Changes in Latitudes

I threw together a video from my GoPro clips I took when I was working in Tromsø earlier this month. Tagging herring in Kaldfjord, Norway from Justine Diaz on Vimeo .

Pardon any wild yelling in the whale video. It was just way too cool!

The past few days have been all dependent on the weather. If the winds came from the west/northwest, then the platform we worked from would be too unstable to work on. Another delay was if the fishing vessel did not find us any herring to tag. The weather in northern Norway changes very quickly and we just had to roll with it. So we had a day of only a few hours to work, and the following day we tried to work since the wind was coming from the south. The platform was then pretty stable, but the wind was gusting snow and rain into our faces. It was a rough night, in my opinion. This morning we packed up most of the gear. The weather was just too unpredictable and unstable to guarantee work today and the fishing boat wanted to get headed south again. We had to fill up more water and diesel in the sailboat after loading up the fishing boat with some of our equipment. I managed to shower (only the second time since I have been on board) while we filled the water tank. When I was finishe...

Last night was rough! Yesterday we managed to tag 1047 herring. A new record number for this tokt! When we take breaks and the end of the day we release the herring we have in the nets. Somehow during that process I jammed my thumb, and it's now swollen and painful. Black and blue. After dinner the winds picked up. We knew this would happen so we moved the boat over to the docks connected to land after releasing the herring and before dinner. Then the winds began gusting! I'm sleeping in the bow of the boat. The sail came loose and had to be tied in again. Without the use of my left thumb, I'm incapable of helping and thus a pretty useless sailor again. I've been so accident prone on this tokt. The guys and our skipper (a tiny woman from Switzerland) got the rigging secured and now the boat is a little bit better. The winds continued howling all night, and I was glad we did not tag herring today, although we had a few hours of ok weather. Light breeze and a littl...

Today I woke up for breakfast a little before 7:30 and felt much better. No headache. I was glad to not have to worry about going to the hospital to check on my head ! We were told that the fishermen needed to fill their quota first and then they could deliver fish to us. In the meantime, we took the sailboat to another dock to fill up our water tank. None of us have had a shower since Wednesday! Definitely like camping on board, but pretty cool and different. Since the sky was clear it started to get light by 9AM. We had daylight until 2:30PM. We did not see any whales today, but I have seen some weak northern lights. I'm hoping that they will get stronger. My primary task this cruise has been releasing the fish after they were tagged. All the tasks are equally monotonous, but not bad. The fish are held in a net pen until we are finished tagging for the day. This is so that if any don't survive the tagging process we can pluck them out and reuse the tag. It's quite...

Pancho did much better than expected on the plane from Bergen to Oslo! He got out of his crate and was so happy, and I was glad to not find puke in his crate. When we got to the Engebrethsen's house he had so much energy, and we finally got to bed around 11:30. At 5:45 my alarm went off. Rigmor was dropping me off at the bus stop for the airport bus at 6:15. I landed at Tromsø a little before 10AM. There was light in the sky, but the clouds make it quite dark and gloomy. I was picked up by a girl working for the yachting company we are renting the sailboat from, and we drove about 25 minutes outside of Tromsø to an area called Kaldfjord. She and I waited by the dock for probably at least an hour while the fishermen brought some herring over to our nets for marking. And we spotted a lone killer whale. He hung around for a couple of minutes, and not long enough for me to get out my camera. We are sleeping on a 50 foot sailboat for this tokt/excursion. It's tight, but quite n...

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...

M.Ytterstad We pulled into the so-called "Paris of the north" - Tromsø, on Friday night, and it was great to see land again. The views from the boat were pretty amazing. Saturday we moved everything from our boat onto another boat that would take the gear and samples back to Bergen. We were pretty efficient so I was able to walk around town as well as take a nice long hike. The weather was of course perfect for a long hike, and after a bit of research I opted for the popular trip up Fløya (671 meters above sea level). I ran from the boat and up a fair amount of trail before halting to a fast walk. It was really warm in the sun, and I was on cloud nine. After a long sleep I had a light breakfast before we had to all catch a taxi to our plane. We flew directly from Tromsø to Bergen, and I was greeted at the luggage carousel by Marius. It was a good survey, though, occasionally uneventful due to how the stations and our work shifts lined up. On Thursday I'm flyi...

[Preliminary survey tracks for the vessels involved] Tomorrow we get into Tromsø for the end of the survey. I didn't give any updates because, well, it was about the same everyday. So the last 3+ weeks have gone by quite fast and it will feel weird to be back in Bergen Monday night. I have gained many new skills on this survey, and my colleagues hope that the institute will have a place for me because I am also "efficient, positive and hardworking" (not to toot my own horn). We are currently headed south from Bjørnoya (Bear Island) located approximately 74 degrees N and 16 deg E. We have hauled in tens of tons of Atlantic mackerel (makrell), slightly less than optimal amounts of herring (sild), lumpsucker (rognkjeks), and wild Atlantic salmon (laks). Some of the more interesting fish we brought in included:  håbrann (Lamna nasus), English: mackerel shark (possibly porbeagle) langebarn/snake blenny torsk/cod (juveniles less than 10 cm long) hyse/haddock ...

Here are a couple more pictures from Tromsø. Back at sea now on G.O. Sars the next 4 days before I switch over to Brennholm. [Old ship from polar exploration captained by H. Hanssen] [Common seal at the aquarium in Tromsø - Polaria] We have also now been featured on the IMR homepage - I'm in one of the pictures working hard!! (click the link) Mackerel Leif has been writing many emails and sending pictures to reporters and the research institute because when we get more people engaged, we get more funding and awareness of the importance of these surveys.

This morning we arrived at a small city in northern Norway called Tromsø. After breakfast I left G.O. Sars to explore - and managed to see most of the area in less than 3 hours. (Sorry, but our internet on board is too slow for uploading many pictures.) [Polar bears are indeed roaming the streets in northern Norway!]