{"id":19704,"date":"2024-01-10T09:04:36","date_gmt":"2024-01-10T14:04:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/?page_id=18916"},"modified":"2025-04-16T16:24:26","modified_gmt":"2025-04-16T20:24:26","slug":"sixty-miles-off-shore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/sixty-miles-off-shore\/","title":{"rendered":"Sixty Miles Off-Shore"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n

A Sea Grant fellow shares his experience aboard a science vessel \u2014 deploying traps, analyzing fish, and acclimating to life on the Atlantic. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

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\n \n FROM THE WINTER 2024 ISSUE<\/span>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/svg><\/span>\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n \n\n <\/div>\n\n\n\n

The trap glided to the ocean floor, enveloped in a veil of dim sunlight. A soft thud and a wispy cloud of sand marked the end of a nearly 200-foot descent beneath the Atlantic surface to a seemingly extraterrestrial landscape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I sat and watched in awe as the trap became shrouded in a city bustling with everything from crowds of curious vermilion snapper and triggerfish to wandering hogfish and wary grouper. I was watching what I call \u201cfish film\u201d \u2014 a compilation of underwater videos collected from traps deployed during my reef fish surveying experience aboard the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources\u2019 R\/V Palmetto.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watch a short fish film from <\/em>the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

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