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April 23, 2011

An unsolved mistery

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© OCEANA Carlos Minguell

 

We started the day by doing a ROV video and taking a soil sample with the Van Veen dredge in a Marine Protected Area, which cover a beautiful archipelago at the Swedish coast to the Bothnian Sea. The weather was beautiful; sunny and calm. The ROV resolved a fine environment on 100 meters depth, with good visibility and we saw many scorpion fishes. As always when carrying out fieldwork, we experienced an unpredictable incident, a minor episode with the soil sample, which delayed us a little. When taking the soil sample on 30 meters depth, the dredge remained at the bottom, while the cable was pulled up. With a successful rescue operation with the ROV robot arm putting a robe around the dredge, we manage to get the dredge pulled it up to the surface. Not only did we get the dredge safe return, but the dredge also included a mud sample; the purpose with the whole action to start with. The mud included a surprise: a smoked mackerel. For a moment we felt to be a victim of a complot, but this mystery will remain unsolved…

Before lunch our divers went diving close to a small island in the MPA to film on shallow water. They took some samples of seaweed with invertebrates, including the seaweed flea.

We then moved south towards an offshore bank, where we did a dredge and ROV filming on 20 meters depth.