Seabirds at sea, september-november 1989 (ship-based observations CvZ/DGW, NIOZ)

On board MV Tridens many weeks were spent observing birds and marine mammals. In September 3 weeks were spent off the English east coast, just west of the Dogger Bank area, during a Herring larvae survey (KB, CJC, HO, PW). The German Bight was visited in October (from IJmuiden to the northernmost tip of Denmark), fishing for flatfishes and shrimps (CJC, GOK, EVK). In November the Dogger Bank and waters off the mainland coast of Holland were surveyed when the Tridens was trawling (CJC, MG, JK, MFL) . MS Holland had its monthly MONO’88 surveys in the Dutch sector of the continental shelf, and the ship was manned in October and November (CJC, AMvdN, JdO, TP). Several short trips, or rather attempts for short trips, were carried out by the NIOZ research vessel Aurelia in Sep and Oct between Texel, the southern Dogger Bank area, the Frisian Front and the Bruine Bank (MFL, MG, PW). Divers were rare in early autumn. A visit to the German Bight in early October showed that summer plumage Red-throated Divers were not uncommon around Helgoland and off the northernmost German Wadden Sea islands. In Dutch (inshore) waters, divers became progressively more abundant from the second half of Oct and on.