RV Cefas Endeavour 15/18
Cruise summary report
| Cruise Info. | |
| Ship name (ship code) | RV Cefas Endeavour (74E9) |
| Cruise identifier | 15/18 |
| Cruise period | 2018-08-10 — 2018-09-10 |
| Status | Completed |
| Port of departure | Lowestoft, United Kingdom |
| Port of return | Lowestoft, United Kingdom |
| Purpose | Research |
| Objectives | Primary 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 CEnd 15/18 left Lowestoft on August 10th, at approximately 21:00hrs and proceeded to travel to prime station 1 at the south of the survey grid. Between August 11th and 15th, 16 standard tows and two additional “zero-minute” tows were completed as the survey moved north. The focus of the survey then switched to the Alter-Eco project, which saw the SLOCUM glider retrieved and the Lyra glider deployed, and 24 associated ring net and 8 rosette deployments. Once this was completed, another 15 standard tows and two additional tows were completed, despite lost time for most of August 18th due to weather. The survey docked in Aberdeen on August 22nd at approximately 14:00 hrs for a scheduled crew change. At approximately 06:30 hrs on August 24th the survey resumed, and two standard tows were completed that day. Between August 25th and September 7th, the remaining 44 prime stations were completed. During this period, major gear damage was sustained five times, with another tow invalidated for fouling of the halving beckett. Each time, the damage was repaired, and the prime station re-fished successfully. On September 8th, an extra 30-minute tow was attempted by request of Denmark. Gear damage forced this tow to be repeated, this time completed successfully, and another eight additional tows were completed and a plankton dip at the outer Gabbard before heading back to Lowestoft, docking at approximately 22:00 hrs on September 10th. |
| Chief scientist | Benjamin Hatton (Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science Lowestoft Laboratory), Tom Hull (Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science Lowestoft Laboratory) |
| Project | An Alternative Framework to Assess Marine Ecosystem Functioning in Shelf Seas (AlterEco) |
| Coordinating body | Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) |
| Cruise programme |  (0.75 MB) |
| Cruise report | (1.07 MB) |
| Ocean/sea areas | |
| General | North Sea |
| Specific | North Sea |
| Measurements | |
| Physical oceanography | |
| CTD stations | Quantity: number of stations = 29 Description: 29 ctd casts using ESM2 with rosette for Alter Eco |
| CTD stations | Quantity: number of stations = 33 Description: 31 CTD casts with niskin, plus 2 additional casts with ESM2 profiler only |
| CTD stations | Quantity: number of profiles = 6 Description: Calibration CTD following deployment of the gliders. |
| CTD stations | Quantity: number of stations = 31 Description: Salinity samples collected at surface and bottom using niskin at 31 stations. |
| Subsurface temperature and salinity measurements | Quantity: number of samples = 3 Description: Niskin bottle collection for salinity for calibration of both gliders/CTD. |
| Chemical oceanography | |
| Oxygen | Quantity: number of samples = 6 Description: Niskin bottle collection for dissolved oxygen analysis for calibration of both gliders/CTD |
| Nitrate | Quantity: number of samples = 6 Description: Niskin bottle collection for nutrient analysis for calibration of Seaglider |
| Contamination | |
| Suspended matter | Quantity: number of samples = 6 Description: Niskin bottle collection for dissolved SPM for calibration of both gliders/CTD. |
| Biology and fisheries | |
| Phytoplankton pigs (eg chlorophyll, fluorescence) | Quantity: number of samples = 6 Description: Niskin bottle collection for bulk chlorophyll for calibration of both gliders/CTD. |
| Phytoplankton pigs (eg chlorophyll, fluorescence) | Quantity: number of experiments = 107 Description: Pigment and flow cytometry conducted at 60 stations |
| Zooplankton | Quantity: number of stations = 25 Description: 25 plankton ring nets for Alter Eco |
| Zooplankton | Quantity: number of hauls = 24 Description: Ring-net sample collection for microscopic identification of zooplankton samples. |
| Demersal fish | Quantity: number of hauls = 97 Description: 77 stations fished with hybrid GOV, 12 additional tows and one fished for Denmark, seven were invalid. |
| Acoustic reflection on marine organisms. | Quantity: activity duration in days = 21 Description: Waveglider fisheries acoustics |
| Taggings | Quantity: number of specimens = 27 Description: 27 elasmobranchs tagged with Petersen discs |
| Other biological/fisheries measurement | Quantity: number of samples = 8800 Description: 8800 biological samples, including otoliths collected for ageing purposes for commercial fish |
| Moorings, landers, buoys | |
| Biology and fisheries | |
| Biochemical measurements (eg lipids, amino acids) | 56° 13' 4" N 2° 3' 54" W — buoyancy glider #345 "Cabot" recovered |
| Biochemical measurements (eg lipids, amino acids) | 56° 12' 0" N 2° 34' 11" W — SV3 waveglider "Lyra" deployed with biogeochemical sensors |
| Acoustic reflection on marine organisms. | 55° 1' 59" N 1° 30' 0" W — Cefas Waveglider deployed (for 3 weeks), with WBAT fisheries acoustics |
