Day36

The Bering Sea
62 23′35″ N, 172 00′23″ W

Global Time: 08:22 GMT | 7.13.2009 : Monday
Local Time: 23:22 GMT-9 | 7.12.2009 : Sunday

In the mess hall Andrew had found a great time. He talked with Abe, the third officer, and some others about diving. Abe shared incredible underwater pictures which he had taken. Andrew presented his own less impressive but still interesting photos from when he got open-water certified in May. More than anything else it brought back memories of Dahab. Dahab was a small paradise town on the edge of the Red Sea which Andrew had spent one of the most relaxing weekends of his entire life. His pictures reminded him fondly of people he missed. After they finished talking Andrew went up to the observation deck to get some night air before he went to sleep.

Though it was not Dahab, the next day was certainly the most relaxing in weeks. He woke at 1100 hours for lunch, then went back to bed until three in the afternoon. When he woke up he did a few light exercises and then showered. Andrew spent some time in the ofuro, a Japanese hot water bath, then rinsed, and caught up on some hygiene. He flossed, trimmed his nails, and possessed by the impulse, shaved off his beard. He liked the face which looked back.

By the time he had finished dinner was being served. It was breaded chicken, and while the Japanese breaded their chicken very differently, it was still excellent. When he finished Andrew filtered his iron enriched samples. He decided to do a size fractionation of the sample which had not had the zooplankton removed although it was not necessary. For more on why, see “Notes > The influence of grazers”.

Later, after a few hands of poker with Stacey, Mike, and Kristen, they completed their sixteenth station. There would be another shortly after, but beyond that Andrew knew little. A storm was coming, and in an effort to evade it the schedule might undergo substantial revisions.

Day 35

The Bering Sea
56 59′92″ N, 167 48′71″ W

Global Time: 12:00 GMT | 7.11.2009 : Saturday
Local Time: 03:00 GMT-9 | 7.11.2009 : Saturday

On Friday, at two hours past midnight Andrew woke from three hours of sleep only to learn that the station had, unsurprisingly, come early. This time, however, it had been so early that Stacey and he had missed the CTD run completely. Andrew returned to bed, but after an hour he woke, unsure. Had Stacey come in, telling him it was time once more? He had the feeling that she had, and he had assured her he would follow shortly, then fallen back asleep. Or perhaps he was imagining things. He compromised by dressing and then getting back in bed. If she did return, demanding an explanation, he would admit to his confusion but at least seem prepared.

When Stacey did wake him an hour more had passed, and he found himself trying to explain why he had been sleeping dressed. While they collected water, Andrew pulled himself away to watch the rest of the students cleaning up after a bottom trawl. The net which had been dragged across the sea bed all night contained a dazing array of bizarre fish. He may have enjoyed new experiences, but he had already had his fill of the gill nets and did not envy the others.

By the time that station was finished, it was breakfast time. Andrew remembered that it was his day to assist with prep and cleanup. He feared his hectic schedule might conflict, so when the bell signifying five minutes before a meal was rung out, he made sure to be the first there so he could carry the rice and soup from the galley to the mess hall.

Andrew did not have the presence of mind to do the mental math, but he figured he was actually getting a livable amount of sleep. He estimated something like five-and-a-half hours a night, averaged out, just not in the consecutive fashion he had been raised with. By the time breakfast ended, things were going well. He found time to steal a shower before he set about monitoring the iron experiments. It took him two hours to complete. It was a relief that it was the last day for the first half of the experiment. He had made it over the hump, and the work would get marginally lighter.

The day was the longest yet. Another early station meant that he was denied the two hours of sleep he had been promised, though Dr. D’sa had agreed to forgo a station at 0500 the next morning. This was wise. In one day, Andrew had filled seven pages of his lab notebook. He had not only completed “This Side of Paradise” before breakfast, he had finished Saul Bellow’s “The Victim” before he finally closed his eyes for the night at three o’clock in the morning.

Day 33, Part II

The Bering Sea
56 10’54” N, 169 37’84” W

Global Time: 08:00 GMT | 7.10.2009 : Friday
Local Time: 23:00 GMT-9 | 7.9.2009 : Thursday

Andrew had been wrong. He had woken on his own, having dreamt of a bizarre comedy/nightmare about legions of hapless undead in which Andrew had not actually been a part of. Seconds later, Stacey entered to wake him. They would reach the next station in ten minutes, she said. Andrew wondered how long he had slept. The clock said it was eight in the evening. Andrew had been asleep for two and a half hours.

His hike only a few hours earlier had left him feeling like a G.I. Joe action figure, but not in the good way. If he were to move his limbs more than a few degrees he was certain his tendons would snap like cheap rubber bands. He stretched a bit and wondered where all his clean clothes had gone, then realized that they had been in the dryer for three days. This put him in a good mood for some reason. Although on one hand it appeared he was beginning to suffer from dementia, on the other his jeans and his nice fleece were finally dry. And the jeans fit him again, too.

More work, more F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Andrew returned to his bed at eleven hours past noon.

Day 33, Part I

The Bering Sea
56 00′00″ N, 168 58′86″ W

Global Time: 02:00 GMT | 7.10.2009 : Friday
Local Time: 17:00 GMT-9 | 7.9.2009 : Thursday

The next station was complete around 0600. After that, there was another that would come some time between 0900 and 1100. Andrew returned to bed to steal another few hours. After the noon station, there would be eleven hours until the next one. Andrew was excited for the much needed down time, but he also had the iron experiments to maintain.

When he finished all his work, it was 1700, dinner time. Andrew had no idea what day it was, and he was over halfway through “This Side of Paradise”. He would eat, and then he would sleep. He would sleep and he would not wake until someone woke him to go to work, and he would not rouse a moment sooner.

Day 32

The Bering Sea
Various locations

Global Time: 08:59 GMT | 7.9.2009 : Thursday
Ships Time: 23:59 GMT-9 | 7.8.2009 : Wednesday

At ten the ship left port, guided by a pilot boat. As the time of the next station had not yet been released, Andrew began reading one of the books he brought, “This Side of Paradise”, by F. Scott Fitzgerald. At 1500 he met Stacey and Dr. Dsa to learn of the upcoming week. The forecast was constant work, starting in three hours with the first station of twenty-one. Andrew decided to get the iron samples out of the way. He began filtering around 1600, then collected water at 1700, and dined a half an hour later.

Dinner was excellent. They served sashimi, which is much like sushi except not as artful. Andrew, who tended to prefer quality and taste over pretension loved it, especially the fresh legs of king crab which had been carried on board the previous night, still fidgeting.

Following dinner Stacey and Andrew returned to work. Andrew passed the time while waiting for larger filtrations to complete by reading. They completed their filtrations at 00:30 (half past midnight). As there was another station in less than two hours, it made more sense to simply stay awake and pass the time with Minori and Keita who were drinking in the mess hall. Andrew had already found common tastes with Minori in their mutual preference for bourbon, and while he did not know Keita as well as her, Andrew had watched the live action adaption of “Death Note” with him a few nights earlier (the copy was an English dub, fortunately).

In America, Minori’s English might have been described as broken, however Andrew considered it more than passable for conversation. She spoke well enough to tell him about herself, surprising Andrew with how American life in Japan could seem. She had more mature tastes in alcohol than most American college students. She drank regularly, though never appeared drunk. She rode a motorcycle and played the base guitar. She was also gracious in answering Andrew’s questions. Did all Japanese read manga? (Pretty much) Did she know martial arts? (Five years of Aikido) Did she have a boyfriend? (Also, yes).

Until the next station arrived, they talked. Andrew practiced his Japanese, and asked if they were familiar with certain American games. They had rock-paper-scissors and thumb wrestling, but not padidile or most other car games.

At two the ship arrived at its way point. When all work was finished there was once again less than two hours until the next sampling station. This time Andrew decided to get what little sleep he could.

Day 30

Unalaska, AK
53 53′20″ N, 166 31′38″ W

Global Time: 21:00 GMT | 7.6.2009 : Monday
Local Time: 12:00 GMT-9 | 7.6.2009 : Monday

Kristen and Michael, the two other Americans on the ship, rented a car and met Stacey, Joaquim, Dr.Dsa, and Andrew after breakfast. As they drove, Joaquim advised the others to buy land here if they had the money. He predicted that as polar ice melted, it would open up safe passage from the Pacific to Europe. The changes this would produce in the shipping industry would make any land in Dutch Harbor extremely valuable. Andrew wondered who one bought land from. There was plenty of it, and houses in some places sat by themselves on hills. Kristen, a lifelong Alaska native, explained that it was owned, most likely, by the Ounalashka Corporation.

About half the land in Alaska was owned by the federal government. Of the remainder, it was mostly split between state ownership and Native Corporations. The United States, Kristen explained, has for many years held a policy of providing settlements to the indigenous peoples of any land it acquires which has natives already present. The Alaskan territories were purchased from Russia in 1959, but rather than take the usual package – reservations – the natives of Alaska were granted 18 corporations, instituted by the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. These corporations owned and controlled the interests and lands granted to each by the act through a board of directors and a body of shareholders comprised of any Alaskan native. One could be a member of only one corp, and each had different traits. The corporation system proved very profitable for some. Doion held massive amounts of land. Arctic Slope Regional leased of oil fields. Cook Inlet Regional made their money on real estate and natural gas. Dutch Harbor, Unalaska, and the rest of the Alaskan Peninsula were serviced by the Ounalashka Corporation.

The land was not simply parceled in chunks, either. Most of Alaska was a checkerboard of ownership, forcing cooperation. Animals and geology did not recognize territorial boundaries, and the setup fit the land. Though some corporations were in poor financial shape, the natives of the land had fared much better than the natives of most American lands. When asked how they garnered such a favorable deal, Kristen apologized for any generalities, but explained that she felt Alaska had a very different mindset. The Caucasians preferred the land to be owned by natives than by the federal government, and besides this, the natives were well respected people.

Updates: New Notes

New entry in Notes:
The Influence of Grazers

Day 29

Unalaska, AK
53 53′20″ N, 166 31′38″ W

Global Time: 22:00 GMT | 7.5.2009 : Sunday
Local Time: 13:00 GMT-9 | 7.5.2009 : Sunday

After waking at 0200, then waiting an hour to reach the right spot, Joaquim, Stacey, and Andrew collected their sixty liters. Aided by Michael and one of the Japanese crew members, who awoke just to help out of their own grace, the work went quickly. Joaquim, Stacey, and Andrew returned to the lab to fill bags, spiking half of them. Every eight bags or so, Andrew would take them out to the incubation tank, where he witnessed a sunrise like he had never seen before. The light preceded it more than a typical sunrise, casting a gray light strong enough to see by, which once established was invaded by brilliant colors. Complemented by mountains which rose out of the water in the distance off to the side, the sun announced boldly that the light which had come before it was merely a herald. This was the real thing. When they finished, they all returned to bed. It was 0530.

When Andrew was awakened by Stacey, six hours had passed. The clocks were now set to 1300, however. They had docked, and were now on Dutch Harbor time, three hours forward from the ship’s time when at sea. Joaquim and Stacey were waiting, so Andrew brushed his teeth and dressed in a hurry. He momentarily considered if his boots would be a problem. Though dry and scentless they carried a noticeable amount of scales. He then remembered where he was. No restaurant in town would object. He gathered his hat and jacket and headed up to disembark.

Day 28

The Bering Sea
56 30.83′ N 177 02.46′ W

Global Time: 02:56 GMT | 07.05.2009 : Sunday
Ships Time: 14:56 GMT-12 | 07.04.2009 : Saturday

In America, it was the forth of July, however on board the Oshoro-maru, it was a day which was unique only for its uneventfulness. All stations had been visited. The ship was steaming. This meant it was traveling, at its cruising speed. Besides filtering samples of water for the Iron Enrichment Experiments, there was little work to be done. The tests were going well in the scientific sense, however the initial data was unexpected. This always raised the possibility of contamination, so the results of part II would say a good deal. The only real work on board was a thorough top-to-bottom cleaning of the ship in preparation for the return to port. The Japanese operated very clean ships. This task coincided with Andrew’s work in the lab, excusing him from it. He regretted this, and hoped his lack of participation had not been noticed.

Overall, it was a time allowing for a well appreciated respite from work.

One more water sample needed to be collected before the return to Dutch Harbor. Joaquim, Stacey, and Andrew needed another sixty liters of water for the second half of the iron experiments. In the second half they would repeat their work with water from iron-rich waters. Since no other CTD stations were planned, they could not collect water as they had before, from the remote operated water capturing Niskin bottles. Andrew was disappointed to find they would simply collect using a bucket on a rope. He had been eyeing a 30 L Niskin bottle which he hoped they could use. Unlike the bottles attached to the CTD, which were closed by a signal that traveled down the wire supporting the frame and released a switch, the manual method required a weight, called a messenger, that traveled down the line and struck the switch physically. Andrew had used this type once before in the Red Sea, with a smaller setup. It was nice releasing the weight, in a kind of visceral satisfaction. Aboard a massive vessel, standing on a platform extending above the water and dropping a slug the weight of a wrench over the side. Its plop, and the knowledge that somewhere under the waves, thirty impressive liters of water had been caught.

The bucket-on-a-rope plan would work just fine, though, too.

Day 26

The Bering Sea
56 45.26′ N 177 32.33′ W

Global Time: 19:00 GMT | 07.02.2009 : Thursday
Ships Time: 07:00 GMT-12 | 07.02.2009 : Thursday

At four o’clock everyone was on deck. Andrew had been wrong. By four in the morning, it was already light out. After a few hours floating at sea, the gill net was retrieved. Andrew had participated in the ritual the previous day. Standing in a space the size of a back yard, everyone took their places. First the net came out of the water and into the hands of about ten men, five on each side. It crossed the deck, where it was sucked into a round funnel that looked like a product of Dr.Seuss. The funnel gathered the net together and sent it bunched up along a pipe to the other end of the ship, where a winch was pulling it. As the net came onto the ship, the ten men who stood on a platform that put them level with the side of the ship would guide the ropes from each side. Fish were stuck in the net, not like butterflies trapped by a barrier but like props at a tacky seafood restaurant. They were ensnared in it, usually by their gills. The men would free the fish with a practiced jerk. With hands on the net material they would whip the fish around, often slapping it on their leg, or flinging it high into the air. Wherever they landed, the were kicked across or pushed with a hose to the sides, where others would throw them in laundry baskets. When a basket was full it was moved to the side of a long table. In turn, each fish would be measured, weighted, gutted, cleaned, and thrown on conveyor belt which carried them, side-by-side with the pipeline of net, toward the back of the ship to be put in the hold. The deck rung out with the noises of fish slapping hands and slamming into walls. After miles of net and hundreds of fish, plus one small shark and a few unfortunate birds, the collection period was complete. At this point, all involved with collection began to assist in the cleaning. Cutting boards were laid on the stage. More hands began measuring the fish, cutting the fish, pulling out their insides, and passing them up the line. Initially, Andrew was told to go around with a basket and collect large strings of fish eggs. As the organs were pulled out, Andrew would sift through and pull out handfuls of shiny, pink, ball-bearing sized pearls. It was bizarre, but Andrew tried to remind himself that he had eaten eggs just like these on sushi. Still, seeing the way they were acquired was not pleasant.

He had only been at his egg collection job for about ten minutes when he was summoned by Joaquim, Stacey, Christen, and Michael. They were placed at the end of the assembly line, arms deep in a trough full of blood and fish. They were assigned to remove any dangling entrails and rinse the fish before placing them on the belt. All fish went through them, and they were completely overwhelmed by the rate of the incoming product. For the next thirty minutes they joked about the unpleasantness of their charge as they went about it. In fisheries and canneries, a man could get paid $50 an hour to do the kind of work they were doing for eight hours every day. Either that, or he’d be an immigrant laborer doing it for whatever the boss chose to give him.

Andrew was quickly forced to get over any initial squeamishness he had about sticking his hands into their gills or dragging out their organs with his rubber-gloved hands. When the five of them could finally go inside they were among the last to do so. Andrew decided to get breakfast before taking a shower.

It seemed they were serving fresh fish eggs with the rice that morning. Though an excellent dish, Today, Andrew opted instead for a bowl of cheerios from his private food stores.