The first images of the ocean bottom were stunning and the high concentration sponges in this area appeared to be pristine. As we moved down the first Campod transects, signs of trawling became apparent and matched our expectations of known trawling effort in the area. Hundreds of high resolution geo-referenced images and video has been collected and these mark the start of images to be collected for analysis. The primary objective for the visual examination of areas known to be historically trawled, is to assess the catch-ability of sponge by-catch which will improve predictive models that estimate by-catch of sponge by commercial trawling.
The first deployment of the CTD (Conductivity, Temperature and Depth probe) worked flawlessly. We've successfully deployed Campod numerous times already and the imagery is very impressive. We plan to spend one more day here and we hope to collect samples and additional photographs to supplement our collections to date. Our internet connection is patchy so posts will be done when the internet is up and running.
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| Barry MacDonald operates Campod during deployment in Emerald Basin |
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| Pollock swim over Russian Hats in Emerald Basin |
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| A red fish peaks out behind a pristine concentration of Russian Hats. |
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| A member of the Coast Guard crew aboard the Hudson deploys the CTD |
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