Marine

  • 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...

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  • 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,...

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  • Celebrating Merchant Navy Day

    3rd September 2019 by

    Today is Merchant Navy Day. For those of you who may not be aware, since 2000 Merchant Navy Day has honoured the brave men and women who kept our ‘island nation’ afloat during both World Wars, and celebrated our dependence on modern day merchant seafarers who are responsible for 95% of the UK’s imports, including...

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  • 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...

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  • 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...

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  • 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,...

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  • 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...

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  • 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...

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  • 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...

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  • Nephrops on the East Coast

    9th August 2019 by

    MRV Alba na Mara

    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. To collect...

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