Marine Directorate Communications
Written 87 posts
Scotia and Carbon
13th August 2019
The 1019S Scotia cruise (21–31 July) was a 10 day long oceanographic research cruise focusing on the role of carbon within the marine environment, primarily within the water column and marine sediments. I took part in this cruise in order to gather samples for use in my PhD research project from hot spot fishing grounds…
Nephrops on the East Coast
9th August 2019
MRV Alba na Mara Programme Survey 1319A Duration: 8-24 August 2019 Objectives: To obtain estimates of the distribution and abundance of Nephrops burrows in the Firth of Forth and the Moray Firth using underwater camera. To use the TV footage to record the occurrence of other benthic fauna and evidence of commercial trawling activity….
Mackerel and Horse Mackerel Egg Survey
2nd July 2019
MFV Altaire Survey 0319H Programme Duration: 1-23 July 2019 Fishing/Sampling Gear: Gulf VII plankton sampler, vessels own pelagic trawl. Objectives: To carry out mackerel and horse mackerel egg survey (ICES Triennial Survey) within sampling Period 7 of the 2016 MEGS survey plan along the NE Atlantic shelf and slope in the area from…
Nephrops Burrowing Complexes
6th June 2019
MRV Scotia Programme Survey: 0819S Duration: 2-24 June 2019 Gear: 2 x Scotia BT175 60mm prawn trawls; 2 x Day grabs and 1 x sieving table; 2 x towed UWTV sledges; 3 x 600m umbilical towing cables and associated TV equipment (including back up); COMPASS work: VEMCO deck box, transponder and charging unit for acoustic release;…
Small Isles MPA’s
21st May 2019
MRV Alba na Mara Programme Survey 0819A Duration: 18 May – 4 June 2019 Equipment: Hybrid drop/lander frame + calibration mesh HD TV system + lights (5 plastic cages) Armoured cable + spare + axle stands & bar Stereo TV system Day grab + table + 2 × sieve drawers EK60 calibration equipment Background…
MarPAMM Project
13th May 2019
MRV Alba na Mara Programme Survey 0719A Duration: 13-15 May 2019 Sampling Gear & Equipment: 3 x marine mammal monitoring moorings to be deployed 80 kg clump weight Vemco VR2AR acoustic release Loggerhead DSG-ST sound recorder Chelonia C-POD Overview: Survey 0719A aims to deploy three marine mammal and underwater noise monitoring moorings at sites in…
Connecting Seas on Valentine’s Day!
11th March 2019
Marine Scotland has been involved in a number of marine planning projects throughout Europe. The INTERREG NorthSEE Project is one of those projects (along with MUSES, that we blogged about last week) and recently, they held their final “Connecting Seas” conference, to mark the end of the project. The conference was jointly organised with the…
MUSES Update
8th March 2019
After 2 years, the Horizon 2020 funded, Multi-use in European Seas (MUSES) project has come to an end. The project, which began on 1st November 2016 and ran until 31st October 2018, investigated marine Multi-use (MU) in the 5 European sea basins (Baltic Sea, North Sea, Black Sea, Mediterranean and Eastern Atlantic). The aim of…
Work Placements at the Marine Laboratory
6th March 2019
Marine Scotland regularly host work experience placements for pupils from across Scotland. In February, two pupils from two schools in Aberdeenshire spent time learning about some of the work in the laboratory. They got to meet with Marine Scotland staff working in teams from the: Fish Health Inspectorate, Engineering, Fisheries, Renewables, Zooplankton, Disease Diagnostics, Genetics,…
The Wider Picture – OCSAM Goes Stateside!
27th February 2019
Dr Colin Moffat, Chief Scientific Officer Marine (OCSAM), recently visited the United Nations in New York. Here he talks about what he was doing there: “There is little doubt about the criticality of sound evidence to ensure that our decisions are appropriate. In Scotland we have a reasonable volume of data and information for some…