Week 9: Fish!

We had three working days for fishing before Polarstern would leave the study area in order to reach our final destination Tromsø in time. Major objectives of the expedition now depended on the catch of the bottom trawl, since our yield of polar cod in the pack-ice areas had unfortunately been far below expectations. Tension on board rose, as the first net was hauled in after having trawled the bottom of the sea for 15 minutes (Picture 1). Then, there was relief: Polar cod were there! Altogether we accomplished seven bottom trawl hauls in the three days of work left. Seven times, the codend was full of polar cod. The fish were predominantly young animals, ranging in length between 8 and 22 cm. The biologists sampled hundreds of animals for morphological, biochemical and molecular analyses (Picture 2). About 200 fish were put into the aquaria of the fisheries container. They will be transported alive to Bremerhaven for further investigations. Along with the bottom trawling, we conducted daily casts with the CTD, multinet and LOKI. On July 17^th at about noontime, the station work of PS 106 was concluded. Since then, Polarstern is headed to Tromsø. Until we reach the 12-mile-zone of the Norwegian mainland, automatic en-route measurements are continuing, e.g. atmospheric measurements, the automated DNA sampling of algae communities with AutoFIM, and the zooplankton and fish echosounder.

In the meantime, all boxes were packed and stowed in containers, and the ship’s laboratories have been cleaned. Crew and scientists look back at a laborious but successful expedition. We leave with the words of the great Douglas Adams:

Farewell, and thank you for the fish!

Best regards from scientists and crew,

Hauke Flores, Chief Scientist