NOAA research ship "Pisces" returns to Pascagoula

PASCAGOULA, MS (WLOX) - The NOAA research ship "Pisces" is back home in Pascagoula. The vessel returned to its homeport Tuesday afternoon, following a month long research trip in the western Gulf of Mexico.

The ship collected lots of scientific data about reef fish on its most recent voyage. And much of it is captured on video, thanks to some high tech cameras that are lowered to various depths in the Gulf. The cameras travel to the desired depth inside metal cages.

"Most reef fish are structure oriented, so with this camera array being a half meter tall, they will come and check it out, even without bait. But other fishes might not," said researcher Kevin Rademacher.

"Utilizing the cameras is sort of like being the proverbial fly on the wall in someone's house," he explains.

He's been collecting such fish data since 1989, back when eight millimeter cameras were used. Nowadays its high tech stereo cameras and impressive software to process the images.

"We can put them in a software program and then get measurements of a fish as well as distance away from the camera of a fish," said Rademacher.

Sometimes, more old fashioned methods are used. A so-called "Bandit" reel is used much like a fishing pole.

"We attach a weight to this, usually five to ten pounds, depending on the current," said the researcher.

Fish caught are dissected and studied.

"We'll catch fish such as these scamp to get hard parts like gonads for reproductive studies. Anything else that scientists need: Tissue for DNA studies, etc," said Rademacher.

Sometimes fish don't make it to the ship alive; one image showed a shark-bitten red snapper.

Rademacher says the research done aboard "Pisces" is significant.

"It's very important work so we can keep these populations alive for my great grandchildren to catch and your great grandchildren to catch," he said.

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