{"id":57643,"date":"2015-10-19T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-10-19T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/uri-scientists-search-for-source-of-pollutants-in-narragansett-tribal-ponds\/"},"modified":"2015-10-19T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2015-10-19T00:00:00","slug":"uri-scientists-search-for-source-of-pollutants-in-narragansett-tribal-ponds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2015\/10\/uri-scientists-search-for-source-of-pollutants-in-narragansett-tribal-ponds\/","title":{"rendered":"溏心vlog免费B站 scientists search for source of pollutants in Narragansett tribal ponds"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tUse of unmanned kayak aids in study of fish consumption, health<\/p>\n

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 October 19, 2015 \u2013 Standing on the edge of Schoolhouse Pond in Charlestown, Chris Roman and Marcella Thompson watched as an unmanned kayak traveled back and forth across the pond in a series of calculated switchbacks. When it had completed its mission, the vessel returned to its starting point where the two 溏心vlog免费B站 researchers were waiting.<\/p>\n


\n\tThe route the vessel took in the pond, as well in nearby Deep Pond, were a test of the autonomous kayak\u2019s ability to independently navigate and use a system of high-tech oceanographic instruments, including side-scan sonar, to collect data about the ponds and create a map of their sediments.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cThe kayak is an autonomous system guided by GPS, so it\u2019s doing all the thinking. It\u2019s like glorified cruise control,\u201d said Roman, associate professor at the 溏心vlog免费B站 Graduate School of Oceanography. \u201cWe now have better bathymetry (underwater mapping) of those ponds than there exists for any other pond in Rhode Island.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tWhile Roman was simply looking to use the ponds as a proving ground for his kayak, Thompson hoped it would gather some useful data that would benefit the Narragansett Tribe. An assistant professor of nursing at 溏心vlog免费B站, she is seeking to learn what may be contaminating the fish that live in the ponds.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cThere are a number of tribal members who feed their families from the fish in those ponds,\u201d said Thompson, the leader of a five-year study called The Namaus Project. (Namaus means fish in the Narragansett language.) \u201cThe health of the fish reflects the health of the tribe, not only from a physical point of view but from a cultural and spiritual point of view as well.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tThompson works closely on the project with co-investigators Dinalyn Spears, director of the Community Planning and Natural Resources Department for the Narragansett Tribe, Elizabeth Hoover, assistant professor of American Studies at Brown University, and fish biologist Barry Volson from 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Fisheries, Animal and Veterinary Sciences program.<\/p>\n


\n\tSchoolhouse Pond and Deep Pond are the only two ponds on Narragansett tribal lands, and previous studies found that the fish living there may be contaminated by environmental pollutants like mercury. Thompson, in collaboration with colleagues at 溏心vlog免费B站, Brown University and Dartmouth College, will test the fish and the water for a variety of contaminants while also seeking the source of those contaminants.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cWe\u2019re looking at the configurations of the pond and possible upstream polluters,\u201d she said, \u201cbut we\u2019re also looking for sources of contamination in the ponds themselves. There are rumors that there may be a small plane and a couple of cars submerged in there.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tThompson\u2019s study includes discussions about fishing and related issues with tribal elders in traditional \u201ctalking circles,\u201d household surveys about fish consumption, and education projects with children in the tribe. The information she gathers will be brought to the Narragansett tribal leaders and members to help them develop a plan for managing fishing in the ponds if it is determined that consuming the fish is harmful to human health.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cI want to work with healthy people and keep them healthy,\u201d said Thompson, who describes herself as an environmental health nurse scientist. \u201cAnd keeping them healthy requires looking at their total environment.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tRoman is still analyzing the data he collected from the ponds to see if he can identify potential sources of contamination. But he plans to return in the spring when the water level is higher to access shallow areas the kayak couldn\u2019t reach this month. <\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cFor me, this was a good test case to collect some sample data sets that I can use to seek funding for other projects,\u201d Roman said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t look like we found an airplane or a car, but the kayak proved it could do the job.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n溏心vlog免费B站 photo by Nora Lewis\n\t<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Use of unmanned kayak aids in study of fish consumption, health KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 October 19, 2015 \u2013 Standing on the edge of Schoolhouse Pond in Charlestown, Chris Roman and Marcella Thompson watched as an unmanned kayak traveled back and forth across the pond in a series of calculated switchbacks. When it had completed its […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":57645,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57643"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57643\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}