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Throughout yesterday afternoon and evening, the ship continued at moderate speed, to weave its way out through the sea ice towards open water. In the late evening, Jess and a steadfast assistant positioned themselves in front of a set of monitors depicting the echo (feedback signal) sent from the biometric acoustic sounder at varying frequencies beneath the ship. Of particular interest to them was, dense blobs of blue/yellow/green on the monitor – the colours indicating increased strength of the echo signal which itself reflects increased concentrations of krill beneath the surface of the water. Once observed.. Jess could call to the officer of the watch on the bridge to request a 'drop'.. pinpointing that location on the GPS to enable the ship to turn around and on a vector of 90 degrees re-approach the same concentration of krill, this time with a team of the ship's crew and trained expeditioners deploying a trawl net to collect the krill and bring them on board.
But not before those concentrations were sighted on the monitor.. and in the meantime the team watched and waited, whilst the standby team drank cups of tea and played cards and waited.
When the call came, as it did a number of times throughout last night and morning, the crew deployed and retrieved the trawl net, whilst rosters of volunteer expeditioners, some a little bleary eyed.. donned their cold weather gear and headed down to the wet-lab to collect, sort and store the freshly caught krill.. all to the sounds of a special krill playlist.
By 1000hs.. the last deployment and retrieval of a very efficient and smooth trawl session had concluded with somewhere between 15 and 20,000 new passengers now calling the AA home in the tanks and temperature controlled labs on E-Deck. Due to the fine efforts of Jess, her team of volunteers and the ship's crew throughout last night, the sampling requirements of her project are now fulfilled, whilst the krill stocks at Kingston can expect a timely replenishment. The completion of the krill trawl also marks the successful completion of the marine science component of the voyage.
With this done, our focus now turns to the final voyage objective; returning home to Hobart.
Tonight the AA hosts our last special occasion with pizza and drinks in the mess. This will be our opportunity to celebrate the completion of the marine science work, belatedly celebrate New Years, Kris Kringle and an expeditioners birthday all at once.
Kind regards,
James and Dave
V2 Voyage Management
Map
A map showing Australia and Antarctica. The map shows the journey of one voyage that has occured in the season, with each route highlighted in a distinct colour.