RV Belgica 2009-22B
Cruise summary report
| Cruise Info. | |
| Ship name (ship code) | RV Belgica (11BE) |
| Cruise identifier | 2009-22B |
| Cruise period | 2009-08-31 — 2009-09-04 |
| Status | Completed |
| Port of departure | Chatham Docks, United Kingdom |
| Port of return | Zeebrugge, Belgium |
| Purpose | Fisheries |
| Objectives | a) Indices of abundance and biomass of adult flatfishes (mainly plaice and sole) will be calculated by means of stratified tows in the southern and central North Sea. The results will be incorporated in the DATRAS-database of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) and will be used in analytical population studies of these species/stocks. Additionally, several other investigations are planned, such as
(a) the construction of "age-length-keys" for a number of commercially important flatfish species and cod (b) documenting distribution and abundance of all commercial and non-commercial bycatch species (c) collecting an array of organisms that will be used as training material for biology students at several Belgian universities (d) documenting the amount and types of litter at sea. b) Research concerning authenticity, geografic labelling and stock discrimination using "finclips" (tissue samples from tail or dorsal fins) and "otoliths" (microchemistry) for sole, turbot, brill and sea trout (caught in the above mentioned tows). |
| Chief scientist | Kelle Moreau (Institute for Agricultural and Fisheries Research, Ostend) |
| Cruise report |  (0.44 MB) |
| Ocean/sea areas | |
| General | North Sea |
| Specific | Southern North Sea (Belgian, French and UK continental shelves) |
| Track charts | (0.02 MB) |
