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THE BATTALION
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 1981
Page 3
4&M runs ‘floating classroom’
By WAYNE COOK
Battalion Reporter
A 174-foot steel classroom cruis
ing through the Gulf of Mexico is a
iation from the usual land-
ked desks and chalkboards.
Texas A&M University’s float-
e ing classroom is the Gyre, a re
search ship operated by the Texas
A&M Department of Oceanog
raphy.
The Mitchell Campus of Texas
ICI , e t °, na! A&M University at Galveston is
Hildii tk tlj e home port of the Gyre but the
iment: ship is seldom there. The Gyre is
CA memkat sea nine to 10 months a year
rs take aribecause of the demand for its faci-
n the scl(M es > saidT.K. Treadwell, acting
5, the 11 h ea d of the oceanography depart-
run it hard,” Treadwell
I" 1 , 1 said. “It costs almost as much to
ent ’ ^ keep it docked as it does to run it. ”
agents BfffTreadwell said it costs approxi
mately $6,000 a day for the ship to
1 sense o: be at sea. He said the cost of oper-
'e don’t upon over an average year is $1.7
s for a shijttHion.
VStem pci ^' s not unusua l f° r a university
, nnp U| to have a ship dedicated to re-
" search, Treadwell said. The Texas
A&M vessel is one of about 27
been aacjjiiiversity vessels. Treadwell said
nfamiliar tb< universities work together to
But we B m hine resources and save
pney.
“During the last few years,
ere has been a lot of interchange
tween universities,” Treadwell
id. “It is much more a coopera-
ive university fleet.”
An inter-university organiza
tion, of which Treadwell is chair-
an, handles scheduling of the va-
A 174-foot Texas A&M research vessel Gyre
cruises in the Gulf of Mexico. Because of
demand for its facilities, the Gyre is at sea
nine to ten months a year. It costs $6,000 a
day to operate the ship at sea. The cost of
operation over an average year is $1.7 mil
lion.
egents s!
n to seelc
plying si
ident
dy presii
light not 1,
s not
t input at
rious research vessels.
The Gyre is a general-purpose
research vessel with facilities cap
able of research in such areas as
biology, chemistry and weather. A
normal cruise includes 20 scien
tists and 10 crew members.
“The Gyre is one of the best
research ships in the business,”
Treadwell said, “considering sci
ence gained per dollar.”
Normally, the Gyre is used only
for basic research, but it has be
come involved in a project to
search for the Titanic.
Treadwell said the only reason
the Gyre has become involved
with the project is that special
equipment needed for the search
will be permanently donated to
the oceanography department by
the group renting the ship. Also,
the ship was already scheduled for
two other cruises in the same area.
The special equipment to be don
ated to the department costs close
to $1 million, Treadwell said.
“It’s equipment we couldn’t
afford on our own,” he said.
The name Gyre refers to a term
used in oceanography. A gyre is a
circulating current of water.
Treadwell said the ship received
this name since many of the scien
tists working onboard were study
ing gyres.
Primary support of the ship and
research done on it comes from
the National Science Foundation,
Treadwell said. He said govern
ment agencies concerned with
offshore resources also provide
some funding. During an average
year, 80 to 90 percent of the ships’
funding is from federal sources.
Texas A&M University pro
vides a smaller but important part
of the funding, Treadwell said.
The University pays for 25 to 30
days at sea each year for faculty
and students. Oceanography 602,
a formal three-hour course at the
graduate level, includes one week
at sea. For this reason, Treadwell
refers to the Gyre as a “floating
classroom.”
“Texas A&M is better at provid
ing sea-going facilities for students
than any other university,” Tread
well said.
Built for the U.S. Navy by Hal
ter Marine Services, the Gyre was
launched in 1973. The vessel be
gan research operations in January
1974. The oceanography depart
ment operates the ship for the
Texas A&M Research Founda
tion, which leases the ship from
the Navy.
The Gyre has made cruises to
the Mediterranean, central Paci
fic, tropical Atlantic and north
eastern Atlantic.
The Gyre is presently off the
Mississippi Delta involved with
geological research.
New class to stress
leisure importance
A new Recreation and Parks 489A “Leisure and Society” course
will be taught Monday evening 6 to 9 p. m. in Francis Hall during the
1981 fall term. It is designed to create an awareness of the personal
and social significance of recreation and leisure.
In addition students will examine leisure time-planning and
management and have an opportunity to formulate a personal philo
sophy of leisure.
Although vast amounts of time and money are spent on recreation
goods and services, most students have not had an opportunity to
learn how to get the most out of their leisure. The vital role leisure
plays in the advancement of human learning, the promotion of good
health and the development of a positive personality is not under
stood by most people.
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iews differ over killing
rare animals for study
^PARENTS
#
DAY
By AUGUST SKOPIK
Battalion Reporter
The killing of animals on the en-
Ingered species list for the pur-
pse of research is disputed
nong Texas A&M University re-
parchers.
David Owens, an assistant biol
ogy professor studying the Pacific
[Ridley turtle, protests the killing
of the endangered adult sea turtle,
i However, some researchers at
Texas A&M say there is justifica
tion of biological dissection if it is
needed for their studies.
Owens said he saw the killing of
the rare turtle in Mexico in a
slaughterhouse. The capture and
| killing of the Pacific turtle is not
legal in the United States.
Dr. John Bickham, wildlife sci
ence assistant professor, is doing a
study on the yellow mud-turtle in
Illinois. He said the “sacrifice” of a
small percentage of turtles in that
area was needed to make certain
the turtles would remain in the
area.
; There are different shell colors
for the turtles in the different
geographic regions,” he said, “and
now we know which turtles would
iurvive if imported just in case
something did happen and a large
population was destroyed.”
Dr. Bickham was hired by Mon
santo because of fears that their
hemical plant near Big Sand
dound, Iowa, would wipe out the
last population of that sub-species,
then known as the Illinois mud-
turtle.
“We discovered the turtle was
as healthy in the area today as it
has ever been,” Bickham said.
“Because of our research, the tur
tle was not listed on the en
dangered list.”
Bickham said the 10 turtles sac
rificed were a small percentage
killed compared to the number of
turtles that fell to natural pre
dators.
He said there were over 2,000
turtles estimated in one popula
tion, with several populations of
similar size observed in the area.
“Now if one of the populations
became extinct we would be able
to introduce the right genetical
turtles,” Bickham said.
Wildlife Science Professor
Keith Arnold said killing of the
species was not justified in his
study of the bald eagle.
“We were doing a field study
concerned with disturbance of
nesting pairs in Brazoria County,”
he said.
He said dissection was not
needed in this instance, since the
researchers were concerned with
nest disturbances, which could be
achieved from field observation.
“There were only seven bald
eagle nests known in Texas until
recently, when eight more were
discovered,” he said. “Unfortun
ately, four or five of the nests will
not produce young this year.
“What we were trying to do is to
develop management plans to
help preserve the nesting places of
this bird.”
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