NEFSC

{flight} 08 June 2014 Great South Channel

| nlysiak

Christin Khan, at NOAA Fisheries in Woods Hole, keeps a great blog where she posts photos and aerial survey reports.  Check out her fantastic photos from a recent flight in the Great South Channel (Gulf of Maine).  Besides right and sei whales, who are feeding on plankton, they also saw almost 100 basking sharks.  The all-you-can-eat lunch buffet is definitely open!

Photo credits: NOAA/NEFSC/Christin Khan.  Images collected under MMPA Research Permit Number 17355

Sei whale mom & calf.

Right whale calf, with mom below.

Sei whales feeding.

Right whale feeding.

Roll it

Video | | nlysiak

The [beloved] NOAA Ship Albatross IV was decommissioned in 2008, and eventually sold to the Universidad Autonoma de Tamaulipas in Mexico.  Here is a video of the A4 arriving at the CIDIPORT Research Center.  I had dreamed of purchasing this vessel, refitting it (Steve Zissou style), and using it as a charter vessel for all of my friends and colleagues.  Some dreams are not meant to be…

via: Chris Tremblay

NEFSC May Cruise 2013 – Shopping, etc.

| nlysiak

It’s Day 3 on the hook, and we’re all starting to go a little stir crazy.  There was no port call to Provincetown.  We’ve been keeping busy by working, reading, shopping (RGT gets a new shirt!!), watching movies and Arrested Development (we’re excited to stream the new season today thanks to Chris’s fancy wireless card), and – of course – playing Peanut.  Whitney and Kira are also staffing a friendship bracelet factory of 2 that rivals the production rate of a sweatshop.  They are graciously making them for everyone on the team. If nothing else, you get to see pictures today that are NOT in the blue-gray color palate.

NEFSC May Cruise 2013 – Retreating

| nlysiak

The “bad water” is back and we’re headed for Provincetown (Cape Cod Bay) to drop the anchor and wait out the weather.  Fingers crossed that the captain gives us permission to deploy the small boats and ferry ourselves to shore.  It will be a cruel irony to sit at anchor for days, over Memorial Day weekend, while in sight of land (and establishments that serve cold beers).