CRUISE REPORT


Cruise Number: MF00-01B

FOCI Number: 2MF00

Ship: NOAA Ship Miller Freeman

Area of Operations: Eastern Bering Sea

Itinerary:

Date depart/port: February 15, 2000/Dutch Harbor, AK

Date arrive/port: February 16, 2000/Dutch Harbor, AK

Participating organizations:

NOAA - Alaska Fisheries Science Center (AFSC)

Chief Scientist:

Morgan S. Busby M AFSC
(206) 526 ‹ 4113
Morgan.Busby@noaa.gov

Personnel:

Cruise Objectives:

The primary objective of this cruise was to conduct bottom trawl sampling in the head of Bering Canyon to collect ripe adult arrowtooth flounder (ATF) and conduct deep 60 cm bongo plankton tows to collect their eggs and establish their appearance so they can be identified in the future with confidence in plankton samples. The secondary objective was to collect CTD data and 20 cm bongo, chlorophyll, and nutrient samples on line "D" of the "Unimak Box".

Summary of Operations:

Operation Tally

CTD casts 6

Nor'eastern bottom 2
trawls

Plankton tows
Bongos, 60 cm 7
Bongos, 20 cm 5

Samples Collected:

Chlorophylls 30
Nutrients 52
Plankton samples 12
Misc. fish eggs 183 (from discard side of 60 cm bongo)
ATF gonads 24

Summary of Cruise:

Days Lost to Weather 0.5

Days Lost to Equipment Failure 0

Recommendations:

None

Narrative:

After departure at 1400 hrs on February 15, we steamed to station 1 (Figure 1). CTD casts with bottle rosette for nutrient and chlorophyll samples and plankton tows (60 and 20 cm bongos) were conducted at the first five stations (1-5 ). After completing these operations, a poly nor'eastern bottom trawl was deployed in water approximately 200 m in depth to collect ripe ATF to spawn aboard ship. The haul contained mostly ATF with a few flathead sole, spinyhead sculpin, and skates. No ripe ATF were collected in the haul so we proceeded to station 6 (same location as station 3) and conducted another bottom trawl in water approximately 400 m in depth. The haul contained mostly ATF, Kamchatka flounder, and Greenland halibut, with a few walleye pollock, Pacific halibut, sablefish, and shortspine thornyhead. Again, no ripe ATF were collected so we proceeded toward water approximately 600 m in depth. Due to hazardous weather conditions, another bottom trawl could not be conducted so a line of 60 cm bongo tows to 400 m depth over bottom depths of 600, 800, and 1000 m was devised. Two of these three tows were accomplished before operations were halted due to further deteriorating weather conditions at approximately 1830 hours on 16 February and the return transit to Dutch Harbor began.

Acknowledgments:

The scientific party would like to acknowledge the hard work and support of the officers and crew of the Miller Freeman. All originally planned scientific operations plus two additional deep 60 cm bongo tows were successfully completed.

Attachments:

Table 1. MF00-01B Cruise Summary

Figure 1. Station map