Here we are, ready on climb on board for the third leg of the Nansen’s Northwest Africa voyage. We all arrived in Nouachott on 8 November in order to get onboard for the scientific crew change on 9 November.

After having completed  all the paperwork with local port authorities we finally climbed onboard.

Our friends and colleagues from the 2nd leg of the survey were waiting for us and they all looked amazed by exciting experience. 

We also met our friends who attended the Nansen  training on trawling and acoustic survey held between June and July 2015 in Durban, South Africa.

Afterwards, we followed instructions provided by the Captain and provided all documentation mandatory for this trip: the health certificate proving we are fit for the work at sea, the yellow fever vaccination and passports.
Now we are ready to set sail.

While IMR staff started the procedures to leave the port, survey participants were called for the first meeting with the Cruise Leader, Elena Eriksen.

All participants introduced themselves. Then Elena explained the aim of the survey which is to:

• Map the distribution and estimate the biomass of the main small pelagic fish species using hydroacustic methods. Target species that for this surveys are: the sardine (Sardina pilchardus), sardinaellas (sardinella aurita and sardinella maderensis), chub mackerel (scomber japonicas), horse mackerel (Trachurus trachurus and T. Trecae) and anchovies (Engraulis encrasicolus)
• Identify acoustic targets by midwater and bottom trawl sampling and process the catches by recording weight and number of species. For the target species, length frequencies are taken to describe the size distribution.
• Collect otholits of sardine and sardinella and training in age determination.
• Sample standard hydrografical transects for temperature, salinity and oxygen.

The survey, she said, will be a standard survey with transects parallel and perpendicular to the coast with a distance of 10nM per transect.

She also provided us with a briefing on daily life onboard the vessel, highlighting most important facts all participants should be aware of: working hours, watches, labs, cleaning and general rules to ensure good collaboration during our time onboard.

Next, the Chief Officer started with safety training. He also showed participants the EEBD/ELSA equipment which is funny but crucial in case of fire onboard as it allows breathing up to 15 minutes in case of dense smoke onboard.

We also had the opportunity to visit the entire vessel while checking for alternative exit paths.