Our World – Underwater Scholarship Society in North America

The last few days at SPMC were filled with reviewing and editing the DNR footage, attending the SPMC Dive safety board meeting and doing some last minute clean up, at the dive sites, around the labs and in the dive locker. I also was able to go to the community Beach Seine put on by [...]

On Monday and Tuesday we finished up the abalone surveys and packed up our sites. Packing up the site included rolling up tapes and lead lines which constructed the perimeter and lanes for the survey. On Tuesday we also got a chance to practice using the underwater video camera at one of our sites. Using [...]

Anne B. is in the middle of her abalone weaning project.  She is looking at how the type and size of algae will affect growth rate.  In the hatchery juvenile abalone switch from feeding on biofilms to macro algae diets at around 6 months of age.  Her study has implications for the abalone hatchery to [...]

Anne B. and I finished the required Shannon Point Scientific  diver training this week.  We have  been working on AAUS course work including sections such “Procedures for Scientific Diving”, “Dive planning” and “Diving under special conditions”.  We have also been working on the DAN oxygen,  first aid, and neurological exam courses,  as well as the [...]

The 1st week of abalone surveys was exciting.  We did 6 training dives last week, working with Josh to setup and survey each site.  Both sites are rocky reefs.  It was a little over whelming looking for the abalone at first. When checking out abalone in the Shannon Pt. tanks, their distinguishing characteristics were obvious.  [...]

Last week we met with Josh who works for Puget Sound Restoration Fund.  He is involved in hatchery efforts to raise juvenile abalone for outplanting.  Josh and Dr. Dinnel discussed how they wanted prioritize the diving for this summer. They both seemed to think it was a good idea to focus on a few sites [...]

Hi, my name is Annie Thomson. I am a scientific diving intern at Shannon Point Marine Center, a Western Washington University lab located in Anacortes, WA. This summer I will primarily be working with Captain Nate Schwarck and Anne Benolklin. Nate is the dive safety officer and captain for the Shannon Pt. research vessels. Anne B. [...]