Dette syner seg ikkje minst i at det under mange av tokta våre er utanlandske forskarar og studentar med. På ”G.O. Sars” på denne siste turen er minst fire nasjonar representerte, mellom anna ein russisk forskar, Nikolay Ushakov som er om bord for trettande gongen under hausttokta. Han har altså til saman tilbrakt minst eit år på norske forskingsfartøy, og mange, både av forskarar og mannskap, ser på Nikolay som ein god ven og kollega. Han har gjort og gjer ein fantastisk innsats for at det norsk-russiske samarbeidet skal bli best mulig. Her fortel han på sin eigne smålåtne måte om det han ser som sin vesle rolle i dette samarbeidet.

Every year since 1965, Institute of Marine Research (IMR, Bergen) and PINRO (Murmansk) have cooperated on autumn investigations in the Barents Sea. From 1993, one or several scientists from PINRO have participated onboard on one of the Norwegian research vessels during the joint surveys, and in two years Norwegian scientists participated on one of the Russian vessels. It has allowed a better and faster coordination of the investigations, especially when 4-6 research vessels cooperate on covering the total areas of the Barents Sea and around Spitsbergen. This year the Ecosystem survey is carried out by 3 Norwegian vessels (“G.O.Sars”, “Johan Hjort” and “Jan Mayen”) and 2 Russian vessels (“Smolensk” and “Fridtjof Nansen”), but previously also three Russian vessels have taken part in the survey.

Different duties

In 13 of the 14 years of Russian participation on one of the Norwegian vessels, I have been onboard. This year is the second time on the new “G.O. Sars”. I have different duties during these surveys:

• exchange of current Norwegian and Russian survey materials (Bio-data from trawl catches, integrator values on main target fish species, sailing tracks, temperature and salinity from CTD stations)
  
• conversion of Russian data into joint usable format
  
• interpretation of fish echo-registrations
  
• aggregation of data for further calculations of stock abundance on target fish species (0-group fish and adult – capelin, polar cod, young herring and blue whiting)
  
• In addition I take part in discussions on different methodical questions, help with sorting of fish and benthos from catches and of course ordinary daily work on a scientific vessel

Jaime Alvarez, Bente Røttingen og Nikolay Ushakov sorterer fangst på fiskeprøverommet om bord i "G.O. Sars".

70% completed

In spite of financial difficulties in PINRO this year, joint ecosystem investigations is continued and further developed. Up to now nearly 70% of the survey is completed, and much of the material is already completed onboard “G.O. Sars” and has been tested for final calculations. And my participation in this survey has given Russians and Norwegians the possibility to better know each other, both in practical scientific work and in the daily life.

Nikolay Ushakov