RV Cefas Endeavour 20/13 Leg1
Cruise summary report
| Cruise Info. | |
| Ship name (ship code) | RV Cefas Endeavour (74E9) |
| Cruise identifier | 20/13 Leg1 |
| Cruise period | 2013-10-11 — 2013-10-20 |
| Status | Completed |
| Port of departure | Swansea, United Kingdom |
| Port of return | Falmouth, United Kingdom |
| Purpose | Research |
| Objectives | Aims
1. To carry out a multidisciplinary pelagic survey of the Western Channel and Celtic Sea waters to estimate the biomass of-, and gain insight into the population structure of the small pelagic fish community (sprat, mackerel, sardine, anchovy, horse mackerel, herring). a. To carry out a 24 hour fisheries acoustic survey using three operating frequencies (38, 120, 200kHz) to investigate: - distribution of small pelagic species - abundance of small pelagic species - distribution of the pelagic species in relation to their environment b. To trawl for small pelagic species, using a 20x40m herring (mid-water) trawl (Cosmos Fotø as back up) in order to obtain information on: - Species- and size composition of acoustic marks - Age-composition and distribution, from all small pelagic species - Length weight and maturity information on pelagic species - Stomach contents (stomach will be extracted and new image analysis methods will be used to semi-quantify contents) 2. To collect plankton samples using 3 different mesh ringnets (80 μm, 270 μm and 1mm mesh) at fixed stations along the acoustic transects at night and at a subset of trawl stations during the day. Samples will be processed onboard: a. Ichtyoplankton (eggs and larvae, 270 μm) of pelagic species will be identified and counted and combined with information from maturity to identify spawning areas. b. Zooplankton will be stored for further analysis back in the lab. 3. Water column sampling. At fixed stations along the acoustic transect, a Rosette and ESM2 will be deployed to obtain a vertical profile of the water column. Water column profile and water samples will provide information on chlorophyll, oxygen, salinity temperature, nutrients and the relevant QAQC samples for calibration of the equipment. Water samples will be collected and fixed on board for analysis post-hoc. 4. Seabirds and Marine Mammals. Locations, species, numbers and activities observed will be recorded continuously during daylight hours by two Marinelife observers from bridge. 5. Ferrybox Continuous CTD/Thermosalinigraph. Continuously collect oceanographic data on the sea surface during steaming. 6. Passive sampler: to further test the ability of a new (continuous) passive zooplankton sampler to supplement ringnet plankton nets with high resolution data on the surface. Focus includes sardine spawning, and key zooplankton prey. 7. To collect water samples for nutrient and TA/DIC analysis in support of a programme on ocean acidification to continue autumn time-series in area. 8. To collect, where possible, and freeze 2 kg samples each of mackerel, herring, sardine, sprat, blue whiting and dogfish for dioxin analysis as part of MSFD. |
| Chief scientist | Jeroen Van der Kooij (Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science Lowestoft Laboratory) |
| Cruise programme |  (0.21 MB) |
| Cruise report | (1.98 MB) |
| Ocean/sea areas | |
| General | English Channel Celtic Sea |
| Specific | Western English Channel and Celtic Sea (ICES areas VIIe, VIIf, VIIg) |
