Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 05/29/2008 - 18:46
Forums
Kuril Islands Biocomplexity 08

Hi!, I was just wondering how long will it take for you to travel by boat, to the Islands? And scince you are going for such a long time does that mean that you have to eat that de-hydrated food?

if you can answer, thank you, and the team!Tongue out

Hailey

Fri, 05/30/2008 - 11:16

KBP Team

Hi Hailey,
It will take us about 48 hours to steam across the Sea of Okhotsk to the Central Kuril Islands.  Our route actually takes us south close to Hokkaido, Japan.  Then we'll bear NE along the length of the Kuril Island Chain.  This is done to keep the ship in relatively calm waters, behind the protection of the Kurils (they block most of the storms and large waves coming out of the North Pacific).
In terms of food storage, the ship has a large walk-in fridge and a walk-in freezer.  So there will be enough fresh and "fresh-frozen" food to last the full 40 days we are out at sea. We may need to ration water towards the end of the trip--showers and laundry can use up a LOT of water!  But we will also have cases and cases of bottled water on board for drinking and cooking.
QUESTION TO PONDER:  We will have a field crew of 30 and a ship crew of 20.  how many "people days" does that work out to be for the 40 day research cruise?
Thanks for the question!
Dr. E 

Wed, 07/16/2008 - 07:53

Guest

Hi Dr. Etnier!
What do you do with the waste (garbage, etc.) generated while you are there?  Can you recycle or compost anything?  Would anything grow if you planted it?
Thanks, and hope you are having fun!
 Jen O'Neal

Sat, 07/19/2008 - 06:07

KBP Team

As with other questions, there are two different answers to this depending on if we are "going there" or "being there."
While we're on the ship, there are all sorts of international agreements about what can and can't be tossed overboard. It's a big ocean, and stuff like food scraps, paper, and wood pretty much just disappear or get gobbled up by all the marine life (sort of like composting). Stuff that sinks, like tin cans, pieces of wire, etc., can also just be tossed overboard. It doesn't take very long in the corrosive salt water for that stuff to disintegrate, as well.
The big issue is plastics, and disposal of this kind of trash is very heavily regulated.
Even so, one of the hardest things for us Americans to adjust to is that there is trash (we would probably call it litter) just about everywhere-on the streets, in the water, on the beaches. It is so pervasive that most of our other colleagues literally don't even see it (imagine living with dogs and how, after awhile, you don't really notice the dog hair that is stuck to everything---and say "hi" to Ziggy and Methow for me!).
Even out in the Kurils, most of the beaches have a steady input of trash from all over the world. During the 2006 field season, it only took me two days to find a pair of flip flops to replace mine that had broken! But we also find glass fishing floats, plastic fishing gear, light bulbs, wooden pallets---all manner of things.
When we're camped on shore, things are a bit different. There, one of our biggest concerns is foxes. Some of the islands have native populations of red fox (Vulpes vulpes), and others have populations of arctic fox (Allopex lagopus) and probably also red fox that were introduced for fur farming. Foxes have a reputation for being pretty, well, you know, foxy. And they really like digging into our garbage to try to find scraps of food.
So sometimes we are able to bury our garbage deeply enough to keep the foxes out. But sometimes we will burn our garbage. Here's an interesting thing to think about: the people who used to live on these islands would have had to deal with these exact same issues!
In fact, it is really really common when we are analyzing zooarchaeological samples to find gnaw marks (from foxes or dogs) on the bones!
--Dr. E

Mon, 07/21/2008 - 15:47

Alex Stedman

I think that they would have trapped and killed the foxes for their furs.  Nowadays we try to help the foxes not kill them.