Beaufort Sea

We’ve been moving almost constantly for the last two days. Noon on the 24th we left Tuk toward the Kugmallit gas vents. These gas vents are caused by shallow layers of petroleum substances under the sea floor. Where these types of methane vents have been found in other parts of the world the zooplankton and benthic invertebrates living here seem to have a type of bacterial organism living within them that acts in a symbiotic relationship providing the larger animal with a source of energy (as explained to me by Alec). Here we sampled with the CTD unit (water quality profiling), box cores and fished. I was bored waiting for our turn to fish, as we all use the crane to lift our gear into the water, so I helped out with the box core sampling – what a messy job! Basically they take giant samples (~1m3) of the ocean floor sediment in a large grab sampler. This is then separated out into a number of different samples for grain size, core profiles, radioisotope analysis, fatty acids and sorted for benthics. By the time the crane brings the box up, sets it on deck, and it gets separated into the required samples everyone and everything is covered in mud! It’s great. Next was our first go at the fishing. We are using a beam trawl, about 5m across, maybe 20m length. We got the net in the water, and there was a lot of uncertainly on whether we were on the bottom or not, it will take the first few times to sort out where it is in the water column with the tools we have. We set the net for 20 minute intervals, and then pull it. At the gas vents we did 3 sets, and caught over 100 fish, including loads of arctic cod, eel pouts, eel blemy, snailfish, and sculpin. As we didn’t get to fish until after supper we were up til about 1am processing these fish (taking three different length measurements, weight, and stomachs from the arctic cod). After finishing up at the gas vents the ship had to head back to Tuk to collect a late piece of acoustic equipment, a few hours away. When I went to bed after 1am it was still as bright out as the middle of the day! The ship left Tuk in the wee hours of July 25th to head toward the next box core sampling site, about 53 nautical miles from Tuk. No fishing here. We left this site at about 10:45 and are currently headed west toward Hershel Island. This will be an important fishing area for us, and will keep us busy for the next few days.