Solea, 715. Reise

Duration:     January 25 to February 12, 2016

Area:   Baltic Sea

Purpose: 

Part A: The main aim of this part to finalize the installation of the new scientific echosounder Simrad EK80, an initial test of the EK80 and the calibration of the EK80. Additionally, other equipment (new winch for towed equipment, multisampler for fishing gear) will be tested.

Part B: In the frame of the ICES-coordinated “Baltic International Acoustic Survey”, Germany annually conducts a hydroacoustic survey in September and October to assess the clupeid stocks in the Baltic Sea. The aim of the cruise, part B, is to complement these existing monitoring programmes with an additional investigation during the spring spawning migration period to reveal migration and pre-spawning aggregation patterns of spring-spawning herring in the Western Baltic Sea. The research is performed within the EU-Project BIO-C³, where herring biology and migration patterns are an important task to cover. Our major focus will be to observe the spawning aggregation and migration at the area of the Öresund and the Island of Rügen.

Part C: The aim of the cruise, part C, is to familiarize with and test the performance of the newly installed Simrad EK80 scientific broadband echosounder system. Additionally, time and weather permitting, it is intended to perform an initial day-night comparison of clupeid distribution patterns as a step towards shifting survey operations during the BIAS survey from night- to daytime.

Cruise report (PDF, english)

Scientific cruise leader: