Sea Expedition | Ocean Doctor | Ocean Conservation

You're Invited! See Never-Before-Seen Video from the Bering Sea Expedition

April 3, 2008 By Ocean Doctor_

See new Bering Sea footage while cruising on the Potomac River in Washington, DC

To celebrate the Marine Fish Conservation Network’s 15th anniversary, Dr. David Guggenheim will be the featured speaker aboard a cruise along the Potomac River in Washington, DC on May 7, 2008. As the first human being to pilot a submarine into the Bering Sea’s two largest canyons he will show rare footage from Greenpeace’s recent scientific expedition to these extraordinarily beautiful and mysterious ocean depths. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Bering Sea Expedition, Events Tagged With: bering sea, Bering Sea Expedition, environmental organizations, fish conservation, greenpeace, guggenheim, marine fish conservation network, marine science, mysterious ocean, ocean depths, potomac river, science groups, sea expedition, submarine

Blogus interruptus

December 29, 2007 By Ocean Doctor

Guanahacabibes, Cuba Read any authority’s advice about blogs and you’ll see at the top of the list: “Blog regularly.” Even for someone who enjoys writing as much as I do, I don’t believe in writing for writing’s sake — I like to share original experiences and ideas, not just rehash stale news. Still, I’ve experienced quite a few blog-worthy adventures in the four months since my last post shortly after the Bering Sea Expedition, but haven’t written a single word. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Conservation, Cuba, Cuba Research & Conservation, Featured, Flotsam, Ocean Doctor's Reflections Tagged With: alaska, bering sea, blogs, Cuba, Guanahacabibes, sea expedition

Bering Sea Expedition Continues on Dry Land

September 8, 2007 By Ocean Doctor

The brilliant pink coral, Swiftia pacifica, found at 1,300 feet in Pribilof Canyon, Bering Sea, Alaska (Photo by David E. Guggenheim)

BERING SEA, Alaska — This past summer, the Greenpeace ship M/V Esperanza carried two manned submersibles, a remotely-operated vehicle (ROV) and an international research team to the Bering Sea for a three week survey of Zhemchug and Pribilof Canyons,to map and document deepwater corals living at depths of more than 1,000 feet. The expedition was conceived of and was led by Greenpeace. 1planet1ocean president David E. Guggenheim participated as a sub pilot and scientific consultant. Pribilof and Zhemchug Canyons revealed diverse and complex ecosystems, rich with corals, sponges, fish and other marine life. They also revealed striking human impacts from trawlers, damage that was documented during the expedition. More than a terabyte of video data and numerous biological specimens are now being analyzed and results are being shared with a range of decisionmakers and decisionmaking bodies, including the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council.

Filed Under: Bering Sea Expedition, Bering Sea, Alaska Tagged With: alaska, BERING, bering sea, Bering Sea Expedition, canyons, David E. Guggenheim, ecosystem, fish, greenpeace, guggenheim, Marine, north pacific fisheries, sea expedition, Swiftia, Zhemchug

Deep Dives at Zhemchug Canyon Reveal Corals, Intricately Woven Ecosystem

August 4, 2007 By Ocean Doctor_

Before rough seas rolled in on Tuesday, the team aboard Esperanza was able to complete six manned submersible dives and three ROV dives at Zhemchug Canyon, considered the largest canyon in the ocean. The subs worked close to their maximum depth of 2,000 feet while the ROV worked at its deepest depth ever, around 3,000 feet. Numerous coral species were present and documented throughout the dives.

Zhemchug Canyon has also revealed an intricate ecosystem whose inhabitants depend upon small holes or rises in the otherwise flat, silty bottom, including “flatfish holes,” depressions made by halibut, flounder, sole and skates, and drop-stones, rocks and boulders that fall from melting icebergs above. Read more about this unique place on David Guggenheim’s OceanDoctor blog. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Bering Sea Expedition, Bering Sea, Alaska, Featured, Projects & Expeditions Tagged With: BERING, bering sea, Bering Sea Expedition, canyons, coral, coral species, David Guggenheim, deepwater, ecosystem, esperanza, fish, flatfish, greenpeace, guggenheim, halibut, melting icebergs, OceanDoctor, pinnacles, Pribilof, rough seas, rov, sea expedition, seamounts, submersible dives, underwater mountains, Zhemchug

Exploration of Pribilof Canyon Now Under Way, Revealing Rich Ecosystem, Corals

July 30, 2007 By Ocean Doctor

Deepwater corals, like this sea whip (Halipteris willemoesi) photographed on Sunday by Timo Marshall, thrive in the deep waters of Pribilof Canyon

Thanks to great weather, state-of-the-art equipment and a top-notch crew, it has been a productive weekend for the team aboard Esperanza which arrived on site at Pribilof Canyon Saturday morning (July 28) when David Guggenheim and Michelle Ridgway made the first tandem dive in two DeepWorker submarines into Pribilof canyon to a depth of just over 1,000 feet and began to document a fascinating diversity of life, including a variety of corals, anenomes, sponges and fish. On Sunday, the ship visited a second site in Pribilof Canyon where John Hocevar and Timo Marshall completed a successful tandem dive, documenting more corals and successfully collecting a number of specimens with DeepWorker’s manipulator arm for analysis by scientists around the world.

John Hocevar (Greenpeace Senior Oceans Specialist) pilots DeepWorker at 1,100 feet in Pribilof Canyon
(Video still by Timo Marshall – 29 July 2007)

Already, the Greenpeace-led team has accumulated nearly 16 hours of bottom time (8 hours per sub), more than all of the previous research done in this region combined. The subs’ high-definition video cameras have already collected over 120 Gb of data. The subs are performing linear transects which will then be analyzed on the video. Twin lasers spaced 20 cm apart allow accurate analysis of the size of organisms encountered. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Bering Sea Expedition, Bering Sea, Alaska, Featured, Ocean Doctor's Reflections, Projects & Expeditions Tagged With: anenome, BERING, bering sea, Bering Sea Expedition, Canyon, canyons, coral, corals, David E. Guggenheim, David Guggenheim, deep waters, deepwater, deepworker, ecosystem, esperanza, Exploration, greenpeace, guggenheim, Halipteris, international research team, John Hocevar, manipulator arm, Michelle Ridgway, oceans, Pribilof, pribilof canyon, ridgway, rov, sea expedition, submarine, Timo Marshall, Zhemchug

Esperanza Sets Sail from Dutch Harbor: Bering Sea Expedition Under Way

July 27, 2007 By Ocean Doctor

DeepWorker submarines aboard Esperanza as the ship heads north into the Bering Sea, leaving the Aleutians behind. (Photo by David E. Guggenheim)

The Expedition to the Bering Sea officially got under way as the M/V Esperanza departed Dutch Harbor, Alaska on Friday, July 27 at 4pm Alaska Daylight Time. The Esperanza will steam through the night — for roughly 15 hours — to its first destination, Pribolof Canyon near the Pribolof Islands in the Bering Sea. The first DeepWorker dives are scheduled for Saturday morning.

In June, an international team of researchers and conservation specialists recently completed a week of intensive training and preparations for this Greenpeace-led expedition to Alaska’s Bering sea. The Esperanza is carrying two manned submersibles, a remotely-operated vehicle (ROV) and the research team to the Bering Sea for a three week survey of Zhemchug and Pribilof Canyons, specifically to map and document deepwater corals living at depths of more than 1,000 feet. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Bering Sea Expedition, Bering Sea, Alaska, Featured, News & Announcements, Ocean Doctor's Reflections, Projects & Expeditions Tagged With: alaska, BERING, bering sea, Bering Sea Expedition, Canyon, canyons, Conservation, coral, coral communities, corals, David E. Guggenheim, deepwater, deepworker, dutch harbor, dutch harbor alaska, ecosystem, esperanza, fish, fishing, greenpeace, guggenheim, islands in the bering sea, Marine, mini subs, nova southeastern, pribilof canyon, pribolof islands, rov, sea expedition, seamounts, st george island, submarine, Underwater, underwater mountains, Zhemchug

Ginormous Is a Word, and Just in Time

July 16, 2007 By Ocean Doctor

Alaska: The Ginormous State Last week, Mirriam-Webster’ announced that it was adding the word, “ginormous” to its 2007 update of Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition. This is great news and comes as a great relief, just in time for next week’s kickoff of the Bering Sea Expedition. For ever since I first visited Alaska, I have found an utter deficit of adjectives to adequately convey the state’s enormity — er, ginormity. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Bering Sea Expedition, Bering Sea, Alaska, Featured, Ocean Doctor's Reflections, Places Tagged With: alaska, bering sea, Expedition, ginormous, merriam webster, OceanDoctor, sea expedition

The Sub Pilot Diet

July 10, 2007 By Ocean Doctor

The Sub Pilot Diet Stresses Pleasure

In the 100-degree heat here in Washington, DC, the daily weather reports from Dutch Harbor, Alaska showing highs of 50 degrees seem surreal, yet in just over two weeks, that’s where I’ll be as we kick off the Bering Sea Expedition aboard Greenpeace’s magnificent ship, M/V Esperanza. In recent years, virtually all of my time aboard ships on research expeditions has been in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean, so my wardrobe consisted of little more than a couple pairs of shorts and some thoughtfully-selected marine-themed T-shirts. But Alaska is different, and the Bering Sea is different still. The cool temperatures, wind, and damp chill of the fog combine to mean only one thing: Shopping. [Read more...]