Porbeagle!

Yesterday - another beautiful day - in the morning (6:30 UTC) we shot the net at 55.25N - 1.28E for a few comparatively large schools in an otherwise empty area (haul 19). The schools were not easy to catch but eventually we hit one. When the net was being hauled something big seemed to stick in the codend.

The crew noticed something in the codend

It turned out to be a large specimen of a porbeagle (in Dutch "Haringhaai"). She (yes, it was a she!) was still very much alive and the crew released her as carefully as possible - not easy with a fighting shark of this size!

We estimated the length of the porbeagle at 2.80m!

Apart from this one large predator the catch consisted of 1.3 ton of young herring (Dutch: "toters") , length range17.5 to 22cm.

Also in the catch: squid (Loligo forbesi)

...and two lumpsuckers!

In the evening, we encountered a lot of small schools at the bottom. They were really difficult to catch. In the end, after one and a half hours trying, we hauled the net for a few baskets of young herring (similar to the herring in the haul in the morning) scattered with some adult specimens (haul 20, 54.24N - 0.20E).

Small schools at the bottom (haul 20)

Cannot wait to join spawning: One male specimen of 20.5cm has already a ripening gonad!

This morning, wednesday 17 july, the net is shot at 54.55N - 0.36W for what we judge to be herring that not yet is grouped into schools. The idea is to fish them now instead of waiting till they lump together: schooling herring is more difficult to fish (haul21).

Scattered swimming herring(?) in haul 21.

The catch is very disappointing: 7 specimens of sprat and one whiting...