From Cruising Thru a Marine Science Cruise by Joe Caponi on the SB Press V. 09 N. 04, October 27, 1987
The bottom of Stony Brook’s Marine Science research vessel, the Onrust, does not extend very deeply into the water. It was designed so the ship could operate in shallow seas. On sunny, windless days, such as last Thursday, this is not a problem, but when the wind and waves kick up in Long Island Sound, the Onrust will bounce around like so much balsa wood.
Such were the variety of conditions that students of Marine Science 101 were exposed to over the course of a week’s worth of lab work. Through ten half-day cruises, groups of students collected sediment and marine organism samples from the bottom of the Sound.
Only a fortunate turn of events moved me to the Thursday morning cruise (calm, beautiful weather, the best of the week) from my originally scheduled Monday morning cruise (massive, hellish waves of sea-sickness). There were simply less people scheduled for Thursday. Several times in between, conditions were so poor that the Onrust was unable to venture into the Sound and instead did its research in the more sheltered waters of Port Jefferson harbor, where the Onrust is docked.
Organized by grad student Eric Hince, the cruises were led by the two co-professors of MAR 101- Bob Cerrato and Henry Bokuniewicz. On Thursday morning, Cerrato explained the procedures and goals of the sampling as the Onrust, captained by Christian Stuebe, motored out of Port Jefferson harbor.
Using a Smith-Mac sampler, a weighty metal device whose two halves close together when the sampler hits the sea floor and is pulled on a hoist, hunks of the bottom of Long Island Sound are pulled up onto the vessel First, a y rI sample of the raw sediment is saved, to determine the Stonv Brook I composition of the material, the amount of sand compared to the amount of mud, and to compare other samples taken at different locations. The Onrust visited a number of spots from outside Port Jefferson all the way to the shore of Shoreham. Second, the sand and mud are washed away to concentrate the shells, fish, and animals that live there, so that the specimens may be studied.
In recent years, concern about the ecology of the oceans and coasts has increased dramatically as the results of their abuse has mounted. Pollution, the decline and disease in fish and shellfish populations, and their resulting effects on people have increased as an understanding of the importance and resources of the ocean has grown.
Even in a frosh-level Marine Science course, the effects of humans on the sea was evident Cerrato pointed out that in last year’s cruises, many clams had come up in the samples. This year, there were almost none, a result, Cerrato thought, of the overharvesting of the clams by Sound fishermen.
Even more seriously, Cerrato pointed out the layer of darkness in the air over Connecticut and the New York City area, pollution normally invisible except from the water.
Also that morning, MSRC researcher Sarah Horrigan took some water samples and measurements as part of a larger study of the Sound’s characteristics. Part of this involved checking the oxygen level in the water. In many cases, pollutants and sewage can result in a large increase in the amount of phytoplankton in an environment, some times to such a degree that there is little or no oxygen left in the water for the use of fish and other larger organisms. Such conditions have already devastated marine environments in other areas of the United States coast, and Horrigan’s measurements were part of an effort to determine the extent of the problem in the Sound.
On the ship, people quickly became accustomed to the gentle rocking of the waves, and any fears caused by the horror stories of cruises earlier in the week quickly dissipated People concentrated on taking samples and having a good time. Even the shallow bottom of the Onrust wasn’t a problem.
