RV Cefas Endeavour 12/19
Cruise summary report
| Cruise Info. | |
| Ship name (ship code) | RV Cefas Endeavour (74E9) |
| Cruise identifier | 12/19 |
| Cruise period | 2019-08-07 — 2019-09-05 |
| 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 12/19 left Lowestoft on August 7th, at approximately 00:30 hours and proceeded to travel to the outer Gabbard to complete a plankton dip before arriving at prime station 1 in the south of the survey grid. Between August 7th and the morning of 11th, 14 standard tows were achieved as the survey moved north. Gear damage was sustained in the afternoon of 11th and following repairs this station was repeated. A further 12 standard tows were completed by 15th August and the trawl was changed due to low headline sensor readings. Catastrophic gear damage occurred during the first deployment with the new trawl. Once the net was changed again, another 14 standard tows were carried out between 16th and 19th August. The UEA sea glider was deployed after fishing on 19th of August and another station was completed before the survey docked in Aberdeen on August 20th at approximately 14:00 hours for a scheduled change of scientific crew and Master. At approximately 18:00 hours on August 21st the vessel left Aberdeen for the second part of the survey. Between August 22nd and 30th, 30 prime stations were completed and the UEA sea glider was recovered in the morning of 29th. A scheduled change of the ship's crew was carried out on 30th August, with the survey docking in and leaving Peterhead at approximately 11:30 and 23:00 respectively. The following day, the trawl doors crossed during the first station of the day. After the retrieval of the gear and repairs to the net, poor weather delayed survey work until the next day. The final five survey prime stations were successfully completed by 2nd September and 10 additional tows (0 or 15 minutes) were completed over the next few days before heading back to Lowestoft, docking at approximately 01:00 hrs on September 5th. |
| 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 |  (0.30 MB) |
| Cruise report | (1.38 MB) |
| Ocean/sea areas | |
| General | North Sea |
| Specific | ICES Areas IVa, IVb, IVc |
| Track charts | (0.24 MB) |
| Measurements | |
| Physical oceanography | |
| CTD stations | Quantity: number of stations = 60 Description: 60 CTD casts; 40 x CTD rosette; 20 x Niskin bottle with SAIV mini-CTD |
| CTD stations | Quantity: number of stations = 47 Description: Salinity samples collected at surface and bottom using niskin at 47 stations |
| Contamination | |
| Other contaminant measurements | Quantity: number of samples = 303 Description: 303 pieces of litter were found in the GOV trawl during the survey |
| Biology and fisheries | |
| Phytoplankton pigs (eg chlorophyll, fluorescence) | Quantity: number of experiments = 29 Description: Chlorophyll Pigment samples taken at 29 stations |
| Zooplankton | Quantity: number of stations = 2 Description: Zooplankton ringnets |
| Demersal fish | Quantity: number of hauls = 91 Description: 77 stations fished with hybrid GOV, 11 additional tows, three were invalid. |
| Taggings | Quantity: number of specimens = 21 Description: 21 elasmobranchs tagged with Petersen discs |
| Other biological/fisheries measurement | Quantity: number of samples = 8143 Description: 8143 biological samples, including otoliths collected for ageing purposes for commercial fish |
| Geology and geophysics | |
| Multi-beam echosounding | Quantity: activity duration in days = 29 Description: Acoustic data for 38 kHz, 120 kHz and 200 kHz recorded throughout survey |
| Moorings, landers, buoys | |
| Biology and fisheries | |
| Biochemical measurements (eg lipids, amino acids) | 57° 4' 10" N 0° 13' 41" W — Recovery of University of East Anglia Sea Glider |
| Biochemical measurements (eg lipids, amino acids) | 56° 46' 14" N 0° 16' 50" E — Deployment of University of East Anglia Sea Glider |
