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Gulf - 2013

20130620 - A Whale Shark of a day in the Gulf of Mexico: The Big Guys are back!

2013 June 19-20 Wednesday-Thursday
Gulf of Mexico -- Ewing Bank and Mississippi Canyon

UPDATE!  MANY VIDEOS OF THIS NOW POSTED ON OUR YOUTUBE SITE!
For composite videos, see Part 1 and Part 2!
For short clips, see the index of our videos here!
 

 

Calm seas and a nearly full moon were too good to miss, so days ahead of schedule, we opted to continue our aerial whale-shark survey and tagging expeditions in conjunction with Ms. Jennifer McKinney and other researchers from the Louisiana Department of Wildlife & Fisheries (LDWF).  And are we ever glad we did! We “struck gold” this past Thursday June 20 in the Ewing Bank area, finding 24 whale sharks and helping divers get DNA samples and satellite tags on 10 of them -- limited only by the number of tags they had with them! The previous record for tagging whale sharks in one day was set when we helped Dr. Eric Hoffmayer a few years ago in the Gulf; that time they were able to get five whale sharks tagged in one day.  So this is a major cause of celebration and congratulations to all.  Judgment and readiness to go when weather and seas were most inviting, skills of the divers and the boat captain, and our experience with spotting and familiarity with the subsea terrain of the Gulf of Mexico combined to produce an unprecedented success -- and a downright magical day!

View the embedded image gallery online at:
http://onwingsofcare.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=411:20130620-whale-shark-day-in-the-gom&catid=11&Itemid=181#sigProId1504510d97

These were the third and fourth days of our aerial search efforts this summer in the Gulf of Mexico. As we did in our first two aerial searches in May, one day we flew the Ewing Bank area (about 160 nm south of New Orleans and about 70 nm offshore), and the other day we flew south of Mississippi Canyon and Sackett Bank (southeast of New Orleans and just 30-60 nm off shore).

In May, we had flown our prescribed grid patterns (see maps below). On Wednesday, June 19 in Mississippi Canyon, we altered the grid southward a bit because green water was persisting unusually far southward, putting blue water close to 30 miles farther south than usual (much to the dismay of the research vessel stationed near the “Ursa” oil production platform that is typically a good place for sport fishing). Not only do we not expect to see as many whale sharks feeding in the green water, we also can’t spot them as easily.  In May we found one whale shark, a few sperm whales, some rays and small turtles, hammerhead and other sharks, and a few pods of dolphin. The Ewing Bank area proved to be richer in large marine life (near the surface, anyway) than the areas farther east, but we were rather underwhelmed by what we found.

But this past Thursday, the Ewing Bank area greeted us with crystal clear blue water and seas as smooth as we’ve ever seen them. And that’s where the real adventure began.

View the embedded image gallery online at:
http://onwingsofcare.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=411:20130620-whale-shark-day-in-the-gom&catid=11&Itemid=181#sigProId78456a711d


We started off by buzzing our colleagues waiting on the Fisheries Research boat and proceeded along our previously planned survey grid. (Okay, formally that's called a rendezvous; but we like to drop them a Hubig Pie or at least give them a wing wag, just for good luck on the search.) But the previous day’s scarce sightings and today’s perfect sea conditions left us yearning to follow our intuition instead of sticking to the grid pattern. We told the boat crew that we would make a wide circle over the area before flying the grid, and we set off to where we thought we’d hang out if we were whale sharks.

It probably sounds whimsical to speak of following our intuition to find whale sharks. But it’s actually not. We have studied the subsea terrain here carefully, and our best spotting success has come when we choose our routes to “soar the ridges” -- just like we expect large plankton feeders would do , catching their food as the steep bank pushes it naturally upward into their waiting mouths. When we have clear, calm, blue water, which lets us see shadows of sub-surface animals down to 10 or 20 feet, flying the underwater ridges and chasing bait balls is just irresistible -- and very fruitful for finding large marine life! As we circled back around from the west, now about 25 nm from the research boat, I spotted my first shadow of something big. Then a dorsal fin poked just barely above the water for a moment. Not long after, all three of us in the plane began to see more. We hailed the boat on our marine radio and told them we had three whale sharks.  But in 15 minutes it took for them to join us, that number had grown to 10, all in an area spanning less than four miles!

About the maps above:  The first one shows our two survey flights south of Mississippi Canyon, on May 24 and June 19; the second one shows our two flights over Ewing Bank, on May 23 and June 20. The pink tracks were May 23 & 24, the green tracks this this past June 19 & 20. The green stars are whale sharks; we only saw one whale shark south of Mississippi Canyon, on May 24. The gold diamonds represent dolphins, the blue fish represent other kinds of sharks (hammerhead or tiger or mako - we can only distinguish the hammerheads from the air, usually), fish, rays, etc. The green circles are sperm whales. Details on the sightings are available in our transcribed flight logs, which we will publish in the future together with our GPS flight track files, after the LWF researchers have finished using them to document their research. The red triangles with the “!” represent significant surface oil sightings (alas), for which we filed NRC pollution reports (NRC# 1051048 and 1051049 for June 19,1051179 for June 20 ).

As you can see by the third and fourth maps above, once we find whale sharks and hail the tagging crew, our flying changes considerably! We fly circles to guide the boat to the shark(s), while searching for and keeping track of other sharks in the vicinity. On a day like this when they are trying to tag sharks consecutively, we also have to keep track of which ones they’ve already tagged.  This is not so easy as it sounds, as from 400’ or higher, we can’t see the tags, and these guys move around a lot!  By the time we headed home, our necks were pretty sore, but we barely noticed because we were so elated at the sightings. Check out these few of our favorite photos of the whole process.  Videos will be uploaded in the next day or two (to this article and also to the On Wings Of Care youtube site).

View the embedded image gallery online at:
http://onwingsofcare.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=411:20130620-whale-shark-day-in-the-gom&catid=11&Itemid=181#sigProId1d019bcf5a

We left the tagging crew when they were working on the tenth shark in that first bunch. But about five miles to their east, on our way home, we spotted more -- a total of 14 in an area similar to the size of the first!  We radioed the coordinates to the boat and hoped that they could find them on their own. We needed to head back for fuel, and there was a lot of weather to fly around between us and New Orleans.

We learned later that the boat crew did indeed find the other 14 sharks we told them about, and they took identifying photographs of most of them.  But they had no more tags on the boat to place on the animals! In their most ambitious dreams, they had not expected to be able to tag 10 whale sharks in one day!  They also faced a long trip back to the marina through some of the worst of the weather. Times like this it’s pretty nice to be in an airplane, where we can the boundaries of the thunderstorm area and can detour appropriately with little problem.

What a banner day this was! Ten sharks tagged with satellite GPS tags, DNA samples obtained, and successful ID photos logged, all in one day. We are so proud to have been able to help Ms. Jennifer McKinney and her crew accomplish this. Thanks and kudos go to Louisiana Wildlife & Fisheries for supporting this incredible research project. Little is known about whale sharks in the wild, and historically it has been so difficult for scientists to find and tag them. We think that getting “A Look From Above” is the way to go for finding marine life efficiently!  (That’s a tongue-in-cheek plug for A Look From Above LLC, our Louisiana business that often supports Wings Of Care, Inc.)

Enormous thanks go to Don Abrams of Ocean Springs, MS and Mike Sturdivant of Walton, FL for joining us on this stellar day with their eyes, cameras, great skills, and endless enthusiasm!  And to Flightline First at New Orleans’ Lakefront Airport for continuing to provide an excellent base of support for our aircraft and flights for the benefit of the Gulf of Mexico and her life.


Enjoy these additional  photos! We’ve chosen just a few from the hundreds we have.  
P.S.  Our Flight Logs for these two days are appended at the bottom of this article!  And our GPS Flight tracks for both days can be downloaded here:  June 19 and June 20.  

View the embedded image gallery online at:
http://onwingsofcare.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=411:20130620-whale-shark-day-in-the-gom&catid=11&Itemid=181#sigProId2691122791

 

FLIGHT LOGS for 20130619-20 OWOC Gulf of Mexico flights for Whale Sharks

 

20130619
On Wings Of Care Flight Log for 20130619-Wednesday
Whale Shark Flight #2013-3 - Mississippi Canyon / SackettBank Area: Survey & Tagging

 

All waypoint numbers below refer to the GPS tracks shown in today’s article at OnWingsOfCare.org.

Times are given in CDT. 
Lat/lons are given in degrees and decimal minutes.
Pilot: Bonny L. Schumaker, Ph.D. (ATP, CFI-AIM)
Spotters/Crew: Don Abrams (MS); Cijii Marshall (LA)

Seas and weather:  Seas 1-2 ft, winds 5-10 kts from the north-northwest. 
Sky & Visibility: Cloudy with thunderstorms in vicinity near and on shore, 10-mile visibility offshore but scattered cumulus clouds.
Flight time:  5.3 hours
Flight route: KNEW - south -southeast to NE corner of grid, then south to URSA platform to rendezvous with vessel, then continue survey, with N-S rows from east to west. The rows are similar to those flown 20130524 (except from east to west this time), separated by 6 minutes of longitudes (approximately 5 nm), each about 42 nm long, for a total of 7 or 8 rows (time-dependent). Returned to KNEW.

Actual Flight:  573  nm within an area of 596 sq mi
Maps of our route showing the following waypoints identified during our flight, plus some relevant waypoints from previous flights, are in today’s article(including a link to our GPS track file).

 

20130619 -  Survey Grid Area and Additional Waypoints of Interest

-- KNEW -- South across Barataria Bay, Grand Isle, to the grid south of Sackett bank.

-- ADIZ Outbound: ~N28 55 W089 00 ~80 nm south-souteast(~160°) from KNEW (approx  40 min)

-- Mississippi Canyon grid south of Sackett Bank, starting at NE corner of the following grid:

27.9º-28.6º N;  89.0º-89.7ºW:  (Grid points given in decimal degrees, then degrees and minutes)
Omit:  MC-NE-201305 N28.6 W089.0; MC-SE-201305 N27.9 W089.0

MC-7N-201305 N28.6 W089.1 (N28 36 W089 06)

URSA  N 28.15 W89.1 (N28 09.24 W089 06.2

MC-7S-201305 N27.9 W089.1 (N27 54 W089 06)

MC-6S-201305 N27.9 W089.2 (N27 54 W089 12)

MC-6N-201305 N28.6 W089.2 (N28 36 W089 12)

MC-5N-201305 N28.6 W089.3 (N28 36 W089 18)

MC-5S-201305 N27.9 W089.3 (N27 54 W089 18)

MC-4S-201305 N27.9 W089.4 (N27 54 W089 24)

MC-4N-201305 N28.6 W089.4 (N28 36 W089 24)

MC-3N-201305 N28.6 W89.5 (N28 36 W089 30)

MC-3S-201305 N27.9 W089.5 (N27 54 W089 30)

MC-2S-201305 N27.9 W89.6 (N27 54 W089 36)

MC-2N-201305 N28.6 W89.6 (N28 36 W089 36)

MC-NW-201305 N28.6 W89.7 (N28 36 W089 42)

MC-SW-201305 N27.9 W89.7 (N27 54 W089 42)   --- KNEW

New Waypoints from today’s flight 20130619 Wednesday:
Wpt #s are from BLS’ flight GPS (Garmin 496).

NAME LAT LON TIME (Z) DESCRIPTION
607 28.626 -89.131 2013-06-19 T16:01:34Z MC280 ExxonMobil platform, just N of first convergence line (muddy to greenish)
608 28.358 -89.102 2013-06-19 T16:10:28Z Line (E-W) of sargassum. Large bulk carrier vessel SE-bound “PACC”. Heavy!
609 28.256 -89.109 2013-06-19 T16:13:46Z **** 1 sperm whale!!!
610 28.223 -89.121 2013-06-19 T16:16:32Z Noble Jim Day platform + supply boat (NA2280)
611 28.187 -89.116 2013-06-19 T16:17:42Z Noble Jim Thompson, Ursa, and one other platform, several supply boats. (LWF boat near Ursa.)
612 28.036 -89.098 2013-06-19 T16:22:38Z Platform “ATP”
613 27.905 -89.186 2013-06-19 T16:29:45Z Many sargassum patches. Not yet in blue water!
614 28.572 -89.198 2013-06-19 T16:51:17Z Sargassum and green-bluish line NW-SE. Still not really blue though.
615 28.605 -89.258 2013-06-19 T16:53:51Z Sargassum mat, birds, and two bait balls just SW of platform (near MC-5N).
616 28.567 -89.316 2013-06-19 T16:56:52Z Large sargassum patch
617 28.191 -89.303 2013-06-19 T17:08:52Z (to our east) NobleBully 1 and six supply boats!
618 27.959 -89.298 2013-06-19 T17:16:22Z green-bluish line (not quite blue water yet). Sargassum. Fishing boat here.
619 28.174 -89.410 2013-06-19 T17:30:12Z Large sargassum patties
620 28.357 -89.414 2013-06-19 T17:36:14Z “Ocean Saratoga”
621 28.428 -89.427 2013-06-19 T17:38:48Z Decided to cut off the NW quadrant of the grid -- water is too green for us to see sharks and don’t expect to find any here anyway. Will cut west and take the next rows farther south to search blue water. Sargassum line W-E.
622 28.401 -89.514 2013-06-19 T17:42:41Z Convergence line (green-blueish)
623 28.347 -89.510 2013-06-19 T17:44:18Z Large sargassum patches to W
624 28.257 -89.512 2013-06-19 T17:47:11Z Large sargassum patches to E
625 27.722 -89.525 2013-06-19 T18:04:42Z BLUE Water at MC-3S finally! Great water vis, will head >10 nm farther south here.
626 27.724 -89.522 2013-06-19 T18:05:27Z DOLPHINS - >100!  Moving fast. They’re everywhere! And flying fish.
627 28.225 -89.613 2013-06-19 T18:25:42Z Innovator (ATP)
628 28.230 -89.675 2013-06-19 T18:27:35Z ^^OIL! Near MC709, natural? Has oil patties “globules” in it, too. ~300m x 50m, W-E. (Note last 20130524 we saw 8-10 dolphins and a sperm whale in this area.) Filed NRC Report # 1051048.
629 28.142 -89.699 2013-06-19 T18:32:59Z Sargassum patties to our E.
630 27.749 -89.600 2013-06-19 T18:49:19Z **Hammerhead shark
  27.762 -89.076 18:52 Z ** Same pod of dolphins still here, huge, >100.
631 27.762 -89.076 2013-06-19 T19:04:43Z Blue water line ~25 nm S of URSA, ~9 nm S of MC-SE (corner of grid).This is about 85 nm from shore! Had to turn NW here to get around a large thunderhead and downdrafts.
632 28.129 -89.141 2013-06-19 T19:20:29Z ^^OIL! Crescent of patties near green-brown rip line but also in green, ~300m x 30-50 m. Not associated with Ursa and other platforms -- upwind of them. Compare with #585 last 20130524, rainbow sheen then- see below.  Filed NRC Report # 1051049.
633 28.116 -89.140 2013-06-19 T19:21:36Z (same oil as above, 632)
585 28.104 -89.149 2013-05-24T20:28:43Z Comparing with 20130524 - OIL - Rainbow, S-N curve, ~ 20-30 m wide (W-E)
635 29.233 -89.528 2013-06-19 T19:59:31Z Neat isolated camp.

 

20130620

 

 

On Wings Of Care Flight Log for 20130620-Thursday
Whale Shark Survey Flight #4 - Ewing Bank Area

 

All waypoint numbers below refer to the GPS tracks shown in today’s article at OnWingsOfCare.org.

Times are given in CDT. 
Lat/lons are given in degrees and decimal minutes.
Pilot: Bonny L. Schumaker, Ph.D. (ATP, CFI-AIM)
Spotters/Crew: Don Abrams, Mike Sturdivant
Seas and weather:  Seas <1 ft, wind calm.
Sky & Visibility: Scattered high clouds, mostly clear skies, 10-15 miles visibility
Flight time: 5.7 hours

Flight route: KNEW - southwest to directly over Ewing Bank, then east to Diaphus bank, circle over the entire Ewing Bank area, then begin the grid survey. (But we didn’t get to that survey, since we soon found first 10, then another 14 whale sharks, and we spent the rest of the flight helping them get tags on most of them.  (!) The nominal grid was going to consist of S-N rows separated by 6 minutes of longitude (approximately 5 nm), each about 42 nm long, for a total of 9 rows (See the 20130524 flight.)  Returned to KNEW.

Actual Flight: 540 nm within an area of  358 sq mi)

Maps of our route showing the following waypoints identified during our flight, plus some relevant waypoints from previous flights, are in today’s article (including a link to our GPS track file).

20130620 -  Survey Grid Area and Additional Waypoints noted during flight

-- KNEW

-- Southwestward across Lake Salvador.

-- ADIZ xing :  ~ N28 52  W090 40 or ~82 nm south-southwest (~205°) from KNEW (approx 45 min)

-- Ewing Bank area, starting near center of the following grid:
(NW: N28 24 W91 20;    NE: N28 24 W90 30;    SE: N27 42 W90 30;    SW: N27 42 W91 20). 
Or:  27.7º-28.4º N;  90.5º-91.3ºW:
(Grid points given in decimal degrees.)

PLAN:  Meet LDWF Fisheries Research boat first at:  EB1:  N28.1 W90.97 (N28 06 W91 00)

Be sure to include Diaphus Bank (DIAPH):  N28.08333 W90.7 (N28 05 W90 42)
Survey grid as follows:
EB-NW201305 N28.4  W 91.3

EB-SW201305 N27.7 E91.3

EB-2S-201305 N27.7 W91.2

EB-2N-201305 N28.4 W91.2

EB-3N-201305 N28.4 W91.1

EB-3S-201305  N27.7 W91.1

EB-4S-201305 N27.7 W 91.0

EB-4N-201305 N28.4 W91.0

EB-5N-201305 N28.4 W90.9

EB-5S-201305 N27.7 W90.9

EB-6S-201305 N27.7 W90.8

EB-6N-201305 N28.4 W90.8

EB-7N-201305 N28.5 W90.7

 

EB-7S-201305 N27.7 W90.7

EB-8S-201305 N27.7 W90.6

EB-8N-201305 N28.4 W90.6

EB-NE201305 N28.4 W90.5

EB-SE201305 N27.7 W90.5

KNEW

New Waypoints from today’s flight 20130620 Thursday:
Wpt #s are from BLS’ flight GPS (Garmin 496).

WPT LAT LON TIME (Z) DESCRIPTION
636 28.817 -90.698 2013-06-20 T14:52:13Z Brown-to-green line (Saw schools of cownose rays and some manta rays prior to this, near Isles Dernieres)
637 28.373 -90.904 2013-06-20 T15:07:36Z Small turtle - Kemps?
638 28.085 -90.980 2013-06-20 T15:18:13Z 1 dolphin. “Pelikan” vessel near large sargassum patch
639 28.089 -90.958 2013-06-20 T15:18:53Z 2 dolphins. Not yet blue water but getting bluer.
640 28.116 -90.881 2013-06-20 T15:24:39Z Hammerhead shark
641 28.100 -90.757 2013-06-20 T15:29:33Z Large patch(es) and line of sargassum
642 28.098 -90.745 2013-06-20 T15:30:40Z Sharks, turtle, all near the rip line
643 28.088 -90.713 2013-06-20 T15:31:48Z Leatherback turtle; hammerhead shark, dolphin
644 27.980 -90.671 2013-06-20 T15:37:30Z Oil?
645 27.969 -90.664 2013-06-20 T15:38:06Z Oil? (sheen)
646 27.890 -90.953 2013-06-20 T15:49:34Z Dolphin - many
647 27.888 -90.961 2013-06-20 T15:49:48Z MORE dolphin, !5-20
648 28.072 -90.983 2013-06-20 T16:13:31Z Whale sharks! 1, 2, ... 24!
649 28.075 -90.995 2013-06-20 T16:18:58Z Whale sharks: (We stopped marking. 10 at first position, just east of an abandoned yelllow platform, we left when they were attempting to tag the tenth one. We then reported 14 more a few miles east (at #650) on our way home.  WOW!
650 28.087 -90.926 2013-06-20  T18:24:44Z  
651 28.910 -90.688 2013-06-20 T18:58:53Z **OIL, Rainbow sheen, west of a platform. W-E~1 nm, thickest at W end, ~300 m.  Didn’t get name of platform, we were racing time and weather and could not circle. Filed NRC Report #1051179.
652 29.215 -90.577 2013-06-20 T19:10:45Z