Below is an extract from the current Cefas Endeavour survey in the North Sea. The current set of posts have proved very informative and give an excellent insight into the daily (24 hour that is) work carried out on board. The post below, from last Sunday is of particular interest to prawn fishermen. When there was a small but active Newlyn prawn fleet the boats did not fish during darkness as the langoustine were reportedly safely tucked up in their mud borrows - not so it seems in the North Sea!
The current survey is of particular interest to fishermen as the boat is gathering data about a number of MPAs due to be implemented soon. Visit the JNCC site for more information about the designated offshore SACs here.
"Welcome to the first of our blogs from the Cefas Endeavour where we are collaborating with the JNCC to undertake survey work at a number of candidate Special Areas of Conservation (cSAC) and proposed areas for national nature conservation Marine Protected Areas (MPA) in the Fladen Grounds."
Once again, the weather has improved (for now...) and we have managed to complete our video survey of the 'Scanner cSAC'. The seafloor habitats in and around the site largely comprise muddy sediments which are populated by a diverse range of animals which live on the seabed (commonly known as epifauna) and also those which burrow within the mud. A species that we frequently sighted during the video survey was the Norway Lobster (Nephrops norvegicus) - also known as 'Scampi' or the 'Dublin Bay Prawn' (see below).
A number of other creatures were commonly sighted during the video survey and these included burrowing anemones, sea pens and the 'sand star' Astropecten irregularis (see below).
Having completed the remainder of the video and grab stations the wind has picked up once again (as predicted) so we have decided to use this poor weather window to transit down to the next survey area which is the 'Turbot Bank nature conservation MPA proposal'.
Hopefully, the wind and waves will subside during our journey south so that we can begin our survey on arrival at the Turbot Bank...