On the road again

We continue our trip with some swells but much smoother seas than this morning. The clouds have lifted as well and it seems that the weather will be better over the next days. We already have 5400 m of water underneath. We saw a trawler in the plotter, travelling east 22 nm from our position. And nobody else, just as good that we have everything we need. There are a few people a tad seasick but otherwise everything is going very well. I have gone for a walk and the ship looks fantastic after revamping a few details here and there. We also got new chairs, very nice and comfortable. Which reminds me I have to get the chair out of my cabin before it starts bumping on the bunk and getting on my nerves.

Yesterday I forgot to mention Teo. I hope his family did not worry. Very unfair, considering the time he spent hunched over my computer to fix my internet connection. He even gave me a cable. The problem is, this year there are lots of duplicated names, even in triplicate. Since this Teo is the IT guy I will refer to him as e-Teo, to distinguish him from Teo biologist. And I have finally seen Paco, so now I can confirm he is on board.

Our gear ready for action

Someone I know answered once when asked how many people worked in his company: “about 50%”, and here it has been very much the same until now. There is no break in the bridge, or the kitchen, the deckhands have been busy with the gear and Teo doing his daily checks. We, the biologists have had our usual informative meeting today and we will start getting everything ready tomorrow, setting up the weights and distributing the material in the lab.

Tonight we will set the time one hour back and we will have the same time as in Ireland, but Fergus can enjoy this only for one day because before we make it to the Grand Bank we will do it again - twice.

The view this afternoon

There are more news: there is a plant on board! It is a very homely touch, just as the jamón we started today. But something does not quite match. Manuel told us there are 10 jamones. The ship will be away for a hundred days. We used to start one jamón per week. Ten jamones are very few, we need some more!

 

The plant on board

Han vuelto...

Es lo que dirán los bacalaos del Gran Banco cuando nos vean llegar dentro de unos días. Hemos salido de Vigo esta mañana, sin novedad, con nuestro Vizconde que da gusto verlo, con sus dieciseis primaveras y como si acabara de salir del astillero. Como es habitual en el primer día apenas se ve gente por el barco salvo a las horas de comer. De hecho hay gente que me han dicho que está a bordo pero aún no he visto. Espero que ni falte ni sobre nadie. Los más expertos están descansando en previsión de lo que se nos viene encima y los menos expertos acostumbrándose a la vida en continuo movimiento. A la hora de escribir esto ya estamos a 90 millas de la costa.

Este año venimos por parte del Vizconde Miguel, Isidro y Jose María en el puente, Héctor, Jesús, Santomé y Manuel en la cocina, en cubierta estarán David, Marín, Juan, Javier de La Guardia, Alberto, Rubén, Luis y Luis de Marín, y en la sala de máquinas están Ramón, Jesús, Jose Juan, Juan  y Román. La tropa bióloga la formamos Jose Luis, Marta, Jose, y Jose Luis V, por parte del IEO, Antonio, Lucía, Vanessa S, Cristina, Nair, Teo y Vanessa C, contratados para participar en estas campañas NAFO, y los estudiantes Jorge de la Universidad de Alicante, y Fergus, de la University College of Cork. Y yo, claro, que también soy de la plantilla del IEO. 

Listos para zarpar

Los habituales del blog ya os habreis dado cuenta de que hay algunos nombres nuevos, pero que no tema nadie que salvo los estudiantes todos llevamos unas cuantas campañas hechas y esto va a salir estupendamente. O eso espero, porque también habreis observado que salimos unos días antes de lo habitual y en la zona en la que vamos a trabajar eso puede afectar a los resultados.

Este año tenemos novedades en Platuxa, como el prototipo del proyecto iSEAS, del que hablaremos pronto. De momento os adelanto que es una cámara instalada sobre una de las cintas transportadoras en el parque de pesca. Esta cámara lleva incorporado un programa para reconocimiento de varias especies de peces, y aunque no es la primera campaña de la cámara, sí que es la primera vez que viene a Platuxa. Marta se va a encargar de ella.

También habrá muestreos adicionales, como el de microbiota de peces de profundidad que va a realizar Fergus. Muy, muy interesante. Hay alguna novedad más pero me la guardo para otro día.

Ahora sólo queda esperar que encontremos más pescado que el año pasado, que fue muy flojo. Podeis ver el informe en el repositorio del IEO, usando este enlace: http://www.repositorio.ieo.es/e-ieo/handle/10508/10789

De momento yo me llevé la alegría de ver que el Vizconde de Eza estaba atracado muy cerca del Santa Isabel, un arrastrero portugués veterano y gemelo del Santa Cristina, que nos encontramos el año pasado en el Gran Banco. Que barco más bonito y más elegante, estuvimos comentando ayer Román y yo. Los que vivís en Vigo no dejeis de fijaros cuando paseis por Beiramar (¡pero ojo con el tráfico!). El Santa Isabel no tiene pérdida, es el barco más bonito que hay en el puerto. 

El Santa Isabel en Vigo

Soltando amarras. De izquierda a derecha Juan, Rubén, David y Javier.

They are back...

This is what cod in the Grand Bank will probably say when we get there in a few days. We left Vigo this morning, as planned, in our Vizconde de Eza, 16 year old and looking as good as new.

As it is usual in departure day there are hardly any people around except at lunch and dinner time. I haven’t actually seen yet a few crew members, I hope no one is missing and I hope there are no more people than expected. The veterans are taking it easy in preparation for the weeks (or months) ahead, the newcomers are getting used to life in continuous movement. At the time of writing we are already 90 nm from the coast.

This year the Vizconde crew are Miguel, Isidro and Jose María in the bridge, Héctor, Jesús, Santomé and Manuel in the kitchen, on deck we will have David, Marín, Juan, Javier de La Guardia, Alberto,  Rubén, Luis y Luis de Marín; in the engine room will be Ramón, Jesús, Jose Juan, Juan y Román. The biologists are Jose Luis, Marta, Jose and Jose Luis V from IEO; Antonio, Lucía, Vanessa S, Cristina, Nair, Teo and Vanessa C will join us for the duration of the three NAFO surveys, and the students Jorge from the University of Alicante and Fergus from the University College of Cork. And me, of course, also from IEO.

Ready for departure

Our usual followers will have already spotted a few new names, but do not worry: except for the students, everybody has been in several surveys before and this is going to work out very well. My only worry is that we are starting earlier than usual and in our work area it can make a difference.

There are some news in the survey, as the iSEAS project prototype. We will tell you more about this project soon. For the time being I’ll tell you that the prototype is a camera installed above one of the conveyor belts in the working deck. The camera includes software to recognise several fish species. The camera has been tested before but it is the first time that it will be used in Platuxa. Marta is in charge of the camera.

We have also planned some microbiological sampling. Fergus will take samples from some of the deepwater fish. Very, very interesting stuff. There are more news but I’ll keep them for later. Now we can only hope we will find more fish than last year, when we fished so little. You can find the 2016 report in the IEO e-repository: http://www.repositorio.ieo.es/e-ieo/handle/10508/10789

But for starters I was more than happy to see that the Vizconde de Eza  was moored very close to the Santa Isabel, a veteran Portuguese trawler, and twin of the Santa Cristina, which we saw last year in the Grand Bank. What a beautiful and elegant ship, Román and me agreed last evening.  If you happen to be in Vigo take a look if you drive Beiramar Ave. – beware of the traffic, though! The Santa Isabel is unmissable: simply the most beautiful ship in the harbour.  

The Santa Isabel last evening in Vigo

Casting off. From left to right, on deck: Juan, Rubén, David and Javier