Vikingbank 2022825
Cruise summary report
| Cruise Info. | |
| Ship name (ship code) | Vikingbank (58Q9) |
| Cruise identifier | 2022825 |
| Cruise period | 2022-03-23 — 2022-04-10 |
| Status | Completed |
| Port of departure | Bergen, Norway |
| Port of return | Skudeneshavn, Norway |
| Purpose | Fisheries |
| Objectives | Catch Control in the Blue Whiting Pelagic Trawl Fishery
This cruise has demonstrated that the catch limitation system can successfully limit catches in the blue whiting pelagic trawl fishery, with negligible loss during the fishing operation while effectively releasing excessive fish when the codend is full. This solution can significantly reduce the risk of burst codends and discarding of excess fish, thereby making the blue whiting fishery more sustainable and potentially more profitable, through appropriate certification. However, further work is needed on an effective fish lock design and a bycatch release system that does not release excessive target catch. The depth-triggered releasers for reliable release of the codend choker also require further development and testing, which should include defining the optimal release depth. In addition to catch limitation, this cruise also investigated the potential risk to the safety of the vessel and crew, during haul-back and pumping, by estimating the weight in water of the catch with total loss of swimbladder gas buoyancy. Also tested was a prototype method to mitigate this risk during pumping, by automating the release of the pump by a depth triggered releaser. |
| Chief scientist | Michael Breen (Institute of Marine Research, Norway) |
| Cruise report |  (4.02 MB) |
| Ocean/sea areas | |
| General | North Sea North East Atlantic Ocean (limit 40W) |
| Track charts | (0.09 MB) |
