At the end of February, Denmark's largest marine research vessel - RV Dana - set sail from Hirtshals, North Jutland, bound for the Sargasso Sea, spawning grounds of the European eel. Headed up by DTU Aqua, the Danish Eel Expedition 2014 involves leading Danish and international experts from more than 20 research projects, all hoping to plug the gaps in our knowledge about the breeding habits and early life of the valuable and critically endangered eel.
ICES staff are joining the expedition: Henrik Sparholt, Deputy Head of ICES Advisory Programme, will be investigating the effects of climate change on the depletion of the European eel stock and Hjalte Parner, Oceanography Data Scientist at ICES Data Centre, will be working with hydrographic data collection, quality control, and presentation. Henrik will be onboard Dana from 13 March - 7 April, while Hjalte joins the crew from 5 - 25 April.
The ICES crew will keep us up-to-date with their adventures at sea via their blog – the first of its kind on the ICES website. Stay tuned and subscribe to Sounds of the Sargasso Sea!