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We finally emerged from the main pack ice yesterday afternoon and, pausing only to drop another scientific buoy at 62 degrees south, we continued to the north-east skirting the edge of the pack.
This morning, we completed our first night of krill fishing which is scheduled between the hours of 6pm and 6am. We started the shift with a practice shot of the trawl net which is fitted with a video camera and lights, all connected via a fibre optic cable allowing us to control and monitor the operation. With the lights turned off, we could still just see the net via the camera at 150 metres depth and the odd bioluminescent flash indicated that tiny sea creatures were certainly present. When we hauled in the net, a total of 6 krill were found which was a fair result given that nothing had been visible on the echo-sounders. However since we would like to catch perhaps 20 000 krill on this voyage, it was clear that the job still lay in front of us. Satisfied that all systems were working, the krill team then settled into shifts to monitor the sounder screens for any promising targets.
It was a long night and caffeine and loud music were generally found to be helpful for keeping sleep at bay. Unfortunately not even the entire back catalogue of Led Zeppelin could generate enough power to summon forth the desired mega-swarms of krill, although some tiny yet tantalising blobs were seen late in the shift. At 6:00 am, we had to declare it a night and be content with our original catch. No whales were seen and since they are a positive indicator for the presence of krill, we'll be keeping our eyes peeled today in preparation for tonight.
In the meantime, we will make our way eastwards along the pack ice edge, get some sleep and try to think of names for our new shipmates.
Lloyd and Andrew
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.