FORT LAUDERDALE/DAVIE, Fla. – When describing an upcoming research trip for Nova Southeastern University (NSU) scientists, ambitious is a bit of an understatement.
OCEARCH, which has earned acclaim for its research in to great white sharks, has invited scientists from a number of other organizations to join them for a unique trip up the Gulf Stream. What makes this expedition unique and ambitious is that (1) the vessel will drift up the Gulf Stream from Key West, FL to Cape Hatteras, NC (yes, the Gulf Stream’s current will carry the boat northward,) and (2) it involves nearly 40 researchers from 27 different institutions.
“Securing time on an offshore research vessel is one of the biggest hurdles we face,” said David Kerstetter, Ph.D., a professor at NSU’s Halmos College of Natural Sciences and Oceanography. “We’re excited for this opportunity to conduct our research as well as interact with colleagues from institutions around the globe.”
Kerstetter’s areas of research include fisheries biology, fishing gear conservation engineering and fisheries policy.
For this trip, at-sea fieldwork will be conducted by fellow NSU professor and researcher Christopher Blanar, Ph.D. and NSU graduate student Dayna Hunn and undergraduate student Emily Hoeflich. The NSU team’s project is Sargassum Community Assessment of the South Atlantic Bight.
The M/V OCEARCH – scheduled to complete the 820 mile journey and dock in North Carolina on Tues., June 14.
For those who aren’t familiar with the marine environment, sargassum is free-floating seaweed that most boaters ignore, but play a vital role in the health of our oceans. These floating oases provide substantial shelter and food to a host of smaller fish who are just starting out in life – basically an ocean-going nursery. Along with providing shelter for baby fish, these areas also serve, as one might surmise, as a feeding ground for larger fish (i.e. billfish, tuna and sharks.)
“What we want to do is study the bio-diversity we find under the sargassum and how that diversity changes as we drift northward,” Kerstetter said. “This trip will allow us to provide the first quantitative measure of the fish and invertebrate diversity – and we’re going to be looking at the parasites to help clarify the ecological connections between organisms.”
This is the first time NSU research scientists are joining with those of OCEARCH – and, hopefully, it’s the start of continued collaboration as we all work to better understand the largest ecosystem on Planet Earth.
One of the students who will be joining this expedition is Emily Hoeflich from Gulf Breeze, Florida. She is an undergraduate student majoring in marine biology in NSU’s Halmos College of Natural Sciences and Oceanography, where she is also a member of the Honors College.
“We are branching out beyond sharks because we need to understand the entire system, not just the top predators, to ensure a healthy ocean for future generations,” said Dr. Robert Hueter, OCEARCH Chief Science Advisor and Director of the Center for Shark Research at Mote Marine Laboratory. “By studying the Gulf Stream, we will be able to chronicle the linkages between currents and marine species in a way never before possible.”
