First SFI Harvest research cruise
In May the Artic University of Norway’s «Helmer Hansen» went on the first SFI Harvest research cruise. The shipping partners are also planning a research cruise during the summer.
Multinet for plankton sampling and further taxonomic analysis. Water samples were collected from selected depths for chlorophyll a filtration. A smaller trawl was also deployed to get smaller organisms. Freezing experiments of Benthosema glaciale (lanternfish) individuals for further analysis in th elab. The catch was mainly composed of krill (crustaceans) and Bethosema glaciale mesopelagic fish. Silage experiments where formic acid was added to preserve the raw material by lowering the pH. The body of lanternfish is covered by black scales that are easily lost during trawling. Waiting for the catch to come onboard. Testing different trawls for harvesting selected species. The cruise supplied mainly Bethosema glaciale and krill samples that will be used for processing and analytical experiments. The Multinet system allows to obtain samples at different layers of the water column with different mesh size for the bags attached to the instrument.