The next 10 days...
Tonight Pancho and I are flying to Oslo. Pancho will stay with Rigmor while I work in Tromsø tagging herring. Fingers crossed that he is ok this time around on the plane!
I have been in touch with my colleagues a bit about this "tokt" because I have never tagged fish before, and I have been told that it is very different working conditions from a normal survey ("tokt").
We are sleeping on a 50 ft. sailboat that is attached to a floating platform where we will work from. Out in the elements! It is around freezing temperatures with a little wind, rain and snow; so, I've been well informed to bring lots of wool.
Four of my colleagues have been up there since November 21st, and as of a couple of days ago they just had their first shower. One of them said that it is pretty cool the first night, but from day to onward it is pretty tight in the boat and comparable to camping. It isn't possible to wash clothes, but at the same time I was told not to bring too much stuff since the cabins are small.
Other than the living conditions, it sounds absolutely fantastic. The northernlights were strong the first night there (I haven't heard anymore about the northern lights, but I hope there is a good show when I'm there), and the whales are constant! Killer whales and humpback whales are following the herring into the fjord and "harrassing" the fish. The fish are corralled into a net so that we can pull them out alive and tag them, and set them loose again. But with the orcas there looking for and easy meal it isn't easy to get much work done.
The goal was to tag 40 000 herring...they have so far tagged around 2 300.
I'm excited!
I have been in touch with my colleagues a bit about this "tokt" because I have never tagged fish before, and I have been told that it is very different working conditions from a normal survey ("tokt").
We are sleeping on a 50 ft. sailboat that is attached to a floating platform where we will work from. Out in the elements! It is around freezing temperatures with a little wind, rain and snow; so, I've been well informed to bring lots of wool.
Four of my colleagues have been up there since November 21st, and as of a couple of days ago they just had their first shower. One of them said that it is pretty cool the first night, but from day to onward it is pretty tight in the boat and comparable to camping. It isn't possible to wash clothes, but at the same time I was told not to bring too much stuff since the cabins are small.
Other than the living conditions, it sounds absolutely fantastic. The northernlights were strong the first night there (I haven't heard anymore about the northern lights, but I hope there is a good show when I'm there), and the whales are constant! Killer whales and humpback whales are following the herring into the fjord and "harrassing" the fish. The fish are corralled into a net so that we can pull them out alive and tag them, and set them loose again. But with the orcas there looking for and easy meal it isn't easy to get much work done.
The goal was to tag 40 000 herring...they have so far tagged around 2 300.
I'm excited!
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| A picture my colleague took of a killer whale circling the net. (Photo: Fabian Zimmerman) |
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