Marine

  • Skate Research: Survey in the Loch Sunart to the Sound of Jura MPA

    19th September 2019 by

    Alba na Mara

    MRV Alba na Mara Survey: 1619A Programme Duration: 24-30 September 2019 Background and Objectives: Survey 1619A will conduct a benthic survey of juvenile common skate within and around the Loch Sunart to the Sound of Jura Nature Conservation Marine Protected Area (hereafter referred to as MPA). The primary objective of survey 1619A is to assess the...

    Read more

  • Rockall Haddock Survey

    16th September 2019 by

    Scotia in Scapa Flow by Michael Stewart

    MRV Scotia Survey: 1319S Programme – Rockall Haddock Survey Duration: 14-26 September 2019 Fishing Gear: GOV (Grand Overture Verticale) Trawl (BT 137) with ground gear D Other Gear: CTD (Conductivity Temperature Depth)  – Seabird 19+ Van Veen Grab Objectives: Undertake a bottom trawl survey of haddock on Rockall Bank to a depth of 350 m. Deploy...

    Read more

  • Half-way there! Monitoring the West Shetland Shelf

    9th September 2019 by

    Scotia in Scapa Flow by Michael Stewart

    MRV Scotia Survey: 1219S (Times given are in Coordinated Universal Time (abbreviated to UTC), 24-hour format throughout.) With a full complement of staff aboard, including 19 officers and crew and a team of 11 scientists from Marine Scotland Science (MSS), the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) and the National Museum of Scotland, MRV Scotia departed...

    Read more

  • Juvenile Fish Habitat

    3rd September 2019 by

    Alba na Mara

    MRV Alba na Mara Survey: 1519A Programme Duration: 2-21 September 2019 Gear: 2 x Jackson Rockhopper Trawl BT158 with 10 mm Cod end + Spare Scanmar net sensors – trawl width, height, and depth (x2 units) 2 fleets of fish traps Fish/prawn sorting table SBRUV – baited camera frames – (QTY 2) 2 x Day grab,...

    Read more

  • Prey Species across Smith Bank

    30th August 2019 by

    MRV Alba na Mara Survey: 1419A Programme Duration: 27-30 August 2019 Locations: Beatrice Offshore Windfarm Limited (BOWL); Moray East Offshore Windfarm (MEOW); Moray West Offshore Windfarm (MWOW). Objectives Primary Objectives: Study the distribution of prey species (fish schools and zooplankton patches) across Smith Bank in relation to data available from BOWL post-construction digital aerial surveys...

    Read more

  • We’ll be back! Our Return to the West Shetland Shelf

    30th August 2019 by

    Scotia at work with waves crashing

    MRV Scotia Survey: 1219S Programme Duration: 26 August – 11 September 2019 Introduction The survey plan outlines the monitoring survey requirements for West Shetland Shelf (WSS) Nature Conservation Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). WSS has been identified for monitoring survey effort following discussion between Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) and Marine Scotland Science (MSS), taking into...

    Read more

  • Scotia’s Hunt for Organic Carbon

    21st August 2019 by

    I am a second-year PhD student at the University of St Andrews and was recently very fortunate to be one of the research scientists aboard the Scotia 1019S survey that took us across Scotland’s seas at the end of July. Following an unpredictable summer, we weren’t sure of what to expect weather-wise at sea. However,...

    Read more

  • Nephrops on the East Coast – An Update

    20th August 2019 by

    Alba na Mara

    MRV Alba na Mara Programme Survey 1319A Duration: 8-24 August 2019 The annual Alba na Mara East Coast Nephrops Underwater TV survey returns once again.  A very busy week has been spent in the Firth of Forth working under challenging conditions at times, but despite 40kt easterly gales plenty of headway was made with the planned...

    Read more

  • Coring the Scotia on-board the Scotia

    16th August 2019 by

    It is 0300 in the morning and the MRV Scotia is steaming to the eastern section of the Fladen ground, in the central North Sea. We have received the go-ahead to run a short survey over the giant Scanner and Scotia pockmark complexes. These large conical shaped depressions found occasionally in the North Sea and...

    Read more

  • Scotia and Carbon

    13th August 2019 by

    Scotia in berth at Ullapool for blog 1218S

    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...

    Read more