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July 11, 2016

The rough North Sea!

BY: Jorge Blanco

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Somormujo lavanco

 

We continue our expedition up and down the length and breadth of the North Sea with news of bad weather, and today the rough sea has prevented us from bringing out the ROV to dive, and so we have had to settle for dropping the dredge and the CTD. The dredge has brought us some very interesting results, including a great many shells, sea urchins and a fish that was not a fish, the Branchiostoma lanceolatum (a kind of chordate that is less evolved than a fish).

In the afternoon we have had technical problems with the CTD (we hope to be able to fix these soon, although it doesn’t look good) and these have prevented us from using it again. It’s a pity not to be able to use it in a sea that, wherever you look, reminds you that humans have had an impact in places that are hundreds of kilometres from our natural habitat.

The last paragraph is dedicated to the gulls and gannets that have been following us since the beginning of the expedition, mistaking us for a fishing boat and hoping to feed on the discards that these produce, which leads me to reflect on the amount of food that is lost because of the discarding of unwanted fish!.