MBON Retrieval and Redeployment Cruise
September 12, 2025 R/V Daiber Lewes, DE
Cruise Report
Crew
- Aaron Carlisle UD
- Chief Scientist
- Caroline Tribble UMCES
- Acoustics and Biotelemetry lead
- Michael Cyrana JHU-APL
- eDNA lead
- Tess Avery UD
- Field technician assisting with eDNA, acoustics, and biotelemetry
- Evan Falgowski UD
- Captain of R/V Daiber
Contact Information
(831) 601-7461 | carlisle@udel.edu
(301) 938-0265 | ctribble@umces.edu
(443) 257-9276 | Michael.Cyrana@jhuapl.edu
(617) 599-9681 | tmavery@udel.edu
(610) 563-1040 | evanfal@udel.edu
Conditions
Winds SW, 3-4 sea state, 75°F sunny, good visibility
Summary (EST)
0645 Departed Lewes, DE boat dock.
0936 Arrived at T-3C.
0947 Conducted CTD cast for eDNA sampling.
0953 Completed operations.
1025 Arrived at T-2C.
1030 Conducted CTD cast for eDNA sampling. Retrieved F-POD, VR2AR mooring.
1036 Deployed new F-POD, VR2AR mooring.
1050 Arrived at MBON5.
1054 Conducted CTD cast for eDNA sampling. Retrieved VR2AR mooring not recovered in April.
1058 Deployed new VR2AR mooring.
1102 Arrived at MBON5*.
1106 Retrieved VR2AR mooring deployed offset from original site in April.
1120 Arrived at MBON4.
1123 Conducted CTD cast for eDNA sampling.
1131 Completed operations.
1140 Arrived at A-5C.
1147 Conducted CTD cast for eDNA sampling. Retrieved F-POD, VR2AR mooring.
1151 Deployed new F-POD, VR2AR mooring.
1209 Arrived at MBON3.
1212 Conducted CTD cast for eDNA sampling. Retrieved VR2AR mooring.
1216 Deployed new VR2AR mooring.
1228 Arrived at MBON2.
1232 Conducted CTD cast for eDNA sampling.
1240 Completed operations.
1310 Arrived at T-1C.
1328 Conducted CTD cast for eDNA sampling. Unable to retrieve F-POD VR2AR mooring, team had difficulty communicating with deployed VR2AR and experienced technical issues with VR100 hydrophone connection. Team will reattempt retrieval in November.
1329 Deployed new F-POD, VR2AR mooring (T-1C*) offset 500 m from original site.
1350 Arrived at MBON1.
1407 Conducted CTD cast for eDNA sampling. Unable to retrieve VR2AR mooring similar to previous site and increased technical issues with VR100 hydrophone connection. Team will reattempt retrieval in November.
1408 Deployed new VR2AR mooring (MBON1*) offset 500 m from original site.
1615 Arrived at Lewes, DE boat dock.
Additional Notes
Unable to recover T-1C (F-POD) and MBON1 (VR2AR), the 2 sites closest to shore, and believe it was due to an issue with communicating with the deployed VR2ARs.
No responses from the VR2ARs when searching by their specific tag numbers or by autoscan (searches for any VRs in the vicinity). We then searched for them by moving ~200 ft in either direction from our GPS point and tried again. At T-1C we did get an ‘S’ response once after some searching but then it disappeared and we could not reconnect, and this was similar to what happened when we were unable to recover MBON5 in April.
At MBON1 we weren’t able to get an ‘S’ response but were having issues getting the deckbox to transpond at all at this site, kept getting the error message ‘Error: VHTx communication’ which means the deck box is having trouble communicating with the hydrophone element where it is plugged in.
Study Area Map
Map displays site locations color coded and labeled by the type of field operations conducted (blue = eDNA sampling only, green = mooring retrieval, orange = mooring deployment, red = April 2025 locations of moorings not retrieved).
Retrieval Table
| Site | Devices to retrieve | VR2AR Serial # | Retrieval Date | Retrieval Time (EST) | Retrieval Lat (dd) | Retrieval Long (dd) | Retrieval Depth (m) | Retrieval Notes |
| T-3C | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | No hotswap, eDNA only |
| T-2C | VR2AR, FPOD | 553508 | 9/12/2025 | 10:30 | 38.3356 | -74.5053 | 44.5 | WPT 109 |
| MBON5 | VR2AR ONLY | 546457 | 9/12/2025 | 10:54 | 38.3362 | -74.5781 | 40.5 | WPT 111 |
| MBON5* | VR2AR ONLY | 553507 | 9/12/2025 | 11:06 | 38.3353 | -74.5796 | 39.6 | WPT 113 |
| MBON4 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | No hotswap, eDNA only |
| A-5C | VR2AR, FPOD | 546638 | 9/12/2025 | 11:47 | 38.3354 | -74.7237 | 27.4 | WPT 115 |
| MBON3 | VR2AR ONLY | 546304 | 9/12/2025 | 12:12 | 38.3358 | -74.7984 | 23.1 | WPT 117 |
| MBON2 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | No hotswap, eDNA only |
| T-1C | VR2AR, FPOD | 546464 | - | - | - | - | - | Unable to retrieve, will reattempt in November |
| MBON1 | VR2AR ONLY | 546465 | - | - | - | - | - | Unable to retrieve, will reattempt in November. Team noted trawl or seine vessel nearby. |
Deployment Table
| Site | Devices to deploy | PAM Serial # | VR2AR Serial # | Deploy Date | Deploy Time (EST) | Deploy Lat (dd) | Deploy Long (dd) | Deploy Depth (m) | Deployment Notes |
| T-3C | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | No hotswap, eDNA only WPT 108 |
| T-2C | VR2AR, FPOD | 7249 | 546463 | 9/12/2025 | 10:36 | 38.3360 | -74.5050 | 44.8 | WPT 110 |
| MBON5 | VR2AR ONLY | - | 546323 | 9/12/2025 | 10:58 | 38.3361 | -74.5776 | 41.5 | WPT 112 |
| MBON4 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | No hotswap, eDNA only WPT 114 |
| A-5C | VR2AR, FPOD | 7253 | 546476 | 9/12/2025 | 11:51 | 38.3360 | -74.7230 | 27.8 | WPT 116 |
| MBON3 | VR2AR ONLY | - | 546470 | 9/12/2025 | 12:16 | 38.3360 | -74.7983 | 23.3 | WPT 118 |
| MBON2 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | No hotswap, eDNA only WPT 119 |
| T-1C* | VR2AR, FPOD | 7047 | 546459 | 9/12/2025 | 13:29 | 38.3359 | -74.9540 | 16.6 | WPT 120 |
| MBON1* | VR2AR ONLY | - | 546309 | 9/12/2025 | 14:08 | 38.3361 | -75.0200 | 18.6 | WPT 121 |
PAM Device Setup Table
| Site | PAM type | Serial # | Start Date | Start Time (EST) | PAM Device Setup Notes |
| T-2C | FPOD | 7249 | 9/12/2025 | 00:15 | All F-PODs started on the same hr:min:sec time scale in real time EST (started 00:15:00) |
| A-5C | FPOD | 7253 | 9/12/2025 | 00:16 | All F-PODs started on the same hr:min:sec time scale in real time EST (started 00:16:00) |
| T-1C* | FPOD | 7047 | 9/12/2025 | 00:17 | All F-PODs started on the same hr:min:sec time scale in real time EST (started 00:17:00) |
Biotelemetry Device Setup Table
| Site | VR2AR Serial # | Start Date | Start Time (EST) | Changed Batteries? | Checked O rings? | Release Lug Attached? | VR2AR Setup Notes |
| T-2C | 546463 | 9/10/2025 | 15:43 | Yes, 100% remaining | ✓ | ✓ | Secor UMCES Device |
| MBON5 | 546323 | 9/10/2025 | 15:38 | No, 46% remaining | ✓ | ✓ | Secor UMCES Device |
| A-5C | 546476 | 9/10/2025 | 16:32 | No, 46% remaining | ✓ | ✓ | Secor UMCES Device |
| MBON3 | 546470 | 9/10/2025 | 16:47 | No, 46% remaining | ✓ | ✓ | Secor UMCES Device |
| T-1C* | 546459 | 9/10/2025 | 16:58 | No, 46% remaining | ✓ | ✓ | Secor UMCES Device |
| MBON1* | 546309 | 9/10/2025 | 17:15 | Yes, 100% bremaining | ✓ | ✓ | Secor UMCES Device |
Photos from Cruise
