NOAA Ship OSCAR ELTON SETTE is in transit back to Honolulu after completing a 20 day Lobster Survey cruise. The purpose of the cruise was to collect scientific data on the population size and distribution of spiny and slipper lobster in the North West Hawaiian Islands.

The research was conducted in various places around Maro Reef. Each day the SETTE would set out 10 strings of eight traps and four strings of 20 traps. The traps were allowed to set overnight in depths ranging from 13 to 350 fathoms of water. That's 78 to 2100 feet! The lobsters caught in the traps were measured and weighed, then put into a special trap so
that they could be released. The releasing trap was lowered by the SETTE's J-frame winch to the bottom of the reef and when a strain was taken on the line a door opened and the lobsters were able to get out of the trap. The trap was equipped with a camera so that the scientists could see what kind of habitat the lobsters were being release into and if any predators were getting the lobsters on their way to find hiding places.

The SETTE has now finished the trapping portion of the cruise and has begun the transit back to Honolulu. The ship is scheduled to in port from June 30th to July 12th before getting under was for 3 months for a Coral Reef Assessment Cruise.