Changes in Latitudes

The route my boat is taking is the green line. After three years I'm back at the Institute of Marine Research (Havforskningsinstiuttet) on the summer ecosystem survey on the hunt for mackerel in the Norwegian Sea. It was hard at first because I had to leave two days before Mom and Dad left Bergen. And since I had to leave before they did it made it a little hard to be excited to work on the boat again. The view from my tiny plane. I flew from Bergen to Stokmarknes (near Lofoten) with my colleagues. From Bodø to Stokmarknes we were transported in a tiny plane that was so small we weren't even assigned seats. The ticket just said "free seating" - a first for me. The views from the plane were great! When we got there we got to the boats and met the others who were continuing the survey. The institute hired two commercial fishing boats for the survey, and mine is called M. Ytterstad. These boats make living and working at sea very comfortable. There is a ...

The most sun we saw in San Sebastian - lasted for about 10 minutes. This beach is called Playa de la Concha. This week I was invited by my new employer to join the research group on a trip to San Sebastian, Spain. The aim was to have a meeting to discuss priorities and a mini-symposium with some Spanish collaborators. Only some of us managed to make it to San Sebastian on Monday. The plane we were supposed to take to Amsterdam had engine issues, so our boss did his best to figure out a solution. He went alphabetically, so I was lucky to be in the first group out (after sitting in the Bergen airport for 6 hours). Twelve of us managed to make it to Spain by midnight on Monday (Bergen - Copenhagen - Brussels - Bilbao - San Sebastian (bus)). The rest would eventually make it by Tuesday afternoon and late Tuesday night. Tuesday was meant to be a meeting about plans for the  new employees (3 of us in total) and discussing the upcoming surveys. However, since the others had...

[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. 

Monday morning is my final presentation. Reading through my thesis and found a couple of typos and better words that I should have used in some cases. Good thing that I noticed now so that I can be prepared if the reviewer notices them too. It's so easy to get so into a project to not notice the simple mistakes. I'm looking forward to being finished on Monday!

Today was the first of the final phases to completing my Masters degree. I have officially submitted my 59 page thesis titled: Schooling dynamics of summertime migrating Northeast Atlantic mackerel ( Scomber scombrus ) in the Norwegian Sea using multibeam sonar On July 1st I will present my project to an external sensor who will give me my final grade. I'm not finished with this project until after September. Now I need to write an application for travel funds for my trip to the International Council for Exploration of the Sea (ICES) Annual Science Conference (ASC) held in Reykjavik, Iceland this September. I will soon have my Master of Science in Marine Biology...assuming all goes smoothly, which I'm confident it will. [Cover page]

[Foto: Leif Nøttestad] ICES recommends lower catch quota for the next year. (link) From the abundance estimations of mackerel, herring and other pelagic fish species, the International Council for Exploration of the Sea (ICES) has recommended that the quota for fishing mackerel be reduced by about 100 000 tonnes; and over 200 000 tonnes for herring. Over the past ten years there has been a significant decrease in zooplankton in this region of the Atlantic, which is the primary food source of migrating pelagic fish. It is believed that because of the way in which mackerel feed during their summer migration (passive filter-feeding), they out-compete herring in overlapping regions. This competition ultimately leads to a depletion of resources...yada yada yada. If fishing continues at the pace it was set for this year, then the scientists at the Institute of Marine Research believe that a collapse in the mackerel and herring stocks is possible. This is another reason why my thes...