RV Cefas Endeavour 04/20
Cruise summary report
| Cruise Info. | |
| Ship name (ship code) | RV Cefas Endeavour (74E9) |
| Cruise identifier | 04/20 |
| Cruise period | 2020-06-14 — 2020-06-28 |
| Status | Completed |
| Port of departure | Falmouth, United Kingdom |
| Port of return | Falmouth, United Kingdom |
| Purpose | Research |
| Objectives | Primary Aims
1. To carry out a beam trawl survey of the Western Channel, deploying standardised 4m beam trawls (x2) and water column profiler. Station selection will be based on a fully random stratified approach with gears deployed at each station where appropriate. Catches from the trawls will be processed to obtain information on distribution, size composition and relative abundance of fish, cephalopods, and benthic invertebrates, biological parameters of selected species. The data obtained from processing the trawl catches is collected in support of the EU Data Collection Framework (DCF) and will be submitted to ICES working groups and will also support other Cefas biological studies. Secondary Aims 2. To collect fisheries acoustic data at three operating frequencies (38, 120 & 200 kHz) and multibeam data continuously throughout the survey. 3. Collect information on distribution of macrobenthos; distribution and classification of anthropogenic debris; distribution of fish in relation to their environment. 4. To collect full depth, conductivity, temperature, and depth profiles at each trawl station alongside surface and near-bottom water samples. 5. To continuously log sub-surface (3m) salinity, temperature, fluorometry and other environmental data using the Ferrybox. 6. Collect water samples for caesium & tritium analysis under SLA22. 7. Collect specimens of common cuttlefish Sepia officinalis for use in Cefas cephalopod maturity training courses. 8. Collect surface underway chlorophyll samples for SLA25. 9. Collect skeletons of selected gadoid species for reference collection to assist in identification of archaeological vertebrae. Opportunistic Aims 10. To record details of surface sightings of any marine mammals, sea turtles and large pelagic fish, and record observations on jellyfish aggregations. 11. To tag and release specimens of various commercially exploited skates (Rajidae) and other select elasmobranches. 12. Collect specimens of selected species for ID purposes as well as length-weight measurements where still required. 13. All diadromous species (including allis shad Alosa alosa, twaite shad Alosa fallax and lampreys (Petromyzontidae)) found dead on capture are to be frozen and returned to the lab for analyses, marking samples with the survey, station and date to support DiadES project. 14. Collect a vertical ring net sample at the west Gabbard smart buoy, contributing to the Lifeform project (Defra) as part of the UK monitoring network for zooplankton. 15. To collect genetic samples from anglerfish Lophius piscatorius, black-bellied anglerfish Lophius budegassa and hake Merluccius Merluccius in support of the GECKA project. 16. Collect vertical ring net samples at locations previously known from samples collected on CEND 4/17 and CEND 4/19 for having clusters of seabass eggs and larvae. Narrative in attached cruise report. |
| Chief scientist | Ian David Holmes (Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science Lowestoft Laboratory) |
| Cruise programme |  (0.31 MB) |
| Cruise report | (1.02 MB) |
| Ocean/sea areas | |
| General | English Channel |
| Specific | Western English Channel (ICES area VIIe) |
