We've been at sea for two weeks now and have only taken 9 samples. Blue whiting seem to be pretty elusive for us this year. This is my first time on this tokt, and it is by far the most relaxing of them all with very little work - silver lining...plenty of time to work off all the good food in the gym!
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| Kings Bay has a great gym! |
We set out from Bergen aboard my favorite fishing vessel that we hire, Kings Bay, on a beautiful day in Bergen. We have had a bit of wind, some rain, and a fair amount of sunshine. The crew is a lot of fun and we got to know each other pretty well last summer when I was aboard this vessel all of July last year, when I was then known as "Pocahontas". The first two or three days we were only cruising to the beginning of our sampling area in the Irish Sea and we passed between some Scottish isles...just a shame the view was obscured by rain.
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| Lighthouse in the distance on some part of Scotland |
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| There she blows! |
The trawl hauls have some very fascinating mesopelagic creatures; primarily different types of lanternfish that are so ugly that they are beautiful when you examine their lanterns. I've also been getting better at aging blue whiting, which was a primary goal for me on this tokt, since we have to be approved age readers of the species we are assigned.
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| Hatchet fish and a "nordlig lysprikkfisk" |
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| Ørjan and Eva (Irish fisheries observer) sorting through the catch. Since it is an international survey in the Irish Sea we had to have an Irish observer on board to write a report. |
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| Fascinating mesopelagic lanternfish...some more gruesome than others. |
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| Two different species of squid. |
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| Sampling blue whiting (kolmule in Norwegian) |
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| Deploying the CTD |
Otherwise, this survey has been rather uneventful. When I get back on land I'll have to practice driving with any friends I can find with a manual transmission car...I'm working on getting my Norwegian driver's license, and all I can say is that it is really difficult. There is a lot more to consider when driving a stick shift on windy roads with roundabouts and remembering to yield to the right in most intersections...there are no signs, so you just have to remember at every intersection. Harder than you might expect when you're used to driving in the States. The theory exam is also really challenging! You have to know how the breaking system works (including ABS), calculating stopping distance on dry, wet or icy conditions at different speeds, and of course the driver's obligations with insurance and EU control of your vehicle. It's been intense.
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