2. Narrative

The vessels itinerary was as follows:
Departure:	Acajutla 4 June.
Arrival:	Salina Cruz 13 June.

After an unsuccessful attempt to get bunkers in El Salvador, the ship left Acajutla one day delayed according to the original plan. During 4 days of work in Guatemalan waters the vessel steamed abt. 600 nm and 30 trawl stations were made. A hydrographic profile was worked off Champerico. After 1 day of work in Mexican waters troubles started in the ship’s main engine and it was decided to steam toward Salina Cruz for repairs. After 100 nm steaming northwestward this decision was reconsidered and the ship continued the work in the Tehuantepec Gulf after 1 day brake of the work programme. The distance steamed in Mexican waters was abt. 800 nm and 38 fishing stations were worked. The hydrographic profile southeast of the San Marcos Bar was repeated but cut with one station seawards, and a new short profile off Salina Cruz was made.

The course tracks and the fishing stations for the whole area is shown in Figure 1. The distribution of course tracks and fishing stations reflect the main survey objectives: to cover and sample the small pelagic fish species found in the inshore areas, and to carry out a trawl survey for langostino and deep water shrimp near the edge of the shelf off Guatemala. During the previous survey it appeared that the bottom fauna of the shelf in the Tehuantepec Gulf between 200 and 300 m depth was poor consisting mainly of Squilla. This is due to very low level of oxygen content. The main survey effort was therefore concentrated over the more important nearshore parts of the Gulf.

The weather conditions were favourable and did not limited the work.