Getting suited up for some fishing. Kristin O'Brien, myself, and Lisa Crockett - we're ready to haul in some fish.
We set sail today for a fishing trip and to launch the Fish Spy! We will be setting out trawls tonight around midnight. This is the best way to catch icefish. They are benthic organisms. Which means they primarily hang out on the bottom of the sea floor. Icefish have no swim bladders so to hover in the water or maintain a position higher up in the water column would take a lot of energy. Swim bladders help fish maintain a neutral buoyancy so that they do sink or rise the to the top. Tomorrow during the day we will set out the fish pots in hopes of catching coriiceps, the red-blooded fish that we are using for the research. It's pretty hazardous out on the deck, especially when the seas are rough or we are using a winch to raise and lower equipment into the water. So we had a safety briefing. Everyone needs to wear a float coat when on deck. Those are the bright orange coats you see in the picture. They have a built in life jacket and a safety strap called a beaver tail, so the coat won't slip off of you when you fall in.
We spent some time chopping up some mackerels to use as bait. The fish nuggets are put in a bag that will sit in a fish pot. The fish smell will lure the coriiceps into the fish pot where they will be trapped. As you can see, Lisa Crockett found a choice spot to get a birds eye view.
We had to make up bait bags to put in the fish pots tomorrow.
I think Lisa Crockett got the best seat in the house. When the fish bait table was full she made herself useful and took some shots from above. That is John Betz next to me. He is both a Marine Lab Tech and and Emergency Medical Technician for the ship.
As we left Palmer Station we came across this leopard seal lounging on an ice floe. Leopard seals are very aggressive and determined predators.
So...tomorrow is the big day to launch the Fish Spy, weather permitting. It's been pretty rough this evening but I'm know we'll find a way to put our Fish Spy to work! Stay tuned.