ICES Ecosystem Survey Cruise

Today I will begin one of the greatest experiences of my life. I will go out on a research cruise for 27 days in the Norwegian Sea, beginning in Bergen and zig-zagging north to follow mackerel just north of Tromsø and back.

We will use sonar and trawls to get a better picture of what the mackerel are doing every summer as they are swimming north feeding. I will also look at the minimum distance we can observe mackerel on sonar before there is avoidance behavior from the ship. If I'm lucky, I will get to see some whales as well. There are two people hired on each ship as whale watchers. It will be a really cool result if we can see what the fish do in response to whales on the sonar.

I will start on GO Sars: a 77.5 m vessel owned by the IMR and UiB. Half way through the survey I will be switched to the chartered vessel, Brennholm, to spend time with my other supervisor who will help me with the sonar readings.

I caved and got myself a smart phone yesterday so that I can post little updates from the lab (where I will measure fish) and bridge (where the sonar equipment is).

[GO Sars]

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