Dawicki, S.

Deep-diving vehicle gets U.S. and Canadian scientists close to deep-sea corals in the Gulf of Maine

2014

NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science Center

"A team of U.S. and Canadian scientists and engineers led by Martha Nizinski of the National Systematics Laboratory at NOAAs Northeast Fisheries Science Center and Anna Metaxas of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, will work aboard the NOAA Ship Henry B. Bigelow surveying and collecting samples of deep-sea corals and related marine life in canyons in the northern Gulf of Maine in both U.S. and Canadian waters. They will use a Canadian remotely operated vehicle called the Remotely Operated Platform for Ocean Science (ROPOS). The ROPOS can record images and sample water, sediments, and marine life using sampling gear operated from the ship. The sites to be sampled range from 200 to 3000 meters (roughly 650 to 10,000 feet) deep. The plan is to survey and sample Nygren and Heezen Canyons in U.S. waters, the Corsair Canyon and the Northeast Channel Coral Conservation Area in Canadian waters, and the Jordan Basin in the northern Gulf of Maine, which lies in both U.S. and Canadian waters. Several days will be spent at each site. The overall goal of the cruise is to survey and investigate known or suspected deep-sea coral habitats off the coast of the Northeastern U.S. and Canada. The team will collect environmental and biological data to characterize benthic habitats and identify areas of coral presence, and ground-truth areas predicated to be coral hotspots based on data provided from habitat suitability models and validate those models. The team will also assess deep-sea coral abundance, distribution and size, classify coral and adjacent soft sediment habitats, and refine estimates of coral recruitment. They will also collect deep corals for taxonomic, reproduction and age analyses, and associated fauna for genetic studies. A database of photographs, species identification, abundances and distributions will be assembled. This 2014 expedition marks the second year of a three-year program funded by NOAAs Deep-Sea Coral Research and Technology Program."

NMFS

NEFSC