DELAWARE II CRUISE DE 76-13 

 DECEMBER 22-24, 1976 



The NOAA ship Delaware II sailed from Woods Hole, Massachusetts, on 

 December 22, 1976, to the vicinity of the oil spill from the Argo Merchant^ 

 aground on Fishing Rip, and returned to Sandy Hook, New Jersey, on December 24, 

 1976. 



Scientific Personnel 



Northeast Fisheries Center, NMFS, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 



Henry Jensen, Chief of Party 



Peter Gibb 



Rhett Lewis 



Gordon Waring 



Paul Loiseau 



Frank Almedia 



Northeast Fisheries Center, NMFS, Narragansett, Rhode Island 



Ron Boisvert 

 Gary Carter 

 Joe Kane 

 Kevin McCarthy 



Objectives 



The objectives of the cruise were to sample the fish and associated 

 invertebrate and plankton populations in the vicinity of the oil spill, and 

 to obtain samples of fish from outside the area of the oil slick to be used 

 as controls for fish to be caught later in the same area. Additional objec- 

 tives were to obtain oil, water, and sediment samples and to observe any 

 obvious effects of oil on birds and mammals in the area. 



Operations 



The cruise was conducted as scheduled. Eleven stations, shown in the 

 accompanying figure, were completed; six were occupied with miscellaneous 

 gear, and four with bathythermograph drops and surface water samples only. 

 Station positions were occupied at the boundary of the slick as reported by 

 the U.S. Coast Guard, who made aerial observations on the day of departure. 

 Three gear stations were occupied on each side of the southern border of the 

 slick. The surface of the water at station 9 (one of three stations located 

 within the slick) was not covered with oil at the time it was occupied. 

 Plankton, hydrographic, XBT, and sediment samples were obtained from both 

 inside and outside the slick. Two trawl stations were made outside the slick 

 to obtain fish without contamination from floating oil for miscellaneous 

 studies. All data were recorded in Eastern Standard Time unless otherwise 



V-15 



