Laurentian Channel
CFER team members Sarah Walsh, Robyn Whelan, and master’s student Gordon DeJong are onboard the Patrick and William with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), and Oceana. DFO team members include Sheena Roul and Jordan Sutton and from Oceana is Isabelle Jubinville. This is a DFO planned expedition, completing research activities in the Marine Protected Area (MPA), Laurentian Channel. Laurentian Channel is located off the southwest coast of Newfoundland and Labrador and has a number of conservation objectives. Which includes protecting six at risk species: corals, Black Dogfish, Smooth Skate, Porbeagle sharks, Northern Wolfish, and Leatherback Sea Turtles.
The team will be in Laurentian Channel for the first half of September completing five research activities at preplanned stations. Research activities includes multibeam ocean mapping, baited remote underwater vehicle (BRUV) (also known as baited camera), drop camera (also known as “Bouncy”), CTD, and water eDNA sampling. These research activities allow us to collect valuable data such as the depth and shape of the seafloor, what species may be present in the sampling area, and a variety of ocean parameters (conductivity, temperature, depth, and salinity, just to name a few).
The team had a beautiful evening in downtown St. John’s to start our steam to Laurentian Channel!
While the choppy seas delayed the first two days of sampling, the team has kept the sea sickness at bay! During the first couple of days, while weather conditions were poor, we were still able to collect ocean mapping data. On the third day we were able to deploy our first piece of equipment, the BRUV aka “baited camera”. This particular piece of equipment is equipped with a camera, lights, lasers, and bait. It is deployed to the bottom of the sea floor where it will stay stationary for a pre-determined number of hours. It has the ability to record up to 10 hours and for this particular station it was left out long enough to reach this limit. Once retrieved the team got a sneak peak as to what was recorded. So far with this footage we have seen species such as black dogfish, red fish, smooth skate, krill, shrimp, and A LOT of hag fish.
Gordon DeJong, a Fisheries Science master’s student at the Fisheries and Marine Institute of Memorial University of Newfoundland, preparing the water eDNA samples for filtration.
The weather has been on our side the last couple of days which means that the team has been hard at work completing full days of sampling! Each day has consisted of deploying all of our equipment which includes a baited camera, drop camera, and a CTD rosette sampler, while at night we collect ocean mapping data.
Our CTD rosette sampler allows us to collect continuous data of the chemical and physical properties of the water column while simultaneously collecting our water samples. This is because this piece of equipment houses a CTD, which stands for conductivity, temperature, and depth, a fluorometer, and six Niskin Bottles. We use the water samples collected to filter and capture the environmental DNA (eDNA) that can be found in the water!
For this expedition we are collecting two different volumes of water in order to determine if these two different testing methods produce varying results. One method involves collecting and filtering 24 L of water that is collected from a single depth at the bottom of the ocean. For the second method we collect and filter triplicate samples of 1.5 L of water at two different depths: surface and bottom. Once the eDNA samples are analyzed we can compare these results to try and determine which method should be used in the future!
Watching the baited camera footage, regardless of what species is caught on camera, is always exciting. But there was an extra wave of excitement today as a Bluefin Tuna was recorded swimming in front of the camera! This video was captured at one of the sampling stations here in the marine protected area, Laurentian Channel. The baited camera was deployed 450 meters down to the seafloor where it recorded for approximately four hours.