Page 41 - BBC Wildlife Volume 36 #02

MARINE LIFE

RV CELTIC EXPLORER

A FLOATING LAB

Since entering service in 2003, this smart
research vessel has been providing vital
data about the health of the North-east
Atlantic and Irish Sea. She provides a
base on voyages of as long as a month for
up to 22 scientists, who have an array of
A minke whale swims sophisticated monitoring equipment
past the ship. Left: the
crow’s nest provides at their disposal, including
the best view of the trawl cameras, winches
surrounding ocean. that can take sample
cores from the seabed
and a deep-water ROV
Diving gannets can
(Remotely Operated
often be a sign that
megafauna are feeding Vehicle). Crucially, the
below the surface. Celtic Explorer is also
r
designed to be ultra-quiet
to minimise disturbance
to fish or interference with
her underwater recordings.
Together with her smaller sister
ship, the RV Celtic Voyager, she has
given us important insights into the
state of fish stocks, including of cod and
monkfish, has helped to map the seabed,
investigated wrecks and explored thick
seafloor sediments that have built up
over thousands of years.

Marine turtles are extremely rare in our
waters, though the leatherback is the most
often seen here. The species’ sheer size and
metabolically generated heat make it perfectly
comfortable in the cold waters of the North
crow’s nest offers a commanding view of the identity. In soft Irish tones he revealed that we Atlantic, roaming the high seas in search of
surrounding ocean. From our vantage point were looking at a leatherback turtle. jellyfish prey. Very occasionally, one of the
we were flanked on both sides by ubiquitous To my knowledge, no film crew has ever turtles is photographed by a bemused tourist,
gannets and fulmars. Then, while waiting for managed to film a leatherback turtle in British probably unaware of its Endangered status.
a mid-interview battery change on the camera, or Irish waters. As pandemonium ensued, we The undoubted low population density of
our eyes suddenly caught an object at the made the cardinal mistake of taking our eyes these true open-ocean wanderers means they
surface 50m to starboard. off the beast before either getting it on camera will only ever be located totally by chance –
I assumed this would be marine debris or accurately noting its last position before it and hopefully next time by a film crew better
floating past, but it was still worth a quick slipped below the water. All the time, the ship prepared than we were.
was steaming ahead at a steady 10 knots, so by
check with the binoculars. As the object
gannets: Michel Poinsignon/naturepl.com; boat aerial: Sam Challenger Common dolphins: John Power; crow's nest, filming & boat: Mike Dilger; minke: John Power; “ I CAUGHT SIGHT OF A COUPLE OF FLIPPERS westward, back out towards the continental
came into focus, I caught sight of a couple
the time a panicked message had got through
8 JULY: DICTATED BY THE WIND
After a couple of days filming the scientists
to the captain to slow the ship and deploy the
of flippers raise momentarily above a large
carapace, distinctively marked with a series of
at work in inshore waters, we headed
quicker, more mobile RIB, the turtle must
have been a couple of miles away. We cut very
longitudinal ridges running from head to tail.
I instantly knew I was looking at a ‘mega’ and
shelf. When filming on dry land, it must be
dejected figures as we returned to the mother
ship empty-handed, having failed to locate
at least 10 times easier to find wildlife when
was so gobsmacked I momentarily lost the
this reptilian needle in a haystack.
the sun is shining. At sea, however, the
ability to speak, leaving Will to articulate its
principal meteorological factor that dictates
success tends to be the wind.
Zero on the ‘Sea State Code’ equates to
an absence of even a breath of wind, which
RAISED ABOVE A LARGE CARAPACE. I WAS SO
liquid mercury, in turn making it far simpler
to spot anything breaking the surface – even
GOBSMACKED, I LOST THE ABILITY TO SPEAK.”
BBC Wildlife
February 2018 transforms the water into something akin to 41