A mystery boat propeller is found 100 miles off the coast.
NOAA Fisheries biologists captured Atlantic spiny dogfish and white hake on a fishing survey trip in fall. They also caught cusk, barndoor skatings, Acadian redfish and monkfish as well as other species that they would normally expect to catch.
What they didn’t expect to find was a boat propeller sitting on the ocean floor more than 100 miles offshore.
It is not clear how it got there.
Every sampling station on the Longline Survey Trip aboard The F/V Mary ElizabethTo record the ocean floor, they send a camera.
One sampling station had the camera bounce on the bottom next to a propeller measuring 3 feet long. It was about the same size as the propeller at 60 feet. Mary Elizabeth features.
According to the newspaper, the creature was found among sea stars, rocks and sea anemones. NOAA Science BlogThe video includes a clip of the camera landing right next to the prop.
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Phil Lynch, Captain of The Mary ElizabethI was shocked.
“What are the chances that we dropped the camera right on top of this thing, well over 100 miles from shore?” Lynch said. “I don’t even know of a single person who has lost their propeller at sea, let alone to have at that distance. It’s just incredible to have that $5,000 piece of metal in the middle of the ocean show up on our camera.”
Biologist Emma Fowler blogged about all the findings The survey began at Georges Bank and ended around 200 nautical miles away from Scituate, Massachusetts. The survey was then carried out westward.
Fowler was also amazed at the propeller discovery.
“It makes you wonder about the poor soul who lost it—so far away from land—and how long they waited for rescue,” Fowler wrote. “Not too many boats make it this far east.
“The chances that we would drop a camera in the exact same spot have to be incredibly low. It makes me excited for what we’ll find on the next trip.”
Photos of Acadian redfish, Monkfish, and Boat Propeller courtesy NOAA Fisheries/Emma Fowler/Dave McElroy