Diverse marine habitats

After a busy weekend of multibeam, a low pressure weather system moved in and
the Pole Star was forced to head back to Oban to shelter. This gave us time to
back-up and examine the data we had collected during the previous week.

Based on multibeam data that Gill and Kirsten (BGS) processed on board, we
were able to select locations for sampling. Groundtruthing is an important part of
the survey as it allows us to assign particular habitats to corresponding areas of
multibeam. The two pieces of equipment we are utilising for this purpose are a
drop-camera and Day grab. The drop camera allows us to take videos and
high-resolution stills of organisms living on the reef or projecting from the
sediment, whilst grab samples of sediment allow us to extract organisms from
within. Cefas are providing technical support and expertise in the form of Simon
and Jo to assist with the groundtruthing.

Stanton Banks SCI is proposed for designation because of its Annex I rocky and
stony reef habitat. Through use of the drop camera, we now have information on
the types of species that live on and around the reef. From images collected so
far, we have seen various types of crab, starfish, featherstar, sea urchin and sponge.



Brittlestars (Ophiocomina nigra)





Edible crab (Cancer pagurus)

Featherstars (Leptometra celtica) and squat lobster (Munida rugosa)

We have also found muddy sediments around the reef features. Though there are
 fewer conspicuous species on the surface compared to the rocky areas, we have
seen a number of sea pens and nephrops.



Sea pens (Funiculina quadrangularis) and langoustine (Nephrops norvegicus)

We are currently heading for a crew change before transiting back out to Stanton
Banks to try and finish the survey in a good weather window between gales.

A lesson in multibeam acoustics

Last time I mentioned that we were anticipating some bad weather. When it finally hit
we had to batten down the hatches and take shelter moored on the beautiful Isle of
Barra overnight. We managed to go ashore whilst the vessel took on fresh water,
stock up at the local shop, and make a visit to the local pub.

We are now back collecting multibeam data over the southern section of Stanton
Banks SCI (Site of Community Importance). Our BGS colleagues have written a
paragraph to explain a bit more about their work:

Hydrographic surveyors “look” into the ocean to see what the sea floor looks
like. A multibeam echosounder is a device typically used by hydrographic
surveyors to determine depth of water and the nature of the seabed. On the
Polestar, we use a Simrad EM3002D shallow water (0.5-160m) high resolution
multibeam system. This  system collects a swath of bathymetry data that is up to
10 times the water depth wide. By running survey lines correctly spaced apart,
very accurate 100% coverage of the water depth can be collected. Data is
processed onboard using Caris, taking into account position, ship motion etc.
The final product is displayed using 3D viewers to fly through the data as if
the water were not there. The images BGS produce can then be used to aid
JNCC and CEFAS scientists in determining the best locations for camera tows
and grab sampling.

Kirstin & Gillian

On a closing note, this morning we saw dozens of common dolphins jumping in the
wake of the ship and spied a pod of about 150 out in the distance. I also saw my first
ever minke whale this afternoon as well!

Becca Lowe

Playing with Mud

After a couple of days of multibeam to the north of the Stanton Banks site, we got to do some biological sampling. We conducted five video tows and two grab samples from areas of interest detected in the multibeam images. On one camera tow over rocky reef, we observed hundreds of small prawn cracker sponges, Axinella infundibuliformis (see image), encrusting the rocks. On other tows, we saw areas of burrowed mud, with seafans and evidence of Nephrops norvegicus. The two grab samples we collected were both of muddy sediment, which have now been sieved and preserved ready for analysis. It was my first time doing grab sampling, hence the cheesy photo with the Day grab! We use a Day grab to sample finer sediment as it tends to disturb the sediment less during collection.

We are now back to using multibeam for the next couple of days over the larger south-eastern portion of the Stanton Banks site.

There is a large area of low pressure heading towards us over the next couple of days with some murmurs of swells reaching up to 2.5m so there is some trepidation about that!

Becca Lowe

A Rough Start

Stanton Banks are a series of granite rises which outcrop from the seafloor south of the Outer Hebrides (approx. 124km west of UK mainland). Stanton Banks was designated as an SAC in 2008 and has now been accepted as a Site of Community Importance. Five surveys have been conducted on Stanton Banks, which confirm the presence of Annex I reef. The aim of this survey is to acquire further information on the presence and extent of Annex I reef and additional data to help develop a baseline for future monitoring of the site.

After a couple of small teething problems (including electrical failure onboard the vessel) leading to a minor delay to the survey departure, we have finally set sail bound for Stanton Banks. We departed Oban at 1300hrs on Friday 17th August and sailed through calm seas to arrive at Stanton Banks at 2200hrs. The Pole Star is proving herself to be an incredibly rocky ship even with very little swell of just 1m. Acclimatising to this is proving to be a challenge in itself but all in all, we are all in ship shape.

I should mention who 'we' all are: Gareth Johnson and myself (Becca Lowe) from JNCC, Simon Pearson and Jo Murray from CEFAS and Kirsten Crombie and Gillian Horner from BGS. BGS are currently hard at work using acoustic techniques to measure bathymetry of the seabed so that we can decide where best to take video and biological samples.

On a less technical note, the food is top notch (if you can manage to keep it down!) and I also spotted a pod of common dolphins yesterday evening and this morning jumping beside the vessel. I didn't have my camera with me at the time but hopefully some wildlife pictures to come....

Becca Lowe

The Cefas Endeavour has now moved onto the rMCZ Start Point, within this site we will be conducting a multibeam survey – collecting bathymetry data of the seafloor.

Start Point is the final destination of the Endeavour before it steams back to port and we leave the ship - after a long time of only seeing water it is nice to be able to see land again!

While multibeaming over the Start Point rMCZ we have gone over several charted wrecks, one of which can be clearly seen on the backscatter image below.

A wreck spotted from the multibeam survey

Since the previous blog post, we have visited North West Jones's Bank rMCZ and the South of the Isles of Scilly rMCZ. We were hoping to see some dolphins or marine mammals around the Isles of Scilly but unfortunately a thick fog meant that we had very limited visibility. We have however seen lots of gannets and they have kept everyone entertained with their aerial acrobatics and their dives into the sea from high above the water.

Gannets flying over the sea

Every week onboard the Endeavour a safety drill needs to take place, yesterday there was a drill that a member of the crew had been seriously injured within the engine room of the ship. Trained members of the crew were required to dress in breathing equipment and use a stretcher to lift the injured staff member out and onto the deck to await a helicopter rescue. At the same time there was a suspected fire on board so trained firefighters were sent to investigate. Some pictures from the drill are shown below.

Injured crew member being stretchered out

Arthur from the Cefas Endeavour in firefighting kit

Hello again from the JNCC survey.

Sunrise on the Cefas Endeavour

Since the last blog we have been spending the majority of our time carrying out ground truthing activities to verify the multibeam and side scan sonar that we have already collected in the Greater Haig Fras rMCZ. Groundtruthing involves both taking video and photo evidence of the seabed – using cameras which are attached to the grab equipment, or attached to a sledge and towed along behind the survey vessel; and taking physical ‘grab’ samples which can be analysed in the lab to determine the different type of sediment and the organisms living within it, in different areas of the seabed.

So far we have seen some interesting species and habitats including rocky areas containing sponges, urchins, starfish, brittlestars, and anemones; and muddy habitats which support communities of burrowing species including Nephrops – some of which can be seen below.



2 Nephrops photographed in their burrows



The grabs have also pulled up from the deep some moon jellyfish species that became entangled in the equipment. These small jellyfish make daily migrations to the sea surface to feed, before sinking back down to the deep.

A moon jellyfish entangled on the grab equipment

Pirate attacks on the JNCC survey....

Hello and welcome to the latest JNCC survey cruise blog which will be collecting survey data within a number of recommended Marine Conservation Zones (rMCZs) in the Finding Sanctuary MCZ project area and an existing designated marine protected area called a Site of Conservation Interest (SCI)

For Laura and I, the Cefas Endeavour will be our new home from home for the next two weeks with a bunch of crew and scientists from Cefas and the University of Exeter. We will be surveying the benthic habitat (sea bed) in rMCZ Greater Haig Fras, rMCZ North West of Jones Bank and rMCZ South of the Isles of Scilly as well as 'Haig Fras' SCI.

We joined the Endeavour in Lowestoft on Monday afternoon and we were immediately given a tour by the Scientist in Charge, Roger Coggan from Cefas. We were introduced to crew and other scientists on board and shown parts of the vessel which we will be becoming very familiar with, including the plotter room, wet and dry labs, our cabins and of course the mess. We got settled into our cabins and then discussed the Plan of Action for the survey with Roger and checked all the survey coordinates points. Then the serious business of checking out the local 'refreshment' point on shore was underway as the Captain gave us shore leave for the evening. This was an opportunity for the scientists to get to know each other, swap survey stories (we all have them) and discuss the finer points of acoustic surveying.  

On Tuesday morning we left Lowestoft at 9am and steamed south, stopping briefly south of the Isle of Wight to calibrate some of the acoustic equipment. This is called a 'patch test' where a area of water is selected which is of a similar depth to where the equipment is going to be deployed during survey.

During this time we undertook a number of safety exercises including dressing in immersion suits, and preparing for pirates attacks - in which we had to fend off 'the pirates' by blasting them with the vessel's water hoses! Unfortunately for some staff the phantom pirates attacked just above their heads- resulting in a few soggy scientists!!

We finally arrived at Haig Fras (about 120km south west of Cornwall) at about 7am on Thursday morning. We began by collecting multibeam and side scan sonar between the two areas of reef which had already been fully surveyed in the Haig Fras SAC. The data collected here will be used to develop the management practices within the SAC to ensure that any areas of reef are fully protected, while not inhibiting any activities in other sediment areas.

The figure below shows the existing multibeam data, with the red/yellow/green areas indicating areas of potential reef, and the hashed area in the middle - the area which multibeam and sidescan sonar has just been collected during this cruise.

We are now collecting multibeam data from the whole of the Greater Haig Fras rMCZ (see the figure below for the lines which will be followed for the multibeam), and will later collect grab, camera and video samples from this area to ground truth the multibeam. The ground truthing will begin during the day shift today and will continue into the next night shift.

The highlight of the cruise so far, has been spotting some bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in the distance while sitting on the bow in the sunshine after a long night shift. We are still hoping for closer encounters during the cruise and will be keeping our eyes peeled for any marine mammals.....as well as any pirates!