Marine Habitat Mapping Technology for Alaska, J.R. Reynolds and H.G. Greene (eds.) 143 Alaska Sea Grant College Program, University of Alaska Fairbanks. doi:10.4027/mhmta.2008.10 Twenty Years of Research on Demersal Communities Using the Delta Submersible in the Northeast Pacific Mary M. Yoklavich National Marine Fisheries Service, Southwest Fisheries Science Center, Fisheries Ecology Division, Santa Cruz, California Victoria O’Connell¹ Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Commercial Fisheries Division, Groundfish Project, Sitka, Alaska Abstract contribute to the structure of seafloor habitats in this region Visual surveys of demersal fishes and their associated (e.g., Bizzarro 2002, Heifetz et al. 2005a, Tissot et al. 2006). habitats are being conducted regularly in deep water (i.e., These demersal communities have been exposed to the pres- 30-365 m) off Alaska and the West Coast of North America sure of both commercial and recreational fishing with various by numerous research groups using quantitative transect trawls, gillnets, lines, and traps over many decades. While methods from the research submersible Delta. The use of most of the fish species and nearly all of the invertebrates Delta has been applied primarily to the characterization of have not been the direct target of these fisheries, all of these fish habitats, with increasing applications to improve stock organisms perform critical functions and provide essential assessments, evaluate gear impacts, and identify new species. services to the ecosystem as a whole, and are vulnerable to Using Delta is no longer an unproven concept, but rather an fishery impacts. accepted survey tool as demonstrated in more than 85 peer- Over the last decade, there has been increased interest reviewed publications since 1988. Maps of seafloor substrata by both state and federal management agencies in describing and bathymetric data are commonly used to identify and and conserving habitats of marine demersal species, identi- quantify survey sites, which serves both to increase the cost- fying habitats in need of additional protection, improving effectiveness of the submersible and provide the frame within stock assessments of demersal fish populations, and evalu- which to distribute sampling effort. In turn, direct observa- ating the ecological effects of fishing on these communities. tions from Delta can be used to validate the interpretation of Most of the demersal species in West Coast and Alaska such habitat maps. Values that are commonly measured or management plans are found in deep water (i.e., >30 m). Yet, estimated during Delta dives include the number and length until recently, surveys of seafloor marine habitats and asso- of organisms, distance to a fish, and distance along a transect, ciated fishes and invertebrates were limited to observations from which habitat-specific species density, total abundance, in shallow water. This was largely because the technology and biomass can be calculated. In this paper we review the and methods were not developed or available to adequately research that has been conducted using Delta during the last survey these systems at deeper depths. Additionally, many twenty years, and consider some potential sources of meth- of the managed demersal species, especially those in the odological bias as well as the advantages and some strategies diverse rockfish (Sebastes) group, are associated with physi- for conducting visual surveys using Delta. cally complex rocky habitats (e.g., ledges, crevices, boulder fields, and pinnacles) and are difficult or impossible to accu- rately survey using conventional methods, such as bottom Introduction trawl gear (O’Connell and Carlile 1993). This type of sur- Continental shelf and upper slope ecosystems off Alaska and vey gear usually is not effective at sampling small species or the West Coast of North America comprise diverse assem- fishes living in high-relief habitats, and in addition the spe- blages of demersal fishes and megafaunal invertebrates. At cies that are collected are integrated over large areas of the least 711 species of fishes live on the seafloor from Alaska seafloor swept by the trawl nets and little or no information to Baja California at water depths of 30-400 m (Love et al. on habitat associations is collected. 2005b). While there is not yet a comprehensive list of inver- Over the past twenty years (1988-present), a grow- tebrate species, dense aggregations of several large taxa ing number of researchers from Alaska to California have 1 Current affiliation is Coastal Marine Research, 107 Finn Alley, Sitka, Alaska 99835, [email protected]. 144 Yoklavich and O'Connell—Twenty Years of Research on Demersal Communities Using the Delta Submersible Table 1. Specifications for theDelta submersible. spatial distributions and behaviors of deepwater rockfish Maximum operating depth 365 m communities off British Columbia. The first characteriza- Tested depth 520 m tion of fish-habitat associations in deep water off Oregon was Cruising speed 1.5 knots developed by Pearcy et al. (1989) from surveys conducted in 1987 using Mermaid II. During the 1970s and 1980s, Nekton Maximum speed 3.5 knots Gamma and Johnson-Sea-Link submersibles also were Total view ports 19 used in a variety of fishery studies in mid-Atlantic subma- Weight in air 4,536 kg rine canyons, including a comparison of survey techniques Length 4.6 m (Uzmann et al. 1977), evaluation of fishing gear performance Beam 1.1 m (Grimes et al. 1982), and abundance and habitat of tilefish Height 1.8 m (Lopholatilus chamaeleonticeps) (Able et al. 1882, Grimes et Payload 260 kg al. 1986), among others. Power (8) 6-V lead acid batteries The use of Delta, as relevant to fishery research in the northeast Pacific, has been applied primarily to the charac- Life-support 144 man-hours terization and conservation of fish habitats, with increasing applications to improve stock assessments and evaluate impacts of fishing gear on seafloor habitats. Additionally, new species have been discovered during several of these studies, developed the tools, technologies, and partnerships to char- many species have been photographed for the first time in acterize organisms in high-relief rock habitats at 30-365 m their natural environment, and descriptions of habitats have water depths. Their approach often integrates geophysical been used to groundtruth coast-wide maps of seafloor sub- seafloor data collected using sidescan and/or multibeam strata. In this article, we summarize these published studies, bathymetric sonars and quantitative visual surveys of dem- as well as consider the advantages and some strategies for ersal fishes, invertebrates, and associated habitats conducted conducting visual surveys from the Delta submersible. regularly from the research submersible Delta. Using Delta is no longer an unproven concept, but rather an accepted survey tool in fishery research in the Using Delta for quantitative surveys northeast Pacific. This submersible has successfully com- Submersible specifications pleted over 6,975 dives, which have resulted in at least 85 Delta is a two-person submersible that is owned and oper- published papers on fisheries research. Additionally, numer- ated by Delta Oceanographics (www.deltaoceanographics. ous unpublished graduate theses and government reports com). Delta typically carries an observer and a pilot, oper- have been produced from research conducted with Delta. ates to a maximum depth of 365 m, and has a cruising speed From the beginning, this research was supported primarily of 1.5 kts (see Table 1 for additional specifications). The sub- with funds from U.S. Department of the Interior, Minerals mersible is small enough (4.6 m in length) to be packed in Management Service (MMS), and two U.S. Department a steel container (about 6.1 m long × 2.4 m wide × 2.6 m of Commerce, NOAA agencies: the National Undersea high) and transported by aircraft, train, ship, or truck to the Research Program (NURP), West Coast and Polar Regions location of a research vessel of opportunity. This shipping Undersea Research Center (Reynolds et al. 2001), and the container also serves as the dive operations shop aboard the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). Most recently, support vessel. Delta is launched and retrieved using a ship’s funding also has been provided by the NOAA National crane with a lifting capacity of at least 4,536 kg; no divers are Marine Sanctuaries Program, Office of Ocean Exploration, required to be in the water at any time during these opera- and Sea Grant Program; the North Pacific Research Board; tions. Occupants and handheld equipment are loaded while state resource agencies (e.g., California Ocean Protection the port side of the submersible is secured to the side of the Council and California Department of Fish and Game); ship against a rubber-tire mat (Fig. 1). Once the submers- and nongovernment organizations such as the David and ible is released from the ship, it operates autonomously and Lucile Packard Foundation and California Artificial Reef is not physically attached to the support vessel. The pilot Enhancement Program (CARE). communicates with Delta Oceanographics personnel via a Delta is not the first submersible to be used in fishery two-way through-water telephone connection between the research in the northeast Pacific. In 1978, the two-person submersible and the ship. Delta’s maximum life support is submersible Nekton Gamma (a precursor to Delta) was used 144 man-hours underwater, but generally research dives to study bait loss from halibut longline gear (High 1980) and average about 1-2 hours duration and 6-8 hours of total dive to explore rockfish habitats (Carlson and Straty 1981) in deep time per day. The amount of time spent underwater is lim- water off southeastern Alaska. Straty (1987) continued this ited by eight 6-V batteries that supply power for submersible research in 1980 and 1983, locating nursery areas and cap- operations. Available battery power during a dive depends turing small rockfishes using submersibles Nekton Gamma on submersible run time and speed and number and type of and Mermaid II.