These days we are spending in the very north of the Bothnian Bay. We are lucky with the weather, as the sun is shining and the sea is incredibly calm. After breakfast the divers went diving directly from Hanse Explorer. They documented sand goby (Pomatoschistus minutus), and eelpout (Zoarces viviparus) on a sandy bottom, while two noisy … Read more
In a letter sent yesterday to the Finnish Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, the Finnish Minister of the Environment, and the Social and Environmental Minister of the Åland Islands, Oceana has formally requested an investigation be opened to identify the cause of death of a dozen seals at Bogskär skerry. The bodies of the animals, … Read more
Today I got up, like most days, at 8 in the morning, after a night in which sunlight woke me up at around 5. Funny, isn’t it? Days here are so long that they almost make the night disappear. Today we will be performing several study methods: trawl, CTD, ROV and diving. We will be … Read more
Oceana divers found a dozen bodies of grey seal juveniles earlier this week, on the seabed of Bogskär islet, south of the Åland Islands (Finland). The divers, who documented the finding with videos and photos, are part of an Oceana team on board the research vessel Hanse Explorer, currently on a two-month expedition in the … Read more
Straight after breakfast the two Zodiacs were launched. The scuba gear was assembled, the dry suits half way on, while we were discussing the dive to come. A call from the Åland coast guard put it all to a halt. Did we have permission to dive at Kalvskär…?…after about 45 minutes of waiting in our … Read more
We arrived in the harbour of Mariehamn in the morning, after having passed tens of smaller islands. Mariehamn is the capital of Åland Islands, which is an autonomous Swedish-speaking territory under Finland. Åland Islands consists of thousands of islands, situated at the entrance to the Gulf of Bothnia. Last year we also lay at anchor … Read more
This is my second day on board the Hanse Explorer, after the new photographers and camera operators have arrived. After my great experience last year, I find again an expedition crew that work perfectly and try to give their best. We are in Finland, and the day starts with a routine task, dropping the underwater … Read more
Today has been a day of work in harbour. The Hanse Explorer was alongside in Helsinki port, and some members of our team, led by Hanna Paulomäki, attended a Baltic Sea Seminar organized by the Baltic Sea Action Group, a Finnish NGO dedicated to get commitments from different stakeholders (government institutions, industry, other NGOs) to … Read more
We are in Helsinki. Gorka (video) and Carlos Minguell (photographer) are flying home tomorrow and Carlos Suarez (photographer) and Enrique Talledo (video) will be arriving. The day was a parade of video and photo material, particularly as Gorka is carrying 100kg in camera equipment, microphones, cables, filters, tripods, underwater cases, and a long etcetera… Carlos … Read more
At around 06:00 this morning we lifted the anchor and were ready to leave the relative calm waters of our anchorage, to set out to continue our rov operations in the EEZ (Economic Exclusive Zone). Very quickly we realized the weather had not really improved enough to safely launch the rov. By 07:00 we were … Read more
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