castalia: (Shiny squid)
Castalia ([personal profile] castalia) wrote2005-10-23 05:15 pm
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More pics



Yesterday was our fishing trip to Point Lynas, where we caught 19 species, collected samples of certain fish, and then processed the catch in the on-ship lab. Much fun was had by all, except the few who were a bit squeamish about slicing straight through fish skulls (w/one species we practically had to chop the head in two, right b/w the eyes) to get to the otoliths.

To get to the fishing area, we sailed out of the Menai Strait...



...past Puffin Island...



...out into the open Irish Sea...



...and back around to trawl parallel to the North Anglesey coast.



We took two trawls, mostly whiting and red gurnard. Mixed in were some cod, mackerel, squid, hake, lemon sole, Dover sole, plaice, scallops, and a smattering of other fish. Personally, of course, I was most interested in the squid...





Afterwards, we were allowed to take home certain things so I headed home with fresh mackerel, cod, whiting, lemon and Dover sole, squid, and scallops. Marie (friend in the MSc program for Shellfish biology/ecology stuff) has training as a fishmonger at Tesco, so she and I went back to my place to fillet or gut our catch. I have bags of fish fillets in the freezer now, and dinner was fresh mackerel and scallops.



Am exhausted, but it was a profitable day. It's nice to learn new things that are both fun and useful. I've never eaten some of these things before, but I'm going to get some tips and give them a try.

Today is more flailing about doing the stats for our barnacle report, and writing up the fisheries essay. Monday is more ship work (this time just taking measurements here at the pier) and writing up the barnacle report. I'm not sure how good this report will turn out, considering how little time we've had to learn about this and do it, but I'll do my best. See you all after the deadlines...
deborak: (hornblower)

[personal profile] deborak 2005-10-24 01:38 pm (UTC)(link)
Looks like you had a lovely day out on the water. Bill and I really need to move to a location with water access.

[identity profile] castalianspring.livejournal.com 2005-10-25 04:52 pm (UTC)(link)
It really was lovely. Not like yesterday, when we did turbidity measurements off the ship; even though we didn't leave the pier, the weather was nasty. Did you enjoy your boat outing with [livejournal.com profile] gritkitty?