FOCI Standard Operating Instructions
January 2002
3.2.4 Live Zooplankton Net Tows - Tows to collect experimental
animals for secondary productivity experiments will be taken during large-scale
surveys and patch studies. These collections use a 0.8-meter diameter
ring net with a 150- or 200-µm mesh net and a large polycarbonate
cod-end that minimizes damage to the organisms. The net will be deployed
using the ship’s starboard Markey oceanographic winch equipped with at
least 200 meters of 2-layer, 3-conductor, 0.322" wire. The ship will
be asked to keep station and maintain a vertical wire angle during the
tow. The ring net, cod-end and Sea-Bird Electronics SBE 19 SEACAT
are "book clamped" to the wire. The net will be lowered at a rate
of 20 meters per minute to near the bottom. It is important that
the winch be able to maintain a slow, constant retrieval speed, less than
or equal to 10 meters per minute.
allen.macklin@noaa.gov