In the Antarctic, a Monhegan's fisherman's experience counts

Mattie Thompson helps deploy a pot against an Antarctic backdrop Bruce Shields

"It was worth the trip just to see the penguins," says fisherman Mattie Thomson of Monhegan, who traveled in June as marine technician for an Antarctic research expedition to capture and study Antarctic fish. Thomson had been asked by longtime friend Alan Hickey, Marine Projects Coordinator for Raytheon Polar Services Co., to set up and take care of the fish traps, a new technique for the researchers, who have been working biannually in the Antarctic for about 18 years.

Hickey and Thomson met 16 years ago in Massachusetts, when both served as mates on the WESTWARD, operated by the Sea Education Association (SEA). "Mattie got me interested in fish," says Hickey. "I've been out to visit on trap day on Monhegan, and I knew he had the experience to help us plan and set up fishing with pots on the research cruise so we could accomplish what the scientists needed."

Thomson, whose father was a marine scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), settled on Monhegan nine years ago. He has been collaborating with scientists in Maine, towing nets with his boat, STRIKER, for UMO graduate student Eric Annis to capture lobster larvae, part of a larger project which is studying lobster movement along the Maine coast. He says when Hickey proposed he take charge of the pot fishing in Antarctica, he knew he had to go. "If it had been anyone else, I might have been leery," he says, "but Al, I'd follow to the end of the world."

The expedition involved research by Bruce Sidell, Professor of Marine Sciences at the University of Maine and prior Director of the School of Marine Sciences; Bill Detrich of Northeastern University, and Joe Eastman of Ohio University. Funded by the National Science Foundation's Program in Polar Biology and Medicine, they have been studying the molecular/biochemical adaptations of Antarctic fishes that permit them to live at severely cold body temperatures.

"Much of our recent research has focused upon a unique group of Antarctic fishes, the icefishes (notothenioids), which lack circulating hemoglobin and red cells," said Sidell. "Their blood is white, rather than red."

Thomson met with Hickey and the scientists to discuss their needs, and then traveled to the Seattle Fish Expo last November to look at various types of fish pots, which he says are similar to (but smaller than) the traps used to fish for King Crab off the coast of Alaska. He describes them as conical pots that can be stacked, each about 5 feet in diameter at the bottom, 4 feet at the top, and 3 feet high. He ordered 20, which were shipped over land to Punta Arenas, Chile, where they and the rest of the gear and research personnel, technicians and crew would board the 285-foot research vessel, the LAURENCE M. GOULD. Thomson bought the remainder of the gear, including rope, buoys, lights, anchors, haulers and the like, from Gundrys U.S.A., Inc. in Portland and sent it along to Punta Arenas.

After finishing the Monhegan lobster season May 28, he underwent rigorous medical and dental exams to ensure he was fit for the expedition. "They don't want to send you down and then have to get you out," he says, recalling two recent evacuations of staff at the Polar Station at the South Pole. Next, he attended an orientation session in Denver, Colorado, where Raytheon is based, before flying to Punta Arenas, where he set up the boom and hauler on board ship and rigged the hydraulics. During the voyage out, he put together the rest of the gear in the hold.

The expedition, a mixture of three diverse groups - the scientists; a Cajun master, first mate and engineering crew (the ship was built by Edison Chouest of Galliano, Louisiana); and a Philippine deck crew - sailed through the Strait of Magellan and turned south for Palmer Station, located at about 64 degrees, 30 minutes South latitude.

At Palmer Station, scientists used a shore-based lab to examine fish brought in from several different voyages over a period of about 35 days. "We fished 10 to 15 pots a day during the daylight hours from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Thomson says. "After sunset, we'd use an otter trawl." They would stay out fishing three or four days at a time, then bring their catch back to the station and remain there a couple of days before setting out again. Thomson was in charge of setting and hauling the gear and keeping it in shape, taking care of work like rigging buoy lines and mending nets.

"The temperature," he says, "was similar to December on Monhegan," with gale force winds, snow, freezing rains and hail. What impressed him most, though, was how fast the weather could change. "Here," he says, "we can see fronts coming across, but there, it would be flat calm, and the next thing, screeching. Once the wind went over 40 to 45 knots, we'd find a cove or a lee side of an island to wait it out." The crew were on constant alert for icebergs, using large spotlights to search for them at night.

Despite severe weather the hauling went smoothly. "We were successful in capturing two species of animals that we rarely obtain in our normal trawling operations," Sidell says. He emphasized that Thomson "was a great addition" to this new venture of using baited fish pots. "His expertise with this gear was absolutely essential."

Thomson believed Palmer Station had much the same feeling as Monhegan in winter. "It was an isolated community with a bunch of people working together," he said. In fact, he added, he felt much more comfortable there than when he returned to Monhegan in late July and found the roads full of tourists.

Although he describes the Antarctic as being "forbidding, barren and desolate," he says it could be majestic when the sun came out. He hopes he can return as part of the next expedition in 2003.