We set sail from Naval Station Newport on May 20 for the second leg of the Habitat Camera or ‘HabCam’ Survey, covering track lines around Nantucket Lightship, Great South Channel and Georges Bank, roughly 60-100 miles offshore.
Understanding the Northeast’s Atlantic Sea Scallop Populations
What is HabCam? I like to think of it as the “sea scallop paparazzi.” It is a 3,000 pound non-invasive vessel-towed dual camera-and-sensor system that takes 5–6 pairs of high resolution images of the seafloor per second. This annual survey helps scientists understand the abundance and distribution of Atlantic sea scallop and other bottom-dwelling species across New England and the Mid-Atlantic. We use this data along with information collected during academic and industry partners’ surveys.
Sea scallops are the second-most valuable fishery in the Northeast (behind American lobster), so understanding the population status is vital. In 2023, commercial landings were valued at $360 million. Scallops also have an important ecological role as filter feeders. HabCam data supports accurate stock assessments for sea scallops, along with:
- Scallop dredge survey
- Long-range autonomous underwater vehicle survey
- Data collected directly from the scallop fishery
Nerding Out on Marine Invertebrates in Any Weather
This was my first survey aboard the R/V Henry B. Bigelow. I was excited to get a close-up look at the seafloor offshore in New England. Although I grew up in Massachusetts, my previous multi-day research cruise experiences were in warmer climes. As a student, I studied deepsea and mesophotic corals and coral reef sponges. I remain fascinated by marine invertebrates, whether tropical or temperate.
The calendar says it’s almost summer, but Georges Bank didn’t get the memo. Unlike my previous voyages, I prepared by packing extra layers and my foul weather gear. It’s a good thing I did, because one morning rain briefly changed over to snow! We had to retrieve HabCam for one day to dodge a fast-moving low-pressure system that caused rough seas, but luckily we had reasonable weather (by New England standards) for the rest of the survey.
Dodging Sandwaves and Boulders to Photograph the Seafloor
Survey operations run 24 hours a day, so we work 12-hour shifts. I was on day watch. During each shift, six science crew members take turns doing the following tasks:
- HabCam pilot: Drives the camera using a joystick, moving it deeper or shallower to get clear images of the seafloor and avoid obstacles
- HabCam co-pilot: Carefully watches the sonar and sensor data to help the pilot avoid seafloor obstacles
- Image annotators: Examine seafloor images coming in from HabCam, identify and measure sea scallops, as well as identify other categories of marine life, including crabs and fish, and signs of human impact like marine litter
The day we got underway, I completed my HabCam training and then annotated 200 practice images. Everyone must do this to ensure we produce standardized and reliable data. Some images are trickier to annotate than others because of the type of seafloor habitat and the clarity of the water. The more images you annotate, the better you get at identifying animals. Sometimes it feels like playing an ocean version of Where's Waldo!
At first I was nervous to drive HabCam, but the more seasoned scientific staff were encouraging. It is thrilling to see the images as they come in and think that you may be the first person to ever see that particular area of the seafloor. Some areas are relatively flat and easy to maneuver with HabCam. Others have large boulders and sand waves up to 60 feet tall, so you have to pay close attention to the sonar and pull up the camera quickly to avoid them. The rocking motion of the ship also affects the depth of the camera. The NOAA Corps Officer steering the ship communicates with the pilot and co-pilot to optimize the ship’s speed and avoid obstacles.
Henry Bigelow’s chief engineer took us on a tour of the winch room. The winch provides the lifting power and tension needed to deploy, raise, and lower HabCam as it is towed behind the ship.
Technology, Teamwork, and the Takeaways
HabCam is a technology-based survey that does not require catching any animals. This makes it unique because you get to “spy” on the animals undisturbed in their natural habitats. I saw swimming sea scallops, sand dollars, sea stars, brittle stars, skates, crabs, lobsters, jellyfish, squid, an octopus, anemones, hake, monkfish, and more in the images. In some areas the bottom is mostly barren sand, while other areas teem with life. In the most challenging area the bottom was lined with rocks, many of which were roughly the size and shape of sea scallops, and both rocks and scallops were covered with sediment. I would examine each image, carefully zooming in and out to tell them apart. Sometimes I had to label it a “difficult image,” prompting an expert to check my work.
During the 9-day leg of the survey, I annotated about 1,800 images. Not bad for a beginner, though some science crew—particularly those who sailed both legs—annotated several thousand! Together both legs of the survey annotated more than 84,000 images out of the more than 4 million HabCam took. The human-annotated images are used to train computer models which annotate the rest. In fact, humans only annotate about 1 in 50 images!
I brought my camera along to take photos and videos for the science center’s website and social media. After all, I am a communications specialist, even though I got to return to my science roots during this survey.
Teacher at Sea Mandy Freeman was one of my stateroom roommates during the survey. She teaches high school science in South Carolina. Through NOAA’s Adopt a Drifter Program, she worked with the crew to deploy two drifter buoys. I woke up at 5:00 am to photograph the sunrise deployment. You can now track the buoys she deployed!
We completed our mission by towing HabCam through all of the planned track lines and returned to Naval Station Newport on May 29. I’m glad to be home but grateful to the crew and scientists aboard Henry B. Bigelow for the comradery and learning. I’m already looking forward to my next opportunity to contribute to one of the science centers’ resource surveys. In the words of Jacques Cousteau, “The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever.”
HabCam is one of several standardized research surveys the Northeast Fisheries Science Center conducts from Cape Hatteras to the Canadian Scotian Shelf. We gather data on abundance, distribution, feeding ecology, size and age composition of stocks of economically and ecologically important species. The data are vital for stock assessment, fisheries management, and a wide variety of research programs.
