Test Run Today...

We are still en route to our first sampling location, which is sort of in the middle of the Aleutian Islands.  It's pretty far away from ANYTHING, but a good spot for fish because it's an area of upwelling.  We still have another day and a half of steaming towards our location, and once (finally) there, we'll begin trawling and processing fish- that's when the fun (and WORK) begins!

The trawl net before being deployed

After dinner tonight, we conducted a "test" trawl to make sure all the gear we have is working correctly.  We have more than just a standard trawl net to catch fish- there are special latches/doors that close to separate fish into distinct parts of the net, as well as a camera system to observe the fish going into the net.  I'll get into the details of the trawl equipment once we actually begin catching some fish :)  It's really amazing to SEE the trawl nets that I've talked about so much in class (well, in Marine 2), and how much bigger they are than I had ever imagined.  I am really looking forward to getting to our first spot so I can start doing some work- I never thought I'd say I wanted to do work, but that's what I'm on this trip for, and I'm ready to get my hands on some fish and cut them open :)  You all know I'm not squeamish about that kind of stuff, but everything we dissect is preserved, and these will be FRESH, so this will be a whole new experience for me!

Part of the trawl with a camera rig attached

The end of the trawl

One last thing before I go-  when we deployed the trawl net during our test run, there were lots of seabirds flying around, waiting for a free meal.  I'm not very good with birds (especially those of the North Pacific!) but I was able to spot an albatross!  I'm not sure what species it is, but I believe it's a Laysan Albatross.  Check out the photo, it's the best I could do :)

Albatross!

QUESTION OF THE DAY:
Why are there lots of fish (and other organisms) in an area of upwelling?