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MISSION BACKGROUND THE CATALYST PROGRAM The CATALYST Program is a series of deep-sea expeditions that make available for the first time a highly portable and versatile deep-sea tool kit and operations team that is rapidly deployable all over the world. The CATALYST Program marks an unprecedented collaboration between the Waitt Institute for Discovery (WID) and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). CATALYST ONE PROJECT SYNOPSIS CATALYST ONE is the inaugural mission of the CATALYST Program and brings together the resources, expertise and assets of Waitt Institute for Discovery, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute at Florida Atlantic University. A series of autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) dives will be used to provide test trials for the two new Waitt Institute for Discovery AUVs under difficult environmental conditions including 3-5 knot surface currents in the Gulf Stream and over high relief reefs greater than 60 m (200 feet) tall. The AUV side-scan sonar survey will occur on a deep-water coral reef system off eastern Florida at depths of 360-850 m (1,200- 2,800 feet). Ideally, we would like to map several reefs that need high definition bathymetric maps which are critical for research and conservation efforts focused on these deep-water reefs. Data compiled during the CATALYST ONE project will provide information on potential areas for designation of new MPAs as well as areas of scientific interest for future research. The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council has proposed a 23,000-square-nautical-mile region from North Carolina to South Florida as a Habitat Area of Particular Concern (HAPC) for deep-water coral reefs. This proposal is based primarily on the research by Harbor Branch scientist John Reed and others promoting the protection of these magnificent reefs from destructive fishing such as bottom trawling for shrimp that is ongoing today. Currently there is no good detailed bathymetry of this region which could show the occurrence high-relief bottom indicating potential deep-water coral reefs. Surveys conducted over the past 10 years have discovered over 300 potential, high-relief, deep-water reefs off eastern Florida from Jacksonville to south Florida. Of these, Harbor Branch scientists have ground-truthed and described over 60 deep-water reefs during Johnson-Sea-Link manned research submersible dives. High definition side-scan sonar surveys are critically needed in this region to provide detailed data on the distribution of these deep-water reefs in order to protect them from impacts of bottom trawls, and to provide the best scientific data available in order to show where bottom trawling may be acceptable in order to avoid impact to live bottom habitat. The threat to deep coral habitat from energy production and impacts from fisheries is well known worldwide. An increased understanding of the ecology of these deep sea coral ecosystems will provide insight into processes that create and control these deep sea communities as well as provide data to allow fisheries and oil/gas production without damaging the reefs. These deep-water systems are at a disadvantage in gaining public empathy because few people will ever see them but they are just as important as shallow water reefs. Our data show that the deep-water reefs off Florida may exceed the area of all shallow reefs in U.S. waters. MISSION DATES: 12/04/08 to 12/11/08 SCIENCE OBJECTIVES:
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