pairizarry
Guest
This was my first dive as a volunteer diver of the Magothy River Association (MRA). MRA volunteers help to monitor restored oyster reefs and identify potential sites for new oyster restoration projects. Our tasks today were to sample the main reef area and recover a screw in anchor that was deployed for Earth Day. We had a total of 4 divers, Dick (Volunteer Diver Coordinator), Andy (4 yrs with MRA), Jerry (NOAA diver), and little ole me. Andy and Jerry were tasked with the anchor, while Dick and I had to sample the reef.
I was in my 7mm wetsuit, while everyone else had on their drysuit. It was 74 degrees and cloudy with t-storms forecast for the afternoon. The winds were blowing around 10-15 mph. Everyone got suited up and we all did a back roll into the water, which was a little brackish. We surface swam to the site and descended to the reef. The vis was between 0-3ft. We used a milk crate with a weight in it and a float, so we can pick the oyster samples on our way back. On the crate there was a plastic 1x1 ft square attached, which was used for sampling area. You place the square in the area you want to sample and then grab the oysters from that small area. With the low vis and muck on the bottom (8-12 ft), I had to grab the oysters and bring it right in front of my mask to see it was an oyster or just rock. A few times I did toss in a rock but Dick pulled those out of the crate. After we did that a few times, we came up to the surface to check on the other team. After taking samples of the reef, we went back down to untie and remove three markers. We pulled everything back on the boat and made our way back. This was definitely a good experience and I look forward to my next time.
Dive stats: 12 ft, 38 min, 61 degrees bottom temp. I started out with about 3000 psi and ended up with about 1600.
Pedro
(http://www.magothyriver.org/Oyster_Restoration.html)
I was in my 7mm wetsuit, while everyone else had on their drysuit. It was 74 degrees and cloudy with t-storms forecast for the afternoon. The winds were blowing around 10-15 mph. Everyone got suited up and we all did a back roll into the water, which was a little brackish. We surface swam to the site and descended to the reef. The vis was between 0-3ft. We used a milk crate with a weight in it and a float, so we can pick the oyster samples on our way back. On the crate there was a plastic 1x1 ft square attached, which was used for sampling area. You place the square in the area you want to sample and then grab the oysters from that small area. With the low vis and muck on the bottom (8-12 ft), I had to grab the oysters and bring it right in front of my mask to see it was an oyster or just rock. A few times I did toss in a rock but Dick pulled those out of the crate. After we did that a few times, we came up to the surface to check on the other team. After taking samples of the reef, we went back down to untie and remove three markers. We pulled everything back on the boat and made our way back. This was definitely a good experience and I look forward to my next time.
Dive stats: 12 ft, 38 min, 61 degrees bottom temp. I started out with about 3000 psi and ended up with about 1600.
Pedro
(http://www.magothyriver.org/Oyster_Restoration.html)
