FFS Walther Herwig III 418
Cruise summary report
| Cruise Info. | |
| Ship name (ship code) | FFS Walther Herwig III (06NI) |
| Cruise identifier | 418 |
| Cruise period | 2018-07-24 — 2018-08-15 |
| Status | Completed |
| Port of departure | Bremerhaven, Germany |
| Port of return | Bremerhaven, Germany |
| Purpose | Research |
| Objectives | Cruise WH418 covered fisheries research representing the German contribution to the International Bottom Trawl Survey (IBTS) in quarter 3, as well as one component of the two-ship operation in the German Small-scale Bottom Trawl Survey (GSBTS). Both surveys use the same principle fishing methods but at different spatial scales, applying a GOV otter board trawl. A large subset of the fishing hauls is accompanied by hydrographic measurements and investigations of benthic epifauna, infauna and sediments. Bycatch of marine litter in the GOV is reported.
The GSBTS is a national program to monitor small-scale variability as well as long term changes in demersal fish assemblages in relation to physical and biological habitat characteristics. In order to fully cover the international IBTS programme, the GSBTS component of the cruise had to be reduced due to weather conditions and technical constraints. Originally, the cruise was scheduled to last from 19 July to 15 August, but due to various technical failures, Walther Herwig could not depart before 24 July and had to return to port for repairs from 29 July to 01 August. |
| Chief scientist | Anne Sell (Thünen Institute of Sea Fisheries, Bremerhaven) |
| Project | ICES International Bottom Trawl Survey (IBTS) |
| Coordinating body | International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) |
| Cruise report |  (1.61 MB) |
| NPRC | (1.08 MB) |
| Ocean/sea areas | |
| General | North Sea |
| Track charts | (0.17 MB) |
