RV Corystes COR7/96
Cruise summary report
| Cruise Info. | |
| Ship name (ship code) | RV Corystes (74RY) |
| Cruise identifier | COR7/96 |
| Cruise period | 1996-05-10 — 1996-05-29 |
| Status | Completed |
| Port of departure | Lowestoft, United Kingdom |
| Port of return | Lowestoft, United Kingdom |
| Purpose | Research |
| Objectives | 1. To conduct further sampling at an experimentally dredged area off the Norfolk coast, using grab, side-scan sonar and underwater camera in order to establish the time required for recovery of the sea bed fauna.
2. To sample horse-mussels from the Humber/Wash area for later analyses of contaminants in flesh. 3. To sample the meiofauna at selected waste disposal sites. 4. To sample the sediments and benthos off the Tyne for time-series studies using grab, core and beam trawl. 5. To obtain further samples of the benthos on the Dogger Bank, along with zooplankton samples, for contaminant analyses. 6. To sample offshore locations in the North Sea, English Channel and Irish Sea for the long-term monitoring of temporal trends in the benthos and sediments. 7. To sample the benthos of gravels off the Humber and Lowestoft using the Hamon grab. 8. To sample fish stomachs for feeding studies at selected aggregate extraction sites. 9. To conduct a survey at the Hastings Shingle Bank aggregate extraction site using side-scan sonar and Hamon grab. 10. To sample sediments at the Plymouth and Liverpool Bay sewage-sludge disposal sites for later analyses of trace metal concentrations. 11. To sample the sediments and benthos off Milford Haven following the Sea Empress oil spill. 12. To conduct trials of a re-inforced 2-metre beam trawl at representative west coast sites. There was insufficient opportunity to conduct such work off the west coast. 13. To sample the benthos of commercial gravel deposits at representative west coast sites as part of an assessment of natural regional variability. 14. To collect beam trawl samples at representative locations for the analysis of litter content. 15. To collect samples of fish from Liverpool Bay for contaminant analyses. 16. To conduct a survey at the Barrow-in-Furness dredged material disposal site using grab and side-scan sonar. 17. To sample the benthos of gravels at an aggregate extraction site off the Isle of Wight. 18. To conduct a tracer survey of sediments at Area 107 (a sand extraction area in the Wash) using a Shipek grab. Eight aims were successfully achieved, and a further 5 achieved in part; 3 extra aims were also incorporated during the course of the cruise. Those not addressed were largely off the west coast, where the extra demands of sampling associated with the Sea Empress oil spill meant that work in the Irish Sea was not feasible in the time available. This work will be addressed during future AEP2 cruises. |
| Chief scientist | Hubert Llewelyn Rees (Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Burnham Laboratory) |
| Cruise report |  (0.21 MB) |
| Ocean/sea areas | |
| General | English Channel North Sea Irish Sea and St. George's Channel |
| Specific | North Sea, English Channel, Bristol Channel, Celtic Sea |
| Track charts |  |
| Measurements | |
| Biology and fisheries | |
| Phytoplankton | Quantity: number of stations = 7 Description: plankton survey |
| Zooplankton | Quantity: number of stations = 7 Description: plankton survey |
| Demersal fish | Quantity: number of stations = 26 |
| Other biological/fisheries measurement | Quantity: number of stations = 7 Description: underwater TV survey |
| Geology and geophysics | |
| Dredge | Quantity: number of deployments = 13 |
| Grab | Quantity: number of samples = 259 |
| Core - soft bottom | Quantity: number of stations = 13 |
| Long/short range side scan sonar | Quantity: number of stations = 13 |
