Researchers offer public a rare look at Gulf of St. Lawrence seabed
Scientists with Oceana Canada and the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans are offering the public a rare glimpse of life on the sea floor in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
Researchers aboard the Canadian Coast Guard ship Martha L. Black, supported by those on the Leeway Odyssey chartered out of Dartmouth, are using an underwater remotely operated vehicle called ROPOS to gather samples from the water column and the bottom, and it’s all being live-streamed on Oceana Canada’s website (www.oceana.ca/ GulfofStLawrence).
Dr. Robert Rangeley, a biologist and science director for Oceana Canada, said the expedition has already identified dozens of species and targeted critical habitats identified in concert with DFO.
The idea is not to map the entire Gulf bottom, but to zoom in on important areas, he said.
“We’ve chosen our sites carefully and we’re doing mapping within those sites, but they’re areas largely identified by Fisheries and Oceans as ecologically and biologically significant areas,” Rangeley said.
The research is critical for better science-based management of the ocean off the East Coast, but it’s also important in light of the spotlight being focused on the Gulf, where at least 10 endangered North Atlantic right whales have been found dead this year, he said.
It has been exciting to find huge schools of capelin, an important food fish for seabirds, cod and whales, as well as juvenile redfish, another endangered groundfish species that appears to be increasing in numbers, said Rangeley.
“That’s exciting,” he said. “That’s important. It tells you this is an area worth managing properly.”
The researchers have also found leatherback turtles, fin, Alexandra Cousteau, an and filmmaker, adviser to Oceana Canada. environmentalist is senior The ROPOS (Remotely Operated Platform for Ocean Sciences) state-of-the-art underwater robot can collect samples and scientific data as well as high-definition video. Dr. Robert Rangeley, director of science for Oceana Canada, explains how the underwater robot works and what scientists saw.
mike and humpback whales, and, of course, have sighted a large number of right whales.
Rangeley emphasized that the expedition has been planned for more than a year and its focus is not on right whales.
“We’re not right whale researchers,” he said. “We’re not doing science on the right whales, but what we are doing and what anybody can do is when you see a right whale, you call it in to the database.”
While the underwater robot deployed from the Martha L. Black examines the sea floor and water column, observers aboard the Leeway Odyssey are looking at marine life at the surface.
Up in a plywood structure atop the Odyssey, Canadian Wildlife Services biologist Holly Hogan is counting the populations and distribution of various species of seabirds.
But she has also seen plenty of other marine wildlife, and has recorded
some garbage seen on the surface.
The weather has been ideal for field observations, said Hogan.
“It’s been incredibly active, and we’ve been lucky because the sea state’s been perfect and there’s been no fog,” she said.
There have also been a few surprises, Hogan said.
“I’ve seen some interesting species, like the Wilson’s storm petrel, which breeds in the southern hemisphere, but it comes here for the south polar winter — their winter, our summer,” she said. “But you mostly see those far out at sea, so I was kind of surprised to see some in the Gulf.”
Alexandra Cousteau, an environmentalist and filmmaker who is also senior adviser to Oceana Canada, said the organization is only two years old in this country, but it has been advocating for ocean protection globally for many years.
“The primary way that they tackle ocean conservation is
through fisheries policy, primarily,” said the granddaughter of world-renowned ocean expert and TV personality Jacques Cousteau.
“They’re a campaign-based organization and look to affect legislation and policy-making to be able to protect the oceans, and not just protect the oceans but to be able to improve abundance and productivity for fisheries.
“If you manage your oceans properly and scientifically, you can increase abundance in the ocean ... and you have more abundant fisheries, which are necessary to feed a growing and hungry population around the world.”
One of Cousteau’s duties during the weeklong research expedition in the Gulf is to tell the stories of what researchers find, using social media, Oceana’s website and through a documentary that is being shot this week.
“A lot of what we do is policy and so it’s important for people to be informed about the issues that their policy-makers are making policy about,” she said.
Cousteau said she grew up on expeditions with her father and grandfather, whose TV show The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau was first aired in 1968 and ran for nearly a decade.
On the show, even though it was nearly 50 years ago, Cousteau and the crew of the Calypso got up close with sharks, filmed turtles laying eggs on shore and the hatchlings racing back to the sea, and tagged and tracked whales.
The show also explored some freshwater ecosystems, discussed
human interactions with the ocean and its inhabitants, and delved into environmental concerns.
The technology has changed since her grandfather’s day, said Cousteau, but the passion for ocean protection has been handed down.
“It’s not the same world that my grandfather was doing his films in, but now we use the tools that we have, we address the issues that are in front of us, and more than looking backwards towards my grandfather, I’m looking forward towards the world that my children will grow up in.”
Conservative Sen. Michael MacDonald, a native of Louisbourg now living in Dartmouth, was invited by Oceana Canada to tour the research expedition in the Gulf after reintroducing a bill to ban the importation of shark fins.
MacDonald said Oceana Canada is not “heavily activist,” but is interested in protecting the ocean and the species living in it on behalf of all Canadians, including those who fish.
“Most fishermen realize that it’s not in their best interest to have sea life disappear,” he said. “They want to manage it properly, but they don’t always have the back side.
“They have anecdotal evidence, but you need scientific evidence to go with anecdotal evidence.
“That’s what Oceana provides, and they’re not telling people what to do. They’re just trying to create some data and information that governments and industry can use to manage the resources.”