The Bagel: Development of a Stable Towing Frame and Consistent Procedures for Sampling Phytoplankton

The Phytoplankton Club of First Flight High School (FFHS), located on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, focuses on examining phytoplankton samples collected at two local piers. Participating students are active contributors to the NOAA Phytoplankton Monitoring Network and have twice been the first to detect and report blooms of Pseudo nitzschia, a diatom that produces domoic acid, a neurotoxin that can have a serious impact on human health. Phytoplankton samples are collected by towing a plankton net along each pier. Controlling the orientation of the mouth of the net during a tow, particularly during high wave conditions, is impractical. As a result, we cannot quantitatively assess samples. To overcome this limitation, we undertook the development of a tow frame that could stabilize the mouth of the net. This paper documents the development and future enhancement of the tow frame.