News from the Abyss!
14th August 2011
In: News and Updates
Well, I've been out at sea for nearly 2 weeks now and it's been an odd mix of working like mad, anticipation and exhaustion so far! Fortunately, the most exciting samples are the trawls and we're only doing three of those during the time we're out here due to the time it takes for the net to reach the seabed. To get a net down to the seabed here at 4800m takes about 11 hours, then it catches animals for 2 hours and takes another 11 hours or so to come back up again. It seems like a long time, but isn't really so bad when you consider that we need to wind out 15km of cable to allow the net to settle on the bottom correctly!
A deep-sea grenadier or rat-tail
So far we've not had too much in the way of wildlife around the boat. Aside from occasional whale blows and the odd seabird (gulls, fulmars and shearwaters mainly), there hasn't been too much to see, but I am stuck on the night shift working 4pm-4am every day so that may not help matters! The trawl catches have been pretty cool so far too, with plenty of fish coming up to keep me busy! One of the most striking things about the catches though is how much human junk is coming up. Even out here, 300 miles from the nearest land we've managed to collect almost an entire net's worth of spent fuel (coal pieces I believe) from an old steam ship, half a boot and half a dozen beer and wine bottles. I'm used to this from inshore areas like the Clyde, but I wasn't expecting to see so much of it out here.
Abyssal junk
As far as the photography goes, the dive trip to Scapa Flow at the end of July was a great success and I've got a fair few photos that I'm really pleased with, and will be processing up as soon as I get home in October. If you want to see a sneak peek of some of the images and can't wait until October, I've put a small selection up on the Wild Ocean Photography facebook page for you to have a look at.
Diver on the wreck of the Koln at around 30m
So looking forward a little way, I'm on this research cruise to the abyss for another 2 weeks until the end of August, them I'm heading more or less straight off to Tjarno in Sweden for another 4 weeks of field work with a sonar and ROV in the Kosterhavet national marine park. Once all that is finished, I'll be back home to the UK at the start of October so you can expect new images to start going up online after that. In the meantime, keep an eye on the Facebook page for sneak previews of new photographs and I'll try and keep these news posts updated when I can with word on my location and what I'm up to!
A deep-sea grenadier or rat-tail
So far we've not had too much in the way of wildlife around the boat. Aside from occasional whale blows and the odd seabird (gulls, fulmars and shearwaters mainly), there hasn't been too much to see, but I am stuck on the night shift working 4pm-4am every day so that may not help matters! The trawl catches have been pretty cool so far too, with plenty of fish coming up to keep me busy! One of the most striking things about the catches though is how much human junk is coming up. Even out here, 300 miles from the nearest land we've managed to collect almost an entire net's worth of spent fuel (coal pieces I believe) from an old steam ship, half a boot and half a dozen beer and wine bottles. I'm used to this from inshore areas like the Clyde, but I wasn't expecting to see so much of it out here.
Abyssal junk
As far as the photography goes, the dive trip to Scapa Flow at the end of July was a great success and I've got a fair few photos that I'm really pleased with, and will be processing up as soon as I get home in October. If you want to see a sneak peek of some of the images and can't wait until October, I've put a small selection up on the Wild Ocean Photography facebook page for you to have a look at.
Diver on the wreck of the Koln at around 30m
So looking forward a little way, I'm on this research cruise to the abyss for another 2 weeks until the end of August, them I'm heading more or less straight off to Tjarno in Sweden for another 4 weeks of field work with a sonar and ROV in the Kosterhavet national marine park. Once all that is finished, I'll be back home to the UK at the start of October so you can expect new images to start going up online after that. In the meantime, keep an eye on the Facebook page for sneak previews of new photographs and I'll try and keep these news posts updated when I can with word on my location and what I'm up to!