RV Cefas Endeavour 17/17
Cruise summary report
| Cruise Info. | |
| Ship name (ship code) | RV Cefas Endeavour (74E9) |
| Cruise identifier | 17/17 |
| Cruise period | 2017-08-04 — 2017-09-02 |
| Status | Completed |
| Port of departure | Lowestoft, United Kingdom |
| Port of return | Lowestoft, United Kingdom |
| Purpose | Research |
| Objectives | Objective
To carry out a groundfish survey of the North Sea as part of the ICES coordinated IBTS, using a hybrid GOV trawl in order to obtain information on: a) Distribution, size composition and abundance of all fish species caught. b) Age - length distribution of selected species. c) Distribution of fish in relation to their environment. d) Distribution of macrobenthos and anthropogenic debris. e) Surface and bottom temperature and salinity data using CTD cast and Niskin Bottle. f) Length weight & maturity information using individual fish measurements, in support of the EU Data Regulation. g) To collect marine litter from the trawl Narrative RV Cefas Endeavour sailed from Lowestoft on 4 August 2017 to begin the Quarter 3 IBTS North Sea Groundfish Survey for the UK. A valid GOV trawl haul was successfully completed at all of the 77 primary station positions. Surface and bottom salinity samples and a water column CTD profile were taken at 50 of the primary stations fished. A total of 9779 biological samples were taken for the primary target species. In addition, a total of 59 elasmobranchs were captured, tagged and released during the survey. RV Cefas Endeavour returned back to Lowestoft on 2 September. |
| Chief scientist | Benjamin Hatton (Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science Lowestoft Laboratory) |
| Project | ICES International Bottom Trawl Survey (IBTS) |
| Coordinating body | International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) |
| Cruise programme |  (0.21 MB) |
| Cruise report | (2.25 MB) |
| Ocean/sea areas | |
| General | North Sea |
| Specific | North Sea (ICES area IV) |
| Track charts | (0.09 MB) |
| Measurements | |
| Physical oceanography | |
| CTD stations | Quantity: number of stations = 50 Description: Salinity samples collected at surface and bottom using niskin at 50 stations |
| CTD stations | Quantity: number of stations = 64 Description: 64 CTD casts; 50 standard casts and 14 additional casts with ESM2 profiler only |
| Chemical oceanography | |
| Oxygen | Quantity: number of samples = 27 Description: 27 bottom water samples collected for dissolved oxygen analysis |
| Contamination | |
| Other contaminant measurements | Quantity: number of samples = 416 Description: 416 pieces of litter were found in the GOV trawl during the survey |
| Biology and fisheries | |
| Phytoplankton pigs (eg chlorophyll, fluorescence) | Quantity: number of experiments = 19 Description: Pigment and flow cytometry conducted at 56 stations |
| Demersal fish | Quantity: number of hauls = 105 Description: 77 stations fished with hybrid GOV, one haul completed for Denmark and 23 additional tows, four were invalid. |
| Taggings | Quantity: number of specimens = 65 Description: 59 elasmobranchs and six wolf-fish tagged with Petersen discs |
| Other biological/fisheries measurement | Quantity: number of samples = 9779 Description: 9779 biological samples, including otoliths collected for ageing purposes for commercial fish |
