Blogs

2017 Survey Blogs 

CE17007 GO SHIP A02

27th April - 23rd May

The Irish Marine Institute, in partnership with National University of Ireland, is leading this survey to accurately measure fundamental ocean physical and chemical properties, known as essential ocean variables, as part of the Global Ocean Ship Based Hydrography programme (GO-SHIP). GO-SHIP globally coordinates ship-based hydrography along a network of 39 ocean "sections" that criss-cross the world's oceans. The aim is to repeat these measurements to the highest standards at least once a decade. We are surveying the A02 section from Newfoundland to the shelf edge south of Ireland last surveyed 20 years ago.

CE17005 Irish Anglerfish and Megrim Survey 2017 - Leg 4

8th - 17th April

The main objective of this survey was to compile an index of abundance for anglerfish/monkfish (Lophius budegassa and Lophius piscatorius) and megrim (Lepidorhombus whiffiagonis) off the coast of Ireland and Scotland. The secondary aims were to collect data such as age and maturity of commercially fished stocks such as cod (Gadus morhua), hake (Merluccius merluccius), and plaice (Pleuronectes platessa).

CE17006 Transit Survey

19th - 26th April

This 6th Transit will trial remote accessing of the Multibeam Echosounder that maps the seafloor/ seabed. Tommy Furey and the INFOMAR team at the Marine Institute will remotely access the data acquisition instrumentation from Ireland, to assess the future feasibility of tri-lateral 24-hour supervision of the multibeam echosounder by remote experienced hydrographers and data analysts.

CE17004 Blue Whiting Acoustic Survey 2017

Blue whiting are a very valuable fish, with a local stock found from the south-west of Ireland to the Faroe Islands. They form large spawning shoals at this time each year. This makes them easy to catch, and also easy(ish) to count. Our ships use acoustics to count the numbers of fish underneath us – if we can find them, We all follow transects that ensures we cover the whole stock area.

CV17011 MAlin shelf sediment ReaseArch (MARA) Survey

16th - 25th March

A team of scientists headed by researchers from Maynooth University and associated with the Geological Survey Ireland and the British Geological Survey are undertaking an investigation of sediment accumulation off the west coast of Donegal. Sediment samples taken during the cruise will help with our understanding of sedimentation in the region over the past 20,000 years and assist in any future sustainable development of the region. The cruise is also serving as a training exercise in marine research for undergraduate and postgraduate students graduates from both Irish and UK universities.

CE17003 Irish megrim and anglerfish survey - Leg 1

14th - 24 February

A target of 35 stations/hauls are planned for the first leg of three legs, which brings us south west off the Porcupine bank, back north of the bank and then south to the Celtic sea, where we will demob in Cork. The objective of this survey is to estimate angler (monk) and megrim distribution, abundance and stock structure, as well as any non-target species caught. This is achieved through biological data collected from each species of fish and elasmobranch. Parameters such as lengths, weights, maturity (for breeding), sex and otoliths (a tiny bone found within a fish’s skull, which can be later looked at to determine the age of the fish) are collected to give a better understanding of the migration, spawning and growth of species.

CE17002 Ocean Climate Survey

6th - 13th February

The Marine Institute Oceanographic Services and Chemistry teams were aboard the RV Celtic Explorer for an 8 day scientific survey in shelf and deep water off the west of Ireland. 

 

2016 Survey Blogs

CV16038 Galway Bay post graduate training survey

21st - 22nd October

This group was comprised of six student in the M.Sc. in Coastal and Marine Environments program at NUIG.

CV16035 Biogeochemical Survey

11th - 18th October

Now what in the world does ' biogeochemical' mean? It seems to be a bit of a 'buzz' term at the present but usually leaves everybody, including myself, a bit baffled. So I'll do my best to explain what it means and how it describes what we will actually be doing on this survey.

Ok so the 'bio' bit refers to the biology, the chemistry term is self-explanatory but the 'geo' part really just means the physical features, such as light, temperature and currents, in the marine setting that impact on the observed biology and chemistry. These three terms rolled into one convey the sense that we are linking them together in an attempt to understand how they impact on each other and act as drivers for marine ecosystem productivity.

CV16034 GATEWAYS 3 survey

30th September - 9th October

A team of scientists headed by researchers from Maynooth University and associated with the Geological Survey are undertaking an investigation of submerged ridges off the west coast of Ireland. Linked previously with ice movement, these ridges can help reveal information on the dynamics of the British Irish Ice Sheet during the height of the last glacial maximum, around twenty thousand years ago. The cruise is also serving as a training exercise in marine research for recent graduates from Cork and Dublin City Universities.

CE16012 INFOMAR CELTIC SEA SEABED MAPPING

14th - 21st September

The second stage of the INFOMAR project and its mandate to extend its multi-beam coverage to all of Ireland's territorial waters, with much of the Celtic Sea still relatively uncharted in terms of modern seabed mapping techniques.

CV16031 World War I shipwrecks in the Irish Sea: commemoration, visualization and heritage management

 4th - 10th September

This is our second cruise investigating the fate of WWI wrecks in the Irish Sea. Our original cruise was conducted in September 2015, when we surveyed a series of WW1 sites in the Irish Sea using multibeam sonar. We also sampled the sediments around the deteriorating wrecks to get a feel for the biological communities living in them, and the geochemical constituent of the sediments. This year we will repeat the sonar surveys and sediment sampling to assess the evolution of the sites, in an attempt to quantify what (if anything) has changed over time.

CV16030 Rockall OBS Network - Retrieval

28th August - 2nd September

Back at sea to recover the OBS stations deployed in January. The crew of the Celtic Voyager has changed since our last deployment. Scientists onboard include 4 DIAS scientists and 1 German technician from KUM. We left Galway on Sunday afternoon and managed to recover 5 of our stations located in deep water (~ 2500m).

CV16029 AZBO '16 (Biological Ocenography of Azadinium) Survey

19th - 27th August

The scope of this AZBO '16 survey is to conduct original frontier research on poorly documented and understood attributes of the Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB) organism Azadinium in coastal embayments around Ireland, with an emphasis on its molecular ecology, population dynamics and biotoxin content. This microscopic plankton causes severe disruption to the Irish shellfish industry every year by making mussels oysters and other shellfish unsafe to eat and resulting in closures to production areas and aquaculture businesses.

CV16027 INFOMAR - value added training. Teaching the new generations what life at sea is all about.

29th July - 8th August

To choose a carrier in hydrography, survey and ocean mapping can be very rewarding. As hydrographic surveyors you will travel the world, very often in remote locations and you will a chance to work with incredibly talented people. On the other end, living onboard a ship for long stretches of time, being away from the comfort of your home and friends doesn't suit everybody.

It is therefore important for young students to get a "taste of what life at sea is all about" as early as possible in their life and this is exactly what the INFOMAR program is offering to Lucy during the current mapping survey....

CV16025 Chasing Dinophysis

13th - 23rd July

Dinophysis is a genus of single celled organisms that form part of the plankton. Their peculiarity is that they produce highly potent toxins. The toxins, although harmless to shellfish, can accumulate in the shellfish flesh which, if eaten by humans, can cause severe intestinal upsets. CV16025 will be investigating the distribution of Dinophysis in these regions. We will then know the origins of these toxic species which do such economic damage to the shellfish industry through contamination of the product. This very important if we want to mange the shellfish production industry in Ireland.

CV16024 Nephrops Underwater TV survey  of the Aran Grounds and the Celtic Sea

3rd - 12th July

Underwater television survey methods have been developed to provide a fishery independent estimate of Nephrops stock size, exploitation status and catch advice. The Marine Institute has been using this survey method to assess Nephrops stocks of Irish interest since 2002. Three surveys each of 10 days duration are carried out annually on RV Celtic Voyager during the summer months covering all the Nephrops grounds of Irish interest. The surveys are multi-disciplinary in nature collecting UWTV, fishing, CTD and other ecosystem data.

CE16009 WESPAS Survey Blog 2016

4th - 30th July

The Western European Pelagic and Acoustic Survey (WESPAS) is a new multidisciplinary research survey representing the largest single vessel acoustic survey program in Europe. WESPAS is the consolidation of two existing acoustic surveys, the Malin Shelf herring and the boarfish acoustic survey) into one. This new survey will be undertaken onboard the RV Celtic Explorer over the coming six weeks covering shelf waters from Northern Scotland to northern Biscay (Figure 1). The primary aim of the survey is to determine the acoustic abundance of small pelagic fish, namely herring, boarfish and horse mackerel for use in stock assessment.

CV16021 INFOMAR

26th May - 8th June

The Geological Survey of Ireland (GSI) and Marine Institute (MI) have conducted seabed mapping between 2003 and 2005 under the auspices of the Irish National Seabed Survey (INSS) and from 2006 to present day under the INtegrated mapping FOr the sustainable development of Irelands MArine Resource (INFOMAR) programme. INFOMAR is a joint venture between the GSI and MI. The programme succeeded the INSS which was one of the largest marine mapping programmes ever undertaken, with a focus on deep water mapping. The programme is funded by the Irish Government through the Department of Communications Climate Change and Natural Resources (DCCNR). INFOMAR Phase 1, 2006 to 2015 focused on mapping 26 priority bays and 3 priority areas around Ireland and creating a range of integrated mapping products of the physical, chemical and biological features of the seabed in those areas. INFOMAR Phase 2, 2016 to 2026 intends to map the remainder of Ireland's entire seabed.

CE16006 Submarine Canyon Ecosystem Services

29th May - 15th June

During our cruise, we will take core samples and study rocks to understand the sedimentological and geological history of the canyon system, we'll cast sensors through the water column to understand the oceanography (which controls the supply of food through the canyon), and we'll use a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) to study the animals living on the sea floor. Many of the animals we find in the canyon system are poorly known, so several of the biologists on board are taxonomists, working to identify the species that we encounter.

CE16015 QuERCI II Survey - (Quantifying EnviRonmental Controls on Cold-water coral Reef Growth Part 2)

24th - 28th May

A relative short 1 week survey out to the Porcupine Bank Canyon, 400 plus kilometres west of Galway, to look at cold-water coral habitats. As the name suggests, this is a follow up to the successful QuERCi I survey undertook last July where we discovered a new habitat of cold-water corals growing on a vertical rock cliff at the head of the canyon with coral mounds above and areas of coral debris extending down in the canyon.

CE16014 TRASNA - Transatlantic Mapping Survey

12th - 21st May

A multi-national team of European, Canadian, and American ocean mapping experts will launch the 4th Trans-Atlantic mapping survey under the Atlantic Ocean Research Alliance. These surveys support the Galway Statement on Atlantic Ocean Cooperation, the goals of which are to join resources of its three signatories to better understand the North Atlantic Ocean, to promote sustainable management of its resources, and to promote citizens' understanding of the Atlantic through ocean literacy.

CE16010 APP - Newfoundland - CFER Survey Blog

25th April - 18th May

The Centre for Fisheries Ecosystems Research (CFER), based at the Fisheries and Marine Institute of Memorial University, will be surveying the unique ecosystem located at the shelf edge off the south coast of Newfoundland. For the 6th consecutive year, we have the chance to work with the exceptional officers and crew of the RV Celtic Explorer, a state-of-the-art acoustic fisheries trawler chartered from Ireland with the support of the Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture of Newfoundland and Labrador.

CE16010 NISS - The Newfoundland Ice Sheet Glaciated Shelf

22nd - 24th April

The aim of this project is to collect sediment cores, using a vibrocorer, from known glacial moraine locations as well as mapping other fjord mouths using multibeam and seismic surveys to locate other glacial moraines. Material contained within the cores than can be carbon dated will provide a time constraint on when the moraines formed and would be helpful for reconstructing the pattern of deglaciation of the Newfoundland Ice Cap during the Wisconsin Glaciation 18000 years ago.

CE16007 Transatlantic: Galway to St. John’s Newfoundland

9th - 21st April

From April 9 to April 21 we will be conducting a marine survey on the Irish research vessel Celtic Explorer, sailing from Galway Ireland to St. John's, Newfoundland Canada. Scientists from the Irish Marine Institute, the National University of Ireland, Galway, University College, Cork, and Memorial University in Newfoundland will be working together collecting data on this transect across the north Atlantic. This research cruise is a survey that has been conducted annually since 2011 along a similar cruise track, with each year building on the body of work. The planned course intersects a persistent or persistently recurring eddy east of the Newfoundland Grand Banks at about 40W 48N.

CV 16014 INFOMAR

24th March - 10th April

This trip sees the start of INFOMAR Phase 2 survey operations and the beginning of a ten year plan to tackle the remaining waters around the coast of Ireland. This includes the Celtic Sea to the south, parts of the Irish Sea, an area in the Atlantic Ocean to the west Clare and a number of inshore bays and estuaries. Yesterday at 3 pm we started recording our first survey line of the new term in great excitement. Regrettably, much of the fanfare is absent from the long hours of the night-shift.

CE 16005 Blue Whiting Acoustic Survey 2016

19th March - 8th April

Survey coverage is a composite of vessel tracks with the aim of providing synoptic coverage of the spawning grounds over a 3 week period from south to north. Individual survey transects (east/west) are spaced at 30nmi (nautical miles) and interspersed with vertical CTD casts (c.60nmi apart) to look at the temperature and salinity profile of the water column. When working together, as all ships are coordinated to do gives a high transect resolution of 7.5nmi with numerous well spaced hydrogrpahic (CTD) stations. In addition we'll be looking for seabirds and marine mammals using both visual survey and passive acoustic monitoring.

CE16004 Monkfish Survey

25th February - 16th March

The Marine Institute instigated a new monkfish survey in 2016. The first section took place south and west of Ireland in January and the next section starts on 25th February and will be covering the area north of Ireland and west of Scotland.

The main purpose of the survey is to provide more information to improve the assessment of the monkfish and megrim stocks around Ireland but it also provides a good opportunity to improve our maturity sampling for many other commercial species. To achieve this we use an specific monkfish trawl net to fish on the sea floor. Each haul is towed for one hour at a speed of 3.5 knots and fishing takes place 24 hours per day. After the net is hauled the catch is transferred into the wet lab where the various species are separated and weighed. Additional information on sex, maturity and age are also collected.

CE 16003 Mackerel Egg Survey

4th - 24th February

Every three years WGMEGS, the working group on mackerel and horse mackerel egg surveys, coordinate a series of surveys to assess the north-eastern Atlantic mackerel and horse mackerel stock. The 2016 survey will involve participants from nine national laboratories in eight European countries, Portugal, Spain, Netherlands, Germany, Ireland, Scotland, Faroes and Iceland. The surveys will monitor the spawning grounds from Southern Portugal and the South of Iceland, between January and July.

Ireland has participated in this survey programme for the last twenty years. This year Ireland will conduct three surveys, two of which will be of three weeks, with the third of two weeks. The first survey will take place in February, on board the Celtic Explorer, and cover the Celtic Sea, Bay of Biscay and part of the Cantabrian Sea. The second survey will be in June, with the third taking place in August. Both these surveys will work to the west of Ireland and west of Scotland.

CV 16001 OBS network deployment offshore Ireland

13th - 20th January 

The aim of the survey is to deploy 10 Broad Band Ocean Bottom Seismographs (OBSs) units across the shelf offshore Donegal and out into the Rockall Trough in order to study microseims. Compared to earthquakes, microseisms represent background seismic noise generated by ocean wave pressure fluctuations on the sea floor which generate low frequency seismic waves. This project is a collaboration between the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS) and the Helmholtz Center GFZ Potsdam (Germany) with instruments provided by the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI in Germany). Scientists on board the Celtic Voyager comprise 4 DIAS scientists and 2 German technicians from AWI.

2015 Survey Blogs 

ROV Survey, Cadiz, Spain

24th October - 10th November

On the agenda is investigating deep-water chemosynthetic ecosystems off Spain including, mud volcanoes, cold-water corals and sponge-gardens. Such ecosystems are found down to 1000m depth and are fuelled, without sunlight, by chemosynthetic energy percolating upwards from the Earth's core.

Little is known about the biodiversity and food webs at these chemosynthetic ecosystems and the Deep-links expedition aims to sample and survey the biology, chemistry and geology of these sites to begin to build a picture of how these ecosystems work, and their role in carbon cycling.

The research survey is supported by the Marine Institute and is funded under the Marine Research Programme by the Irish Government.

Celtic Sea Herring Acoustic Survey 2015

2nd  - 23rd October

The Celtic Sea Herring Acoustic Survey #CSHAS for 2015 onboard the RV Celtic Explorer departes  for 3 weeks in the Celtic Sea and St Georges Channel.

Herring is an important commercial fish species and is among the top ten most valuable fisheries in Ireland. There are a number of herring stocks in North-east Atlantic waters and one of them, the Celtic Sea stock, spawns exclusively on the south and south-west coast of Ireland. At this time of year Celtic Sea herring are moving from their summer feeding grounds to their gravel spawning beds on the south coast. As the herring form dense aggregations to spawn it presents an ideal opportunity to estimate the total number of fish in the stock. This information, combined with landings and biological information from fishing boats, is vital to the setting of adequate quotas in the following year, which makes the fishery sustainable.

The main objective of the survey is therefore to estimate the total abundance (number) and biomass (live weight) of the herring stock in the Celtic sea. Further, to really understand the population we need to be able to break these figures down spatially and by fish age and maturity. How to sex and age a fish will be explained in future posts. To survey the whole area where herring can possibly be located will require around 3,000 nautical miles of cruise track, divided into parallel and zig-zag transects, as you can see below. This ship will be on the move 24/7 and will not dock until the three weeks are up on the 22nd of October.

World War I Shipwrecks in the Irish Sea

5th - 11th September

Over the next seven days, the team are hoping to survey six World War I wrecks, located in the Irish Sea.

Mapping the deep: the application of predictively modelled maps to European spatial planning

17th July - 2nd August

The DeepSeaCRU team from Plymouth University, working with partners from the National University of Ireland Galway, and the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, will set out on the Irish Marine Institute's research vessel Celtic Explorer, on a mission to test new maps of deep-sea sponge fields and cold water coral reefs of the North East Atlantic.

Deep sea ecosystems are some of the most understudied and overlooked habitats in the natural world, and have extremely important roles as regions of biological diversity. As the pressures from global warming and human activity increase, it is becoming ever more important to understand these habitats so that they can be better protected and preserved. On this cruise we aim to further our understanding of these important and rare habitats by using computer models to predict the location of two main types of community, deep sea sponge fields and cold water coral reefs.

North West Herring Acoustic Survey(NWHAS) 2015

24th June - 14th July

Welcome to the blog of the annual Celtic Sea Herring Acoustic Survey, where over the next three weeks the team of scientists on board the RV Celtic Explorer will try to give you an insight into life on-board a research vessel during an acoustic fisheries survey.

QuERCi survey (Quantifying EnviRonmental Controls on Cold-water coral reef growth)

9th - 23rd June

We are going to use Ireland's deep-water remotely-operated vehicle (the Holland I ROV) to explorer two of Ireland's deep-water Special Areas of Conservation where cold-water corals florish. This blog will be bringing you important updates and never-before-seen imagery from the deep-sea as well as a taste of life on-board the QuERCi survey.

Atlantic Ocean Research Alliance Launches Trans-Atlantic Mapping Survey

1st - 8th June

On Monday 1st June 2015, a multi-national team of European, Canadian, and American ocean mapping experts set sail from St. John's, Newfoundland on the first trans-Atlantic mapping survey under the Atlantic Ocean Research Alliance.

The survey is one of the first projects to be launched by the Alliance, formed in May 2013 following the Galway Statement on Atlantic Ocean Cooperation, whose goals are to join resources of its three signatories to better understand the North Atlantic Ocean and to promote the sustainable management of its resources.

Under this new era of cooperation on ocean research, Canada's Fisheries and Marine Institute of Memorial University of Newfoundland will use the Irish research vessel, RV Celtic Explorer, to map the seafloor between St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada and Galway, Ireland.

Fisheries Acoustic Survey Newfoundland

5th May - 1st June

Aim is to complete an acoustic-trawl survey to map out the distribution and abundance of northern cod off Newfoundland and Labrador. Also map out the distribution and abundance of capelin north of 50 degrees latitude in collaboration with the DFO capelin survey. Fishing catches will be used to scale the acoustic estimates of the abundance of cod and capelin and to gather important information on the size, sex, and spawning status of these stocks

Transatlantic Ocean Climate Survey 2015

21st April - 4th May

A collaboration of Irish and Canadian scientists that are transiting from Galway to Newfoundland and are planning on doing a wide range of research across the North Atlantic basin. This additional research has been funded under the Sea Change strategy with the support of the Irish Marine Institute, funded under the Marine Research Sub-Programme by the Irish Government.

The key aims for this trip are;
· Record and sample the Deep Scattering Layer (DSL).
· Characterise the biology and oceanography through an eddy.
· Collect temperature profiles down to 1800m every 30 nautical miles.
· Sample for picoplankton, CDOM (Coloured Dissoloved Organic Matter), hydrogen peroxide and nutrients throughout the water column.
· Collect zooplankton ranging from fish larvae to jellyfish to cephalopods.
· Record bird and cetaceans.

Blue whiting acoustic survey 2015

22nd March - 11th April

Survey coverage is a composite of vessel tracks with the aim of providing synoptic coverage of the spawning grounds over a 3 week period from south to north. Individual survey transects (east/west) are spaced at 30nmi (nautical miles) and interspersed with vertical CTD casts (c.60nmi apart) to look at the temperature and salinity profile of the water column. When working together, as all ships are coordinated to do gives a high transect resolution of 7.5nmi with numerous well spaced hydrogrpahic (CTD) stations. In addition we'll be looking for seabirds and marine mammals using both visual survey and passive acoustic monitoring.

CE1 5002 EM302 Acceptance Trial

16th - 24th February

The Celtic Explorer will begin sea trials in Irish water with a new suite of hydrographic and geophysical sonar systems, installed during an extensive refit in the A&P yard, Falmouth (UK) which began on the 29th of December under the supervision of P&O Maritime (Ireland) Ltd. The main work carried out during the refit was the installation of state of the art sonar systems for bathymetric mapping in deep and shallow waters and the installation of a deepwater sub bottom profiler.

2014 Survey Blogs 

CE1 4016 Celtic Sea Herring Acoustic Survey 2014

6th - 26th October

Chief Scientist Dr. Cormac Nolan gives some insight into life on board the RV Celtic Explorer during this annual 3 week fisheries acoustic survey.

CE14011 SORBEH: Slope collapses On Rockall Bank and Escarpment Habitats

14th - 27th July

SORBEH is a research project that will explore the geology and habitats of a series of deep sea escarpments offshore Ireland. Our target area is the eastern slope of the Rockall Bank in the North Atlantic. This research survey is supported by the Marine Institute, and is funded under the Marine Research Sub-Programme by the Irish Government.

CE14009 Ecosystem Functioning and Bio-diversity at Whittard Canyon

5th - 21st June

This survey will look at ecosystem functioning and conduct bio-discovery studies in the Whittard canyon, a multi-branch system of submarine canyons some 250 miles SW of Ireland. The survey team is led by NUI, Galway but comprises six institutes/universities from four different countries (Ireland, UK, Germany, and USA), all contributing different multi-disciplinary expertise to the survey. This research survey is supported by the Marine Institute, and is funded under the Marine Research Sub-Programme by the Irish Government.

CE14008 Transatlantic Ocean Climate Survey 2014

27th May - 4th June

The plan for this survey is to complete a standard oceanographic section from the Iceland Basin to the Irish shelf, an extension of a South Rockall line that has been occupied annually since 2006. Temperature, salinity, oxygen, nutrient, carbon and phytoplankton measurements will be collected along this line. This research survey is supported by the Marine Institute, and is funded under the Marine Research Sub-Programme by the Irish Government.

CE14007 The 4th Acoustic Multi-species Survey of the South and Northeast coasts of Newfoundland

25th April - 23rd May

This survey will look at the fisheries ecosystems of the South and Northeast coasts of Newfoundland. The data collected will increase knowledge on the state of some of the most important fisheries resources of Newfoundland and Labrador as well as the ecosystems that support them.

CE14006 Transatlantic Survey

12th April - 24th April 2014

Keep up to date with the blog from the RV Celtic Explorer as it heads for Newfoundland and Labrador, on its fourth multi-institution transatlantic survey. The 13 day expedition across the Atlantic to St Johns, Newfoundland will involve four scientists from NUI Galway, as well as students from UCC and GMIT. This research survey is supported by the Marine Institute, and is funded under the Marine Research Sub-Programme by the Irish Government.

CE14005 Blue Whiting Acoustic Survey

22nd March - 11th April 2014

Check out the latest from Ciaran O'Donnell and his team, including some great photos of dolphins spotted along the way. The survey is collecting acoustic data on blue whiting spawning aggregations and biological samples to determine the age structure and maturity state of survey stock and thus determine an age stratified estimate of relative abundance of blue whiting.

CEI 4003 GATEWAY II

22/02/2014 - 05/03/2014

This survey will collect cores and seismic imaging data of the sediments and landforms deposited in an important marginal zone of the last British Irish Ice Sheet (BIIS). This research survey is supported by the Marine Institute, and is funded under the Marine Research Sub-Programme by the Irish Government.

 

2013 Survey Blogs

Northwest Herring Acoustic Survey Blog

22nd June - 12th July 2013 

Tommy Torrades will be blogging from the Celtic Explorer with updates about this years North-West Herring Acoustic Survey.  The aim of the survey is to estimate the abundance and biomass of herring off the North West of Ireland and West of Scotland (ICES divisions VIIb, Via South and Via North) using acoustic survey techniques. The survey is conducted yearly by the Fisheries Ecosystems Advisory Services of the Marine Institute.

ScientistsatSea: Biodiscovery and Ecosystem Function of Canyons

30th May - 21st June 2013

Using the Marine Institute's ROV Holland I, a team of scientists led by Dr. Louise Allcock, NUI Galway explore a 15 mile stretch of sea floor along the continental shelf that drops down from about 400 m depth to 3000 m depth into the Rockall Trough.  The ROV is deployed from the RV Celtic Explorer.  This survey received funding under the Marine Research Sub-programme of the National Development Plan 2007-2013.

ScientistsatSea: CFER 2013 Acoustic Fisheries Survey

16th April - 29th May 2013

An acoustic fisheries survey investigating Cod stock levels in the Labrador and Newfoundland seas.  Led by the Centre for Fisheries and Ecosystem Research of the Marine Institute of Memorial University, Newfoundland.  The survey will also conduct oceanographic work and cetacean observations during the translantic crossing on the RV Celtic Explorer.

Cetaceans on the Frontier IV Blog

21st January - 4th February 2013

A multi-disciplinary survey on the RV Celtic Explorer led by the Galway Mayo Institute of Technology.  This survey has received funding under the Marine Research Sub-programme of the National Development Plan 2007-2013. 

ScientistsatSea: Oceanography and Climate Change Survey

5th - 19th January 2013

Rosemarie Butler, who is a stagiaire working in Research Vessel Operations section of the Marine Institute will be on board the RV Celtic Explorer for the duration of the annual oceanographic survey. Rosemarie will provide a blog about the activities on the research vessel from the perspective of a recent graduate working in the Marine Sector.

 

2012 Survey Blogs

ScientistsatSea: SMART Science at Sea Training Survey

9th - 10th November 2012

Cian Ryan, an Engineering Student from Cork Institute of Technology writes about his experiences during SMART Science at Sea Training Survey on board the RV Celtic Voyager . This survey received funding under the Marine Research Sub-programme of the National Development Plan 2007-2013.

ScientistsatSea: Celtic Sea Herring Acoustic Survey

9th - 19th October 2012

Aimee Black, who is a stagiaire working with Fisheries Ecosystem Advisory Services of the Marine Institute will be on board the RV Celtic Explorer for the first leg of the Celtic Sea Herring Acoustic Survey. Aimee will provide a blog about the activities on the research vessel from the perspective of a recent graduate working in the Marine Sector.

ScientistsatSea: CFER 2012 Acoustic Fisheries Survey

30th April - 2nd June 2012

An acoustic fisheries survey investigating Cod stock levels in Newfoundland waters. Led by the Centre for Fisheries and Ecosystem Research of the Marine Institute of Memorial University, Newfoundland, the survey will also conduct oceanographic work and cetacean observations during the transatlantic crossing on the RV Celtic Explorer .

ScientistsatSea: Biodiscovery and Ecosystem Survey of the Whittard Canyons

13th April - 29th April 2012

A team of scientists led by Dr. Louise Allcock, NUI Galway investigate biodiversity and survey the ecosystem onboard the RV Celtic Explorer. The Marine Institute's ROV will be used to explore the canyon system to depths of 3000m. This survey received funding under the Marine Research Sub-programme of the National Development Plan 2007-2013.

ScientistsatSea: 2012 Blue Whiting Acoustic Survey Blog

22nd March - 11th April 2012

A Marine Institute led fisheries acoustic survey on the RV Celtic Explorer which investigates Blue Whiting stocks . The survey is an annualco-ordinated, international survey with the Netherlands, the Faroe Islands, Norway and Russia also participating.

Cetaceans on the Frontier III Blog

24th February - 5th March 2012

A multi-disciplinary survey on the RV Celtic Explorer led by the Galway Mayo Institute of Technology. This survey received funding under the Marine Research Sub-programme of the National Development Plan 2007-2013.

 

2011 Survey Blogs

ScientistsatSea: RV Celtic Explorer VENTure Survey Blog

11th July - 4th August 2011

An ROV Survey investigating reef growth and coral health in the Moira Mound extension field, studying the off-reef and within-reef sedimentary environment and cold-water coral reef biodiversity and to locate the source of active high-temperature hydrothermal fluid venting on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. This survey received funding under the Marine Research Sub-programme of the National Development Plan 2007-2013.

ScientistsatSea: RV Celtic Explorer Newfoundland & Labrador Fishery Survey Blog

8th February - 3rd March 2011

Acoustic survey of overwintering cod off southern Labrador and Eastern Newfoundland coast.

ScientistsatSea: RV Celtic Explorer NewFoundland Mission Blog

29th January - 7th February 2011

The RV Celtic Explorer's transatlantic crossing for the Newfoundland and Labrador Fishery's Overwintering Cod Survey.