Changes in Latitudes

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...

With the 6-on-6-off shifts, it's hard to remember how many days have passed and which day of the week it is, but I think it was the day before yesterday when I finally got some sunshine and saw some whales and dolphins! We have had cloudy skies the whole survey period except for this one day. Meanwhile, in Bergen, record high temperatures have been set all week as one last week of summer visited the city that also set records in July for the rainiest July on record. This particular day we finally had some bits of sun. Mostly cloudy, however, I saw a chance to put on my winter coveralls and sit outside for a few minutes. I saw a few fin whales in the distance, likely feasting on krill. I only saw the plume of mist when they surfaced. On the opposite end of the boat a small pod of dolphins was getting closer. One got close enough that I thought the picture would turn out way better than it did. Still need to share. It was the best day at sea! We only have five more sampli...

[2:50AM in the middle of the Barents Sea] This survey is very different from the others I have been on...that being said, of the three surveys I have been on have all been the annual summer mackerel/ecosystem survey. We sample at different depths, which results in a few more species than the summer survey; as deep as 200 m below the surface. A vast majority of what we have gotten is young cod (less than a year old; we call them 0-group). We also get lots of jellyfish.  This survey is also more exhausting. The stations are closer together, and if they see something interesting on the echosounder they set out the trawl. In our 6 hour shift we can get up to three hauls. It doesn't necessarily make the time go by faster when there's lots of sorting. Most of the hauls have only 4 or 5 different species and they are all around 3 inches long. I still haven't seen a whale, but there is currently a rough-legged hawk (fjellvåk) hanging out on top of one of the masts l...

[Master of train travel] Tuesday morning was an early start for the Diaz-Engebrethsen household. Marius had to catch a plane to Stavanger and then drive a little to a place called Lysebotn for work. Pancho and I took an early walk, and now that it's September the amount of daylight is decreasing significantly. We got back, grabbed my stuff, and caught the bus to the train station. We took the train to Oslo from Bergen - a trip lasting around 7 hours. Pancho is a master of train travel. He gets excited to see other dogs, and there was a female around his age just in front of us, but eventually he gave up with trying to say hi and took a nap. I was really proud to see how relaxed he was on the train compared to the other dog who was obviously a bit stressed. We got off the train and Rigmor picked us up. While I'm gone our friends Morten and Katrine are taking care of Pancho. That night (Tuesday night), I found out that a passport is needed to fly to Svalbard. I was total...

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 ...

Getting into a routine: Sample, eat, gym, sleep, eat, sample, sleep, eat... Pulled in three wild salmon. The cook will make them for lunch or dinner in the next couple of days. Sun is shining today. Life is good :) [Herring Oil Factory (Sildolje fabrikk) Pit-stop in Egersund to fix the trawl.] [Gulls lined up in a row waiting for dinner] [Wild Atlantic salmon]

On the 4th of July I joined the mackerel survey cruise aboard M/V Eros. It's a brand new vessel that is even nicer than G.O. Sars! However, as I found last year, most of these luxuries aren't used on the survey because we are quite tired from 12 hour work days; and the gym is the most important room when you are limited to only walking up and down a flight of stairs. The first dinner was a very Norwegian meal of raspeballer (potato and flour mixed together with some bacon), sausages and potatoes. At least the crew blasted some CCR after dinner, so that was about as "American" as it got for the 4th.  I'm working the 2-8 shift, so 2am-8am and 2pm-8pm. My shift partner's name is Stine (Justine and Stine -- cute) - and pronounced like 'steeneh', not stein. On this survey I have more responsibilities than last year. This year I can add plankton sampling to my resume. And this probably sounds weird, but the one thing that has officially made me feel like...

Monday I officially earned my Master of Science in marine biology. I presented my work to a crowd of 12 in a small classroom, and right afterwards I went into another room with the sensors and my supervisors. It was a very intense 90 minutes of grilling. The main sensor was very very tough, but I was warned about him by others at the IMR. Feels a little weird to be done, but tomorrow I leave for my second mackerel cruise. The same as last year - 26 days at sea working 12 hr days. Now I'm searching for a job in the meantime.