Minke Whales Galore ⬻

A routine patrol this morning turn in a whalefest. 

Heading North from Whitby about 6nm off the coast of Port Mulgrave we found ourselves between approximately 20 feeding minke whales, diving birds and the odd seal. A mark on the fish finder indicated a school of herring confirming our suspicions of a feeding frenzy! 

I quickly set the drone up and get her into the skies. Making two flights managed to acheive a 10 minutes flight time for each flight. 

However, to my utter disappointment despite being often on top of the feeding whales not once was a whale in shot out of the roughly 15minutes of footage. As a whale would appear at the surface before feeding you have around 5 seconds to capture it. The drone was in the right area but just missed being in shot. 

It was exhilerating trying to follow the whales with the drone but really difficult to mange the drone flight, camera control and whale spotting all together. More practice needed! next time I'll get them. 

UKYCC System Change Switch

Recently with UKYCC we have shifted our focus from the gas industry to the all encompassing topic of Systemic Change.

Our plan of action is too firstly formulate a UKYCC statement on system change: detailing why we need system change, problems with the old systems and what a system of the future could look like. Then we will engaged youth groups all over the country and create a manifesto expressing tangible demands we are a collective youth want from the governemt. This was be published at the COP next year in Glasgow. 

Recently, Mark and I organised a UKYCC team weekend in London. We have food, bonding sessions and workshops on 'whitness', media and many other interesting topics. Around 25 people attending and the feedback for the weekend was excellent! 

https://www.ukycc.com/gas

Quarterly Update IIII

Final quarter of my original contract has come to an end, the work goes on :)

Scallop Video Survey Work

To analyse the impact of scallop activity within our district we have conducted video surveys using our towed camera systems. All the video collected needed to be processed and analysed. 

I was tasked with firstly, editing the video footage into manageable chunks before recording the abundance of main species observed.

I completed this for both 2019 and 2016 video samples giving a total of 173 videos or many hours of footage. In total I counted abundance for 20 different species and a high abundance of individuals. 

Here's some example footage collected showing the main differences between heavily, partially and un-dredged areas.

Potting Surveys Restart

The scallop season has now ended which means the potting survey season begins. We have been busy readying the fleets of pots. 

They will be strategical placed giving a accurate representation of the district while allowing us to compare results from last year.  

So far we have conducted some great days of potting collecting biomemtric data on  edible crabs, lobsters and velvet crabs while collecting bye-catch data on everything brought up in the pots. 

Rib Work

Alongside days spent on-board NEG III I have assisted the enforcement team on conducting patrols and boardings of the fishing fleet. It's a great opportunity to meet some of the fishermen and get a understanding of their day to day life. Mostly, the fishermen are compliant and friendly although sometimes you they feel we are intruding on their day and sometimes obviously have something to hide.

In a pair, once making aboard the fishing vessel, one officer will begin the paper work while the other checks the entire catch of lobsters and crabs. Any problems are raised with the skipper and then escalated depending on the circumstance.

I enjoy the practical side of this work. Jumping onboard fishing boats and inspecting there catch. It's great to meet some of the fishermen too and chat about there days at sea, their catch or football! In my opinion localise fisheries management really benefits from postitive interactions with the fishermen who's industry we are in place to protect. 

Video Editing

For the upcoming boat open day in Whitby I was asked to use my video editing skills to put together a selection of videos to display behind our desk at the Whitby Fish and Ships festival.

Everyone seemed pleased with the result, it gives a good indication of our roles and displays some of the amazing wildlife we get in our oceans. Please see the video below. 

Baited Camera Work

We have been conducting static baited camera work to analyse the biodiversity present at various locations.

We have also been trying to identify the abundance of squids within our district. We have noticed a lot of squid mops (eggs) on our pots while conducting surveys so would like to investigate further. I suggested we recorded the presence/absence of squid mops as an addition entry during out potting surveys. This efficient and low time consuming method will give us an indication of abundnaces, distribution and times of year spawning while creating a baseline dataset which can be exploited in future studies. 

By using light we have been able to record a high abundance of squid in certain areas of our district. This increases the potential for opening a squid fishery in our district creating a more diverse fishing fleet.

Contract Extension

I am pleased to say the Chief has offered me and extension to my contract which I gladly accepted. I now hold a full time position on-board NEGIII and with N-E-I-F-C-A.

I feels great to know the hard work I am putting in is being recognised and appreciated. 

Quarterly Update III

Another three months passes onboard. Time and tide really do parry no man. The job is still really varied, pratical and challenging. I'm learning alot and enjoying being part of the crew aboard NEG.


Drone Training

To improve our enforcement and survey technology and abilities N-E-I-F-C-A has invested into a drone to carry out offshore duties. The Splashdrone 3+ is a waterproof drone equipped with a 4k camera system and the ability to land and take off in water.

Nick and Dan from Swell pro UK came for a day of drone training exercises in February. We conducted onshore and offshore exercises and took our RIB alongside NEG III to simulate some real life scenarios.

Northern Ireland Visitors

To improve cross working and to learn from each other we had a visit from two members of the North Irish Fisheries Committee. Joe and John came out on NEGIII for a day to see the boat and how we run as an authority. 

We had to the drone up to display it's capabilities and they observed how we log our enforcement work. 

Next month Chief and Skipper will visit their boat to see how they operate. 


Drone Operation & Video Receiver Fitting

Since purchasing the drone we have spent many days practicing and improving the knowledge of use both on and offshore. Although the drone has yet to be deployed in any enforcement use we have collected some great footage of NEGIII and the Yorkshire Coast. 

To improve the abilities of the drone the Skipper had suggested it would be useful to see the live footage the drone transmits. As the drone transmits a 5.8 Ghz video stream it should of possible to receive the feed via an antenna which can plug into the vessels monitor matrix system and therefore can be viewed from all available screens.

I conducted some research and purchased two types of antenna and a video receiver unit. The two antennas, one which has a further range but is uni-directional and one with an inferior range but it omni-directional. As the video receiver will use the feed which has the strongest signal, we can boost our range while maintaining the flexibility of use.

Splicing Master Class / Preparing Potting Fleets

In  May we will start our potting surveys again to assess the populations of crabs and lobsters within our district.

This year we will use 10 fleets of 15 pots. Two more than last year to increase of coverage of survey. All the fleets need to be organised and roped up before the survey work can be undertaken.

This entails; cleaning all the pots (done), attaching a leg to the tow rope and splicing fixings for the anchor. Enter Dylan Silverwood's Splicing Master Class. Dylan is the first mate on the boat and with over 30 years of commercial fishing experience it is safe to say he knows all there is when splicing a rope and organising fleets of pots. 

I had learnt to splice a few years ago during my commercial diving course but without practice had quickly lost the skill. 

Dylan gave me some great tips and refreshed my knowledge. Dylan and I prepared the fleets splicing on the legs for the pots and sorting the tow rope. All fleets now ready for some survey work... bring it on!

Scallop Dredge Survey

Within our district there are two defined boxes where three fishing boats have special permits to dredge for scallops between the months of October and May. Despite the small number of boats the massively destructive fishing method of dredging means a close monitoring systems of the fishing stock is conducted each year.

Not only do we conduct research on-board industry boats by collecting biometeric data of their catch, but we also perform our own scallop dredge surveys on-board NEGIII. 

Over 10,000 scallops were surveyed off the industry boats and 35 scallop dredges conducted from our vessel. This should give us an adequate representation of the district and allow us to make informed management decisions. 

The bycatch in the dredges although small brought up some interesting characters such as sun stars, monkfish and a beautiful cuckoo ray (see pics). 

Scallop Ground Video Survey

To truth the dregde surveys and to increase our understanding of the scallop stocks in our district we conducted various video surveys within and outside the scallop boxes. 

Despite testing the equipment multiple times before the survey day. As I was setting the camera sled up the camera firstly, didn't have power and secondly, wasn't displaying any video footage. Quick state of panic and confusion ensues. 

Quickly I grabbed a new power cable and tested the camera connections. The new power cable sorted the first issue. Somehow one of the solders to the connector had become disconnected since we tested it two days before. A quick solder while heading to the test site sorted this and once the lights, lasers and go pros were fitted we were ready to film. all in a days work.. phew!

Quarterly Update II

I'm half way through my year long contract however, hopefully not half way through my time employed on-board NEGIII at N-E-I-F-C-A. 

"life is like a box of chocolates you never know what you'll get next"

One thing I really enjoy with this job is the amount of variety. Each day offers a new challenge, a new skill to learn or an activity to complete. Usually working in small teams to discuss, collaborate and deliver on the given task allows lots of opportunity to develop communicate, teamwork and problem solving skills.

Unfortunately, during the past three months the windy weather hasn't allow us to be at sea as much as we like despite this we have been more than busy and completed 8 sea patrols (one at night). Read below to see the task I have been undertaking during the past three months. 


Rewiring, Soldering the GPS & Text Overlay System

When conducting camera survey work via a drop down sled camera we display the GPS information on top of the video via text overlay unit. The system was outdated and awkward so Pete and I set about redesigning and rewiring the system. This involved soldering of phono cables, video connectors and power sockets. Now the system is conveniently stored out of the way on the wall and simply requires plugging into the camera and laptop. 

Patrols and Night Patrol

Every time the sea is fair fishing boats are out at sea collecting there catch. We are out at sea too patrolling our district. We are there to ensure each boat is fishing within the correct areas, has the correct fishing gear and has the correct escape gaps on their pots. 

In November the scallop season opened in our district. Three boats have permits to dredge for scallops with two defined boxes within the six mile limit. The season runs from Nov - Mar. Due to the short season and high rewards for scallops boat with often fishing for 3-5 days straight. Fishing over night throughout the three days. Other scallop boats which don't have a permit to fish within the six mile limit will fish for scallops outside the limit. However, in the past unpermitted boats have used the cover of darkness to fish within our district. This caused for a night patrol to ensure the rules in our district are being respected. We set off at 16:00 and returned at 07:00 the following morning. Taking shifts to have a 4 hour energizer throughout the night. 

Deck Plates Out RIB in

During the winter months the potting survey work is temporarily halted until the summer. This allows us to change the back deck by removing the deck plates providing space for our boarding RIB to be carried by NEG III. Here some footage of Protector 3 (our RIB) being launched off the back deck. 

With this we can board more fishing vessels further off the coast.

With a little push, she is in.

Other Initiatives

Over the last couple of months I have become more confident in my role and the impact I can have at the I-F-C-A. I also feel more appreciated and respect as my colleagues have got to know me and how I work. Therefore, I have been able to introduce so of my own ideas and initiatives. I have started small and pushed some of my environmental agendas. Such as, introducing a recycling bin onboard the vessel and hosting a "veggie tuesday" lunch for the crew. 

I feel challenged in this job because everyday offers something new. One thing I've learnt is "communication is key". Currently at N-E-I-F-C-A, there is a structural review. Fingers crossed a full time position will come up as a offshore Enviro Offier. Let's see what the next few months will bring.