Marine

  • Scallop Stock Assessment

    6th July 2018 by

    Alba na Mara

    Survey: 1018A Duration: 4-23 July 2018 Fishing Gear: Scallop dredges Objectives To carry out a survey of scallop stocks on the East Coast. To age, measure and assess shell damage on all scallops caught. To collect information on by-catch of other commercial fish and shellfish species. To identify and quantify numbers of starfish species in...

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  • Scottish Ocean Climate Status Report 2016 published

    4th July 2018 by

    Current circulation map

    A new report by scientists in Marine Scotland that examines the variability and trends in the physical conditions of the seas around Scotland in the last decade and further into the past has been published. Describing the conditions in 2016, the most recent year for which a full dataset is available, the Scottish Ocean Climate Status report shows that...

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  • An Egg Hunt of Large Proportions

    28th June 2018 by

    Returning back into Loch Broom enroute to Ullapool – 0118H Survey

    Survey: 0118H MRV Altaire (Part 3) Duration: 22nd May 2018 – 6th June 2018 This survey was tasked with providing answers to one very simple but, up to now, unanswered question. How much further west of the current survey extent would a mackerel egg survey need to go to secure a mackerel spawning boundary, in other...

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  • Live and Acoustic with Herring and the Sprats

    26th June 2018 by

    Scotia in Scapa Flow by Michael Stewart

    Survey: 0918S Duration: 28 June – 20 July 2018 Sampling Gear: Midwater trawls PT160 x 3; Demersal trawl (BT237); Seabird 19plus CTD; GoPro cameras x 2 with underwater housings and lights; and Scanmar trawl eye sensor. Objectives: To conduct an acoustic survey to estimate the abundance and distribution of herring in the north western North...

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  • Today is the day of the Seafarer

    25th June 2018 by

    MFV Altaire

    Today is the ‘Day of the Seafarer’ and to celebrate, we wanted to share a very special poem penned by our resident bard, net rigger and father of two Matt Kinghorn. It’s a little something for all of you who work at sea. Day of the Seafarer It’s not easy you know, going to sea, Maybe for some...

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  • Multi-tasking with the Scotia: Part 2

    22nd June 2018 by

    Scotia at Sea

    The second week on the Nephrops TV survey on Scotia was considerably less eventful than the first – thankfully! The work progressed well having travelled through the North Minch recovering and then deploying another COMPASS cetacean mooring at the Shiants, and then working down past Uist and Barra, replacing a third COMPASS mooring en route....

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  • Celebrating Science and Year of the Young Person – Julia Black

    21st June 2018 by

    2018 Year of Celebrations

    2018 is both the Year of the Engineer and the Year of the Young Person and this blog is about one of our many colleagues who are inspiring the next generation with their Outreach work. Meet Julia Black a Molecular Geneticist at Marine Scotland Science. Gummy bears and strawberry laces in science! Read on to...

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  • What’s at our Disposal? The latest from the research vessel Alba na mara

    20th June 2018 by

    Alba na Mara

    Survey: 0918A Duration: 18 June – 1 July 2018 Sampling Gear: TV drop frame, TV winch and cable, 2 x day grabs and RoxAnn. Objectives To undertake grab, underwater television (UTV) and RoxAnn surveys of sea disposal sites and assess the condition of the seabed, identify the predominant benthic epifauna species, and the distribution of...

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  • Multi-tasking with the Scotia

    19th June 2018 by

    Scotia in Scapa Flow by Michael Stewart

    MRV Scotia left Aberdeen on 3rd June 2018 to begin survey 0818S – the ‘Annual Nephrops Underwater TV Survey’ (UWTV) – covering Fladen (North Sea), the North and South Minches, the Clyde, and the Sound of Jura. TV operations went well during the first day until the sea state worsened so the survey was halted until early on...

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  • Benthic Biotopes in Barra

    11th June 2018 by

    Alba na Mara

    Survey: 0818A Duration: 8 – 14 June 2018 Gear: Seatronics drop frame (to be loaded 05.06.18) – SNH hire Seatronics lights (to be loaded 05.06.18) – SNH hire HD TV system + lights (5 plastic cages) Armoured cable + spare + axle stands & bar Day grab + table + 2 x sieve drawers Background...

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