It is the fourth year HI leases the fishing boats 'Vendla' and 'Kings Bay' for the mackerel cruise (Photo: Leif Nøttestad)
The mackerel cruise goes - follow it online
NORWAY
Monday, July 06, 2020, 01:00 (GMT + 9)
Six vessels will cover ten times Norway's area in search of the mackerel. This year you can follow them live on the map.
The rental vessels "Vendla" and "Kings Bay" set out from Bergen on Friday, July 3 with the Norwegian sea researchers on board. In addition, four vessels sail for the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland and the EU (Denmark).
Follow them on the map
New this year is that you can see the vessel live on the course map, with trawling stations. See the map here:
- Over five weeks, we will map an area of approximately 3.5 million square kilometers in the North-East Atlantic. It is well over a round around the world, says Leif Nøttestad, sea researcher and coordinator of the international cruise.
For the mackerel population has a huge expansion in the Atlantic. And ever more northerly.
Follows north
- A large stock that the mackerel needs a lot of space. Last year, much of the mackerel was poured north into the Jan Mayen zone and partly southwest by Svalbard into the Framstredet. There we could not follow the mackerel to zero line, that is to the point where the mackerel ends. We hope to reach it this year, says Nøttestad.
The annual mackerel trawl cruise is one of several important indices that researchers use to estimate how much mackerel it is in the ocean. Then they can say how much it is justifiable to fish - what we call a quota council.
The ICES International Council for Marine Research recently estimated that the spawning stock for mackerel is 4.5 million tonnes.
Paint with trawl and acoustics
The mackerel does not have a swim bladder and in the summer is scattered near the surface in pursuit of zooplankton. Then he gives a faint echo. Therefore, the main method of estimating how much it is of him is to fish at predetermined points with a specially designed trawl.
- We take samples of the fish for among others to find their age. Then we can calculate the size of the different year classes, says Leif Nøttestad.
The Multpelt trawl is specially designed to take standard, representative samples of mackerel. Here Ivar Magne Østervold assembles the trawl on board "Vendla". (Photo: Erlend A. Lorentzen)
- For example, how many mackerel that is one year old will have consequences for how much mackerel the mackerel will be responsible for fishing in the coming years, he continued.
The boats also record other fish species with sonar, mainly Norwegian spring spawning herring and hake. These indices will be five years old after this year's expedition. Then they are old enough for ICES to evaluate them, and consider incorporating them as a knowledge base in stock advice for herring and hake.
Is also an ecosystem tour
- While we are still on such an extensive voyage, we tend to monitor a number of conditions in the ecosystem. There are herring and hake, horse mackerel, roe crackers, salmon, mite and zooplankton. From binoculars to microscopes, in other words, says Nøttestad.
In addition, sea temperature, current and other environmental conditions arise.
Cruise to 4 August.
Author: Erlend A. Lorentzen / Institute of Marine Research
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