This July, a team of Caribbean scientists explored Trinidad and Tobago’s deep sea and adjacent high seas areas for the first time in history. This is one of their stories.
By Kyle Foster,
Land ho!
I’m Kyle Foster, an M.Phil Deep-Sea Biology student at the University of the West Indies (UWI), St. Augustine campus. I just returned from a month-long expedition on Schmidt Ocean Institute’s research vessel Falkor (too) exploring the mesophotic and deep sea (100 metres and deeper) of Trinidad and Tobago, or its Deep Wonders I could say!
I like to say that we were, in fact, exploring the deepest parts of Barbados (where I’m from), in a geological manner of speaking. We charted paths across the Barbados Accretionary Prism; a large, sedimentary structure of clays and sand being uplifted by tectonic activity spanning the waters of Trinidad and Tobago, up north towards Antigua and Barbuda! The island of Barbados is the very peak of this prism, exposed above the surface of the ocean, so personally, I consider all of it an extension of home.
Kyle Foster during the‘Deep Wonders of T&T and the Adjacent High Seas’ expedition on-board Schmidt Ocean Institute’s R/V Falkor (too).
Being from a Small Island Developing State (SIDS), this was certainly an experience of a lifetime, given opportunities to be on a research vessel of this calibre are few and far in between.
This cruise was one of the most ambitious yet, with a myriad of operations occurring. From ichthyoplankton and phytoplankton tows, and mapping Trinidad and Tobago’s seafloor, to seawater analyses using the conductivity, temperature, and depth (CTD) Rosette and many more. Additionally, observations of deep-sea life were made using the Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) SuBastian, and Ocean Discovery League‘s and Blue Robotics’ Deep-Ocean Research and Imaging System (DORIS).
A deep-sea coral is observed with symbiotic brittle stars during the expedition © ROV SuBastian / Schmidt Ocean InstituteI was privileged to be a part of both teams which used these devices; technologies which exist on two opposite ends of the spectrum on the expense scale. So, what did a typical day for me look like?
On the ROV team, I either operated as dive lead or a logger. As a logger, I documented all organisms observed and the activities which took place during an ROV dive, ensuring an accurate record of everything that occurred. When leading ROV dives, I oversaw the activities which occurred, such as video transects or biological samples were collected. Once these samples were brought to the surface, I was a part of the preservation team. We took genetic and environmental DNA samples for many individuals, while also keeping them in good enough condition to be used as taxonomic vouchers. This work felt particularly important as historically, many of the samples collected in Trinidad and Tobago’s waters were gathered by scientists from outside of the region, which subsequently followed them home. One of the main purposes of this cruise therefore was to ensure that these samples were housed locally, and many will be found within the UWI’s Zoology Museum for locals to learn from and enjoy, building Trinidad and Tobago’s research capacity and understanding.
Dr. Shirley Pomponi, Eugenia Thomas, Kyle Foster, and Zaheer Hosein work in R/V Falkor (too)’s Wet Lab. The ship has over 200 square meters of lab space available to visiting scientists during expeditions. © Mónika Naranjo González / Schmidt Ocean InstituteOf course, these types of technologies are not typically available to SIDS for research, and this expedition was key for testing the DORIS; a technology which would aid in bridging this gap. This modular, low-cost camera is easily deployable by hand and opens the doors for SIDS to learn about their deep ocean cost-effectively. The DORIS team consisted of myself, Ryan Manette, and Juliano Palacios Abrantes, where we were able to achieve the camera’s deepest deployment yet of 2,240 metres. Additionally, species not witnessed through the lenses of the ROV were seen on DORIS, speaking to the importance of multiple methods of scientific study!
Ryan Manette (left), Kyle Foster (middle), and Juliano Palacios Abrantes (right) preparing DORIS for its first dive © Mónika Naranjo González / Schmidt Ocean InstituteOverall, this expedition meant a lot to me as a young deep-sea scientist. This type of research in the Caribbean is extremely rare, and having the opportunity to be on a research expedition myself after months of gathering information on past expeditions was certainly a surreal experience. Witnessing firsthand the immense work that goes into conducting such research was an eye opener, however, it was not a deterrent. If anything, I am even more excited at the thought of carrying out deep-sea research in my own waters, both through the use of low-cost technologies and more conventional types. From discovering species that are likely new to science to deepening my practical skills in preservation methods, I am sure to always hold this first experience (hopefully of many more) near and dear to my heart.
The science team filmed this cartilaginous fish, commonly known as a chimaera or ghost shark, at 2,355 meters depth. Fissures and cracks in the Earth’s surface form cold seeps — scientists discovered 25 cold seeps during the expedition. In these chemosynthetic environments, the animals thrive on chemical energy generated by methane rather than sunlight. These deep-sea mussels, Bathymodiolus boomerang, named for their enormous size and shape, host symbiotic bacteria that convert escaping gases into usable chemical energy and carbon that, in turn, fuel the mussels’ survival. © ROV SuBastian / Schmidt Ocean InstituteRead Shauna Edghill’s story and find out more about life aboard the Trinidad and Tobago deep-sea expedition.