This is my first time aboard the “Johan Hjort” and my first time in the Barents Sea. I did not know what to expect. I am used to the deep sea of the open ocean and warmer climate, although I have experienced the Russian Arctic before. I had enjoyed the comfort and space on the “G.O. Sars” for the Mar-Eco project in 2004, so I knew about Norwegian hospitality.

Sea spider
Photo by David Shale

63 sampling stations in 10 days sounded like a lot of work and soon the crew and scientists slipped into their routine, the trawls came in round the clock and the fish lab was inundated with fish. I suppose I was expecting a different variety of fish. I was used to the mesopelagic varieties, smaller size, fewer in number and little known to “the man in the street”.  I was presented with hundreds of kilos of commercial fish, cod, haddock, blue whiting etc., some the size I was not prepared for - a 27kg cod. 

27 kg cod
Photo by David Shale

Still as a resourceful photographer I am used to waiting and there was always something lurking at the bottom of the catch. 

Amphipode
Photo by David Shale

Juvenile specimens, benthic organisms, strange-looking invertebrates.  Every catch had something to enthral me and keep me occupied.

The catch
Photo by David Shale

I am looking forward to the next week especially as I am told the further North we go the rarer and more unusual species are likely to be found.  More varieties of eel pout (Lycodes spp.) which Franz Uiblein and I are photographing from every catch to show the range of colour markings that occur within one species.

By David Shale, photographer on "Johan Hjort".

More pictures

Eel Pout - Lycodes gracilis

Octopus
Photo by David Shale