preparing ribs with his “secret rub,” and while I’m still digesting my third helping of Kirdy’s delicious breakfast, I’m already excited for dinner. While sometimes overlooked, the moral boost a good meal provides is something that keeps us going day after day, and we’re lucky enough to get four of them each day! 

JULIA DISSEN

As a master's student at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, I am researching how lipids (a.k.a. fats) in Arctic forage fish vary by year and region. This work will provide us with better insight into how these fish are involved with energy transfer in the Arctic food web. Through this project I have been given opportunities to work on sample collection expeditions to the Beaufort Sea, perform biochemical analysis at the Kodiak Seafood and Marine Science Center, and work with many creative and inspiring researchers here in Alaska.

Starting out the morning right. The night and day crews combine forces to process a trawl during shift change. Lorena Edenfield shows off a Greenland Halibut. (at Beaufort Sea)

Sentiments on Sediments

The night shift, from 8pm to 8am can be described with glowing sunsets and sunrises, delirious giggles, and sleepy yet satisfied scientists and crew. We get only 2-3 hours of true darkness and the remaining 10 hours are experienced in varying gradations of light and color. On the first evening aboard the Norseman II, we had roughly 8-10 hours of transit time, so we transitioned into our nocturnal schedule with copious amounts of caffeine, cribbage, candy, and punchy banter. Soon we were getting into a rhythm, working out the kinks, and grooving to the music while making science happen. How do we “make science happen”? Well, there is quite an array of diverse sampling taking place on this research cruise, and one of those methods involves excessive amounts of mud. That’s where I come in. The marine mud is collected using a van Veen grab, a very large piece of equipment, that is hoisted over the stern of the ship and lowered to varying depths depending on the station we are currently processing. The van Veen remains open through the water column and is not triggered until it hits the substrate (20-350 m below surface), grabbing a sizable amount of seafloor. Once the van Veen is brought back to the surface, the benthic infauna team, either Julia or I, sift marine sediments for organisms living within the mud that are larger than 500 microns. We sieve three “grabs” in total, amounting to roughly 60-70 lbs of mud, clay, sand, or gravel for each station depending on the composition of the benthos. 

Needless to say we have one of the most time-consuming projects on board, thus we appreciate all the help we can get! In conjunction to sieving, we also extract syringe plugs from these sediments to measure chlorophyll, stable isotopes, proteins/lipids, and grain size. Two additional plug samples are extracted for DNA sequencing of bacteria and meiofauna (microscopic marine invertebrates). Since we only collect sediment samples down to 350m (due to equipment limitations), we have “free” stations at 500m, 750m, 1000m to help other disciplines. I have been taking this time off from sieving to remove guts from epibenthic invertebrates brought up in trawls. I fix these gut samples in RNA later for eventual sequencing work. As the cruise is beginning to wrap up and we are finishing up our last stations the mood around the ship is one of sadness, excitement, and anticipation. Some of us are anxious to get home, while others would gladly stay on board for another month, I being one of the latter. One thing is for sure, I am definitely going to miss my night crew, and do not look forward to becoming a day walker once again.

 Sincerely,

Gut Girl

ALEXIS WALKER

I was raised in Arizona. I got my B.S. in marine biology at the University of California Santa Cruz. I am currently in the graduate program at the School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. I love SCUBA diving and playing the kazoo.  

Lauren Bell demonstrated the proper lunge stance for collecting water from the CTD.

Baby Skates!

Skates are cartilaginous fish belonging to the family Rajidae. They look similar and are related to stingrays, however rays give birth to live young, while skates lay fertilized eggs in a case called a mermaid’s purse (great name, but those mermaids must have terrible fashion sense). Skates lack barbs on their tails, but have sharp spines along their back for protection from predators. After catching large, impressive looking skates in past years, I've been slightly disappointed by their absence in our trawls these last two weeks. Little did I know that we would be in for a treat today…

This morning the day crew fished nets at 750 m. It looked like a fairly standard haul, cod, eel pout, sea stars, and some mermaid’s purses, but no large skates. As we were rinsing the catch to remove the mud brought up with the critters, I found a tiny pink skate! It must have hatched recently because its yolk sac was still attached. I have never seen one even close to this young, and basically lost my mind over how cute it was.   

The next trawl at 500 m pulled up more mermaid’s purses, which we threw into a bag of water to be preserved later, but sorting the catch didn't turn up any skates. Later while processing fish, Lorena picked up the bag of egg cases to add a label. While she was holding the bag and examining its contents, a skate came sliding out of its case! I didn't think I would ever see a skate younger than the one before, let alone actually see it hatch. Needless to say it was an unbelievable experience, leaving us all a little stunned. Just when our days start feeling repetitive, something like baby skates hatching pops up to make us remember why we are out here.  

JULIA DISSEN

As a master's student at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, I am researching how lipids (a.k.a. fats) in Arctic forage fish vary by year and region. This work will provide us with better insight into how these fish are involved with energy transfer in the Arctic food web. Through this project I have been given opportunities to work on sample collection expeditions to the Beaufort Sea, perform biochemical analysis at the Kodiak Seafood and Marine Science Center, and work with many creative and inspiring researchers here in Alaska.

Fat head sculpin.

Weather Jinxes

I must write a sincere apology to my fellow science and boat crew. While the sunshine yesterday was too irresistible to not write about, I knew that I shouldn’t tempt the weather gods. I am sorry.

Last night the weather turned and we are working through 4 ft. seas and snow. Some of our gear can’t be deployed and sample accurately in poor weather conditions, but our trawls are still fishing! The boat crew is bundling up and braving high winds mixed with sleet to get as much gear out as they can, and our science crew is eagerly processing samples. At the 1000m depth station this morning, the plumb staff beam trawl pulled up a Greenland halibut (Reinhardtius hippoglossoides), some snail fish, and more of our never ending supply of brittle stars and sea spiders. So despite jinxing the weather, we are working hard to hit as many stations as we can before our deadline next week!

Octoblog*

In addition to the dumbo octopus that Kyle Dilliplaine posted a couple days ago, we have found four other species of octopuses. I posted a picture to Arctic Revelry’s facebook page of two octopuses that I called dumbos, but upon a second look we have decided that it is a different species, but not one we have been able to identify at this time. Any readers have suggestions??

Octopuses are such beautiful and interesting creatures; it has been fun to see some of the diversity of their species here in the Beaufort Sea.   

*Note: All puns on this website are courtesy of Alexis Walker unless otherwise stated. 

JULIA DISSEN

As a master's student at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, I am researching how lipids (a.k.a. fats) in Arctic forage fish vary by year and region. This work will provide us with better insight into how these fish are involved with energy transfer in the Arctic food web. Through this project I have been given opportunities to work on sample collection expeditions to the Beaufort Sea, perform biochemical analysis at the Kodiak Seafood and Marine Science Center, and work with many creative and inspiring researchers here in Alaska.

Sunshine and Science

After our cruise got delayed almost a week and a half due to poor weather conditions, we are now enjoying calm seas and sun! The night crew was as smiles after finishing three stations and picking up a large male snow crab (Chinonoecetes opilio) at the very end to cap off their shift. Day crew was excited to get out and finish off our farthest east transect, set close to the Canadian border. We are now transiting back west towards Prudhoe Bay and picking up some extra stations because we are ahead of schedule! 

JULIA DISSEN

As a master's student at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, I am researching how lipids (a.k.a. fats) in Arctic forage fish vary by year and region. This work will provide us with better insight into how these fish are involved with energy transfer in the Arctic food web. Through this project I have been given opportunities to work on sample collection expeditions to the Beaufort Sea, perform biochemical analysis at the Kodiak Seafood and Marine Science Center, and work with many creative and inspiring researchers here in Alaska.

Sunshine and Science

After our cruise got delayed almost a week and a half due to poor weather conditions, we are now enjoying calm seas and sun! The night crew was as smiles after finishing three stations and picking up a large male snow crab (Chinonoecetes opilio) at the very end to cap off their shift. Day crew was excited to get out and finish off our farthest east transect, set close to the Canadian border. We are now transiting back west towards Prudhoe Bay and picking up some extra stations because we are ahead of schedule! 

Scientific Fishing: a Transboundary update

The purpose of the Transboundary project is to explore eastern Beaufort Sea fish and fish habitat. So while water properties, sediments, and invertebrates are important to assessing habitat, fish are a little important to this project as well. Luckily we are catching fish like it’s our job. As of today we have caught almost 1,500 fish, including 3 lantern fish, and we’re only about half way through our expedition. After being brought up by the nets, fish are identified, weighed, measured, and preserved for further analysis back on land. After the cruise, scientists will look at stomach contents, otoliths, genetics, stable isotopes, and fatty acids. From this data we should have better understandings of what species are where, what they are eating, how old they are, and more.  

Cross your fingers that our luck and good weather hold, and that we keep catching!

JULIA DISSEN

As a master's student at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, I am researching how lipids (a.k.a. fats) in Arctic forage fish vary by year and region. This work will provide us with better insight into how these fish are involved with energy transfer in the Arctic food web. Through this project I have been given opportunities to work on sample collection expeditions to the Beaufort Sea, perform biochemical analysis at the Kodiak Seafood and Marine Science Center, and work with many creative and inspiring researchers here in Alaska.

Research Collaboration and Team Work

I have talked before about the Transboundary project and the amount of cooperation it takes between science disciplines. However, actually being on the boat reminds me every day how incredible it is to take a big group of scientists and collaborate on a huge project. While most scientists will only be using a portion of the data collected on this cruise for their own research and publications, everyone works together to make sure all samples are collected for each team. 

I was nervous before this expedition started because I am part of the two person sediment team, meaning that we only have one person per shift in charge of the samples collected by a van Veen grab. The van Veen grab picks up a scoop of dirt from the seafloor, which then needs to sieved clean of mud, and the animals that remain will be preserved in jars for later analysis. Because we are trying to save very tiny critters, the sieve has holes half a millimeter wide, causing the process of straining thick seafloor mud to be very sloooow. So, as we started our first day sampling I was worried about my ability to keep up with our sampling plan. Thankfully the rest of the science team has been more than willing to step in and help out when needed, which makes my job easier and has kept us ahead of schedule. 

In addition to the help I’ve been receiving, everyone pitches in to sort the trawl catch for fish and invertebrates, the oceanographic team shares water and zooplankton with other teams, and there have been countless other everyday acts that make this work possible. 

Finally, I couldn't end a post about collaboration without at least mentioning our amazing boat crew. They work long days to keep the boat running, our gear collecting, and have even helped out with sorting trawls. They are amazing and we couldn't do it without them.   

JULIA DISSEN

As a master's student at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, I am researching how lipids (a.k.a. fats) in Arctic forage fish vary by year and region. This work will provide us with better insight into how these fish are involved with energy transfer in the Arctic food web. Through this project I have been given opportunities to work on sample collection expeditions to the Beaufort Sea, perform biochemical analysis at the Kodiak Seafood and Marine Science Center, and work with many creative and inspiring researchers here in Alaska.