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Experts study ocean canyons near coast

By ROB OLLIKAINEN, Peninsula Daily News
Published: September 3, 2017, 10:01pm

PORT ANGELES– From one underwater canyon to the next, the EV Nautilus is shedding new light on the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary.

After a brief personnel transfer at the entrance to Neah Bay, the 211-foot expedition vessel set sail for the Juan de Fuca Canyon to look for organisms and changes in ocean chemistry 1,000 feet below.

The Nautilus is midway through a 2 1/2 -week study of the mostly unexplored Quinault, Quillayute and Juan de Fuca canyons off the coast of the Olympic Peninsula.

The underwater surveys are being broadcast in real time at www.NautilusLive.org.

“The highlight reels are going to be amazing,” said Jenny Waddell, Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary research coordinator and one of 31 members of the EV Nautilus science team.

Using state-of-the-art remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) Hercules and Argus, the Nautilus crew is exploring unseen habitats, geological features and cultural sites.

Just prior to the transfer of four scientists, the ROVs inspected the USS Bugara, a U.S. Navy submarine that sank while under tow in 800 feet of water off Cape Flattery in 1971.

“We’ve seen a lot of really cool stuff,” Waddell said during a tour of the research vessel.

The Nautilus transmits real-time video from its ROVs to a satellite, allowing anyone with an internet connection to see the dives as they happen and to ask questions of the scientists.

“We’ve had a lot of people engaged,” said Samantha Wishnak, Nautilus communications coordinator.

“We’ve had thousands of people watching our dives.”

The dives are focused on the 3 percent of the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary that is considered hard-bottom habitat, mainly rocky slopes of the canyons that support long-living species such as coral and sponges.

These surveys provide scientists with a sense of biological distribution, a “who’s who in the zoo,” Waddell said.

“We have seen a couple of attempted predation events, which are always fun to catch,” Waddell said, “but nothing super-crazy surprising.”

The communications technology on the Nautilus allowed former USS Bugara Commanding Officer Ed Ettner, 96, to participate in the livestream and to share stories about his time on the sub.

“It was a really big production,” Waddell said.

“We had a lot of super senior people from the Navy helping to narrate.”

Salmon recovery

The Nautilus is owned and operated by the Ocean Exploration Trust, a nonprofit founded by oceanographer Capt. Robert Ballard.

The 2017 survey of the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary is a partnership between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Ocean Exploration Trust and Quinault Indian Nation.

The Quinault and other tribes will use information from the study in salmon recovery efforts.

“The tribes are very much engaged in this process,” Waddell said.

The ROVs and high-definition cameras are controlled from a command center on the Nautilus in a pair of inconspicuous shipping containers.

“The general public has the same experience that we’re having here on the ship,” Wishnak said.

Highlights of previous dives are posted at www.NautilusLive.org and the ship’s social media pages.

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