Dive Into Your Imagination

August 9th 2009
Annie Crawley's Journal

At 2:40 in the afternoon on August 8th with the launch of a CTD, the first of three 24 hour intensives began in the North Pacific Gyre. By August 9th at the same time more than 24 scientific events had been logged. The Oozeki Net, Bongos and CTD had been deployed four times each and the manta triple that. Between deploying, retrieving, processing, data entry and then trying to comprehend what was actually happening was a bit mind boggling. Many people were up for more than 24 hours yet safety was still the number one priority. Miriam took some time and gave me an interview. At this point plastic had been coming up in every manta trawl for more than 2.5 days.

Pete’s mid-water trawls were still my personal favorite science because with every deployment and retrieval there was this anticipation and wonder of what would be discovered from the deep sea. The scientists all had to wear hard hats and use extreme caution as every time the net went in and out of the water, the back safety lines had to come down and we were all exposed to the sea. The midnight deployment was extra exciting because it had begun to rain and the deck was extra slippery. There were certain times that all hands were needed on deck and tonight was one of those nights.

The amount of plastic we were finding in the mantas was kind of crazy to think about. The creatures were amazing though. We nicknamed a squid, googly-eyed squid, because it had photophores where it’s eyes were and one could only imagine how it used these to entice prey to come close. I have always been convinced that the real animals of the ocean were better than any cartoon, but seeing the amphipods, crustaceans and deep sea fish in real life convinced me! To think that we might be having an impact on these animals through our waste was overwhelming to consider. By working around the clock, one did not have the luxury to hypothesize on any new findings, we just needed to collect the data and document it.

At the end of the 24 hour station, I had been up for more than 36 hours with a two hour nap. When it was finally over and my video cards were set to download I found that I could not sleep. I retired to the bow of the boat and found myself alone, just staring at the Ocean and trying to capture the motion of the surface. I had never witnessed the vastness of the Ocean from this perspective. Looking around I could see 360 degrees of Ocean and above me the blue sky. Every direction I could turn was pure nature. And it was the first time that I had spent this many days at sea without being able to drop below to see what lived underneath. Looking at the surface of the ocean, the plastic was invisible to the eye, but if you dropped a dip net overboard or a manta net, you would capture the confetti plastic.

As I looked out, I could only think that the same water that existed a billion years ago still exists today. The waters that used to be the glaciers, become our rivers and ultimately drain into this vast Ocean. And here we are, a group of 29 people working together aboard the SEAPLEX expedition, trying to figure out what the impact of marine debris has upon one the largest biome of the planet, the North Pacific Gyre.

For more information go to check out these sites:
http://www.seaplexscience.com
http://www.projectkaisei.org
http://kaisei.blipback.com

Thank you to our sponsor, Samy's Camera

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