Walther Herwig III, 396th cruise

Greetings from the Walther Herwig III! We are Tammy Noble-James and Sue Ware, marine scientists from the Centre for Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) in the UK. We were delighted to be invited aboard this trilateral survey of the Dogger Bank Natura 2000 site, and to be given the opportunity to contribute to a great example of multinational integrated marine research.  JNCC & Cefas recently completed a partnership project which investigated the benthic habitats and fauna of the Dogger Bank, and we will now be able to explore the fisheries data collected on this survey to better understand the ecosystem in a more holistic way.

Our team of eight marine scientists and students benefits from a diverse range of skills and disciplines, including benthic ecologists, fisheries scientists, an oceanographer and a physical geographer from Germany, the Netherlands & the UK. Together we have spent the last few days surveying the south-western part of the Dogger Bank, collecting fish and epibenthic fauna. These data will contribute to the existing time-series and allow long-term trends in biodiversity to be identified and monitored going forward. The better we understand these unique communities, the greater our ability to conserve them in the future.

Our typical day begins with a hearty breakfast, perhaps mackerel from yesterday’s catch, to set us up for a busy day sorting, measuring and counting. We are all excited to see the hatch open and the first haul of the day drop in. Although many species are common to most sampling stations there are also unusual fauna to be found in each sample. In addition to the standard catch of dab (Limanda limanda), grey gurnard (Eutrigla gurnardus), mackerel (Scomber scombrus), and plaice (Pleuronectes platessa) we have seen a number of interesting  species, such as a blonde ray (Raja brachyura), a smoothhound, and a spurdog which were successfully released back into the ocean. We aim to process five or six hauls per day, which keeps us busy for around twelve hours, after which we typically unite in the TV room in trilateral support of whichever nationality (or closest equivalent!) happens to be playing in Euro 2016.