Findings on the third leg of the voyage are keeping us busy
- FAO’s Debora Catena knee-deep in fish found in one of the day’s trawls
Day 5 of the third leg was certainly a strange day onboard. Some of the trawls were empty while some of were full of fish.
In the morning and evening we struggled to finalize the biological sampling because as soon as we finished another haul full of target species was already on deck.
Sometimes it was also decided not to carry onboard all the catch, but only half of the net was taken while the rest was directly freed into sea, avoiding the unnecessary death of too many individual fish.
For our analysis and estimations, we need a maximum of 100 individuals per target species and we don’t want to take more than we need.
In this area we are finding a lot of Macroramphosus gracilis. This is not a commercial species, but for us it has been nice to examine this beautiful creature.
- Macroramphosus gracilis
This is demersal gregary species and can be found up to 500 meters depth, even if juveniles, measuring around 10 cm are epipelagic, so they are generally found at lower depths.
Despite the fact that its appearance would lead one to believe it is a very delicate species, the skin of this fish is very strong.
The scales could easily cut our skin, so we had to be careful in our handling.
We also found several Pyrosoma atlanticum. See the photo in which our fellow scientist, Yahya from Mauritania, holds this tunicate that lives in colonies. Each “tube” contains several hundreds of organisms.
We had also an interesting encounter with local fishermen who approached our boat asking for fish. Fortunately they arrived in the right moment and we could provide them with a very good catch.
- Yahya from Mauritania displays a Pyrosoma atlanticum
- Local fishermen
On day 6, we continue to be enjoy the spectacular view of seabirds diving into the water as soon as we release the catch. We have difficulties to tear our eyes off these beautiful and elegant birds while they fish just beside the boat.
- Splash !
- Our faithful companions during this voyage
During the afternoon trawl we found a fish with a strangely shaped body, so we decided to proceed with a dissection. We were surprised to discover some type of tumor that comprised about 20% of the fish’s weight.
- Diana and Alioune analyze fish content
- Fish size and the discovered tumor
Today we also would like to share with you one thing that all of us here on the Nansen agree on. This vessel, which is a unique tool for assessing fisheries resources in developing countries with the objective of increasing knowledge on our oceans, is surely not only that.
- Prayer aboard the Nansen
For those of us lucky enough to take part in this type of survey, it is also a place where different people from different backgrounds come together to work side by side, share their experience and their unique cultures, and blurring away all barriers.
Yesterday we enjoyed a great opportunity to participate in the prayers of some of the scientists from Senegal, Mauritania and Morocco. For some of us, it was the first time we had the chance to participate in Islamic prayer services, and we would like to thank the scientists for inviting us to join them.
Readers, we welcome your questions please submit any questions to us in the comment filed below. We’ll do our best to answer them!