Changes in Latitudes

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]

This year has been great but now I'm ready for more! Bring on 2013!! I got a great new pair of running shoes and a water tight jacket for rain running. And those shoes didn't come from Santa (Rigmor & Tron) for nothin'! Marius and I will go to Lisbon at the end of March and I'm signed up for the Lisbon Half Marathon. I also got a blender (from Bestemor Odny) to fuel up for my runs with smoothies (out of the Sparkpeople cookbook from Marius). The slippers from Mom and Dad are super comfy for post-run relaxing...not to mention I'll wear my 'made in Detroit' shirt on race day! Maybe this year with all of the yarn I have I can actually make that raglan sweater! I am looking forward to submitting my thesis and finding a job. Let's hope that 2013 brings good news on the job front! [My sweet new shoes for winter running - now the snow needs to come back]

[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...

[Northeast Atlantic mackerel] As you know, I am writing my thesis on mackerel behavior in the Northeast Atlantic/Norwegian Sea. I held a presentation yesterday about where I am at with my work, and the final comment from my supervisors was that I need to speed up the data processing/cleaning if I want to meet my goal of having that finished before Christmas. I have been going through 100+ GB of sonar data (the process is called "scrutinizing" in acoustic jargon). It has been interesting so far. I am looking a little into vessel avoidance. This work is very tedious at the moment. Staring at the computer for 9 hours a day is not my cup of tea, but if I can get through the data fast I can enjoy Christmas time without worrying about getting behind on my project. [Fall in Bergen last week] So, nothing overly exciting has been happening. I won't be running Stoltzen Opp this year because I was only given 10 days notice to prepare and I would rather beat my time n...