Herring spawning survey
The first survey (tokt in Norwegian) of the year for me was 12 days aboard M/V "Vendla" for the hunt for Norwegian spring-spawning herring. We began the tokt from Ålesund and finished in Tromsø. The first night was a rough one. I did not get seasick, but the wind gusts were over 30 meters per second and I felt like a ragdoll in my bed. After a couple of days we finally found some herring and began sampling. We worked 12 hour shifts and I was happy that I was able to find time to run on the treadmill nearly everyday and still get a full-night's rest. The food on board was amazing, and we all looked forward to what Tor had made for us for dinner. On the eve of my 29th birthday, I received a message from one of my colleagues on another boat of the northern lights, so I threw on my jacket and boots and ran out to the bow of the boat. It was pretty amazing! We were pulling in a catch, the seagulls were going crazy, the sky was clear but full of stars and then I saw the da...