Ship Surveys News - Offshore Reports
Survey Ended: FSS Mackerel Egg SurveyArea: Irish, UK & French Shelf.
Agency: Marine Institute
Ship: Celtic Explorer
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27th July 2010Sea state five, increased to six by late afternoon. No sightings were made in between the procession of heavy rain showers that intermittently obliterated the view. Tomorrow we dock in Galway, marking the end of the survey.
26th July 2010Another day of fog, which finally cleared away in the late afternoon. Sea state 5 didn't offer good survey conditions and yielded no sightings.
Awoke to fog a the porthole and began the game of waiting for it to lift. Throughout the day the fog woyuld vary between very dense and light. Just when I thought it was about to clear and made my way to the bridge, we'd enter another dense bank of fog. And so it was all day, never clearing. Ironically the fog began to lift just as the light began to fade...
24th July 2010Better luck with the weather this morning. Sea state 3-4 prevailed all day, with a light swell and good vis. The day was spent on a transect passing along the base of the north slopes of the Porcupine Bank. In the past this area with its slope & canyon habitat has prooved to be good for cetacean activity and so it was today with 4 sightings of sperm whales (6 animals in all), 2 groups of pilot whales (11 animals) and one group of Atlantic white-sided dolphins (6 animals).
23nd July 2010With sea state 5 and rain, an effort was made at survey in the morning. This was rewarded with a blurred view of a group of 35 common dolphins approaching the bow. However our run of bad luck with the weather continued as dense fog settled in and stayed for the rest of the day, marking an end to survey effort for the day.
22nd July 2010The morning started badly with rough seas and poor visibility. However by early afternoon things had calmed to sea state 4 and by late evening had dropped to sea state 2. Despite the good survey conditions no cetaceans were encountered as we trackked west across the top of the Porcupine Bank.
21st July 2010An attempt at survey in force 6 winds was abandoned by mid-morning as it became clear the winds were increasing. By mid afternoon winds were at Gale Force 8 and the ship spent the day dodging into the weather. All this didn't stop the dolphins however and we were treated to a show of breaching, surfing and other acrobatics as groups of common dolphins played around the ship during the day.
Despite a large swell, conditions were reasonable with sea state 3-4 for most of the day as we surveyed west across the Porcupine Seabight. Only a single sighting was logged for the day of a group of 6 Pilot Whales close to canyon systems on the eastern slopes of the Porcupine Seabight.
19th July 2010Another morning of grim weather with rough seas and big swells indicated another day in the office... However just after lunch someone turned the wind off and within a very short time the seas settled right down to sea state 3, all be it with a large swell.
As we passed some 20miles S/SE of Galley Head I started picking up blows and within the space of half an hour had counted five separate groups of animals, numbering some 8-10 animals. Though too distant to see the animals themselves, these were almost certainly all fin whales. Many of the animals were feeding below flocks of gannets.
That was it until late evening when a small group of c10 common dolphins were spotted feeding beneath gannets to the south of Roaringwater Bay.
18th July 2010Another dismal day weatherwise. Attempted some survey effort in force 6 this morning but as conditions deteriorated further by midday, effort was abandoned. Another day spent doing data entry...
17th July 2010A promising start to the day with light winds and sea state 3 but by midday winds had picked up to force 6 and touched force 7 at times. Despite this several sightings were made of pilot whale and common dolphin as we passed over the Goban Spur. Thye day's tally was 5 groups of common dolphin (65 animals) and one pod of pilot whales (6 animals).
A period of poor weather set in and scuppered survey effort as far as cetaceans goes. Though survey effort was condcuted in poor conditions (sea state 5-6) in the 13th, no sightings resulted. Two days of gales brought all survey to a halt on the 14th and 15th as the ship dodged into the weather. Another attempt at cetacean survay was mounted in the afternoon on the 16th but was soon abandoned as winds picked up to force 7.
Today proved to be a frustrating day in terms of weather and sightings. I was informed by Basil, the first mate that some common dolphins had approached the bow at 05:30hrs... so at least there were signs of life! Throughout the day the weather was fickle. Earlier in the day the seas were calm but small banks of dense fog drifted through the area. Later in the day the sea state increased to a four.
Mid morning the captain saw a single animal breach ahead of the ship just once. When animals do this you are either looking in the right direction at the right time or not... he was, I wasn't... but the description matched that of a breaching beaked whale of some sort.
Just after the captain had made that sighting, I saw a single blow of a large baleen whale (likely fin whale) in the distance but the animal did not re-surface in view. In the afternoon in flat calm seas a group of pilot whales (6 animals) was followed by a very distant sighting of some unidentified dolphins feeding beneath a flock of gannets (c15 animals).In the same direction as these dolphins a single whale blow (likely fin whale) was also seen. Later as we traversed a canyon system two medium size whales were seen, frustratingly showing only their backs and fins. Its likely that both these animals were beaked whales but with no view of the head, identification was not possible, however the first animal was quite large and brown in colour, so was likely to have been a Northern Bottlenose Whale.
8th - 11th July 2010Having departed Galway on the afternoon of the 8th July, we transited south to just west of Belle Ille, Brittany, France. Despite some ideal survey conditions during the transit and yesterday on our first survey leg, no sightings were made.
Dave Wall
