Leg 1: Hawke Channel

MCA at-sea team (leg 1), left to right: Gordon de Jong, Dr. Jonathan Fisher, Meghan Donovan, Simon-Pierre Hamel, and Martin Dahl

Sea-Trials in Holyrood Bay and departure for Hawke Channel Closure

July 31 to August 3, 2025.

The at-sea team is now transiting 360 miles (~46 hours) north from Holyrood Bay to the Hawke Channel Closure after a couple of days of sea trials, acoustic calibrations, and safety drills with the vessel’s crew to test all available instrumentation and review procedures so that operations run smoothly offshore.

Calibrations

With day operations based out of The Launch at Holyrood, NL, the team spent hours systematically ‘fishing’ a tungsten calibration ball below the acoustic pod to ensure that all four frequencies of fisheries acoustic transceivers record accurate data.

Other tests of equipment and rigging – from the depth-counting wheel to the video cameras and oceanographic sensors and samplers – ensures familiarity with methods for science and vessel teams and training for new student recruits.

Two blue stars on the map highlight significant waypoints for the expedition. The first marks Marine Institute's The Launch facility in Holyrood, Newfoundland, where the team completed calibrations and conducted final checks. The second star sits at the furthest offshore station in Hawke Channel, where full-scale scientific operations will begin.

The map outlines three key marine conservation refuges, each playing a vital role in safeguarding deep-sea habitats and biodiversity. Among them, Hawke Channel, the northernmost area on the map, is a major focus of our scientific efforts for 2025.

The stations plotted across these refuges are more than simple coordinates—they are critical sampling and observation points for our at-sea science team.

These locations have been strategically selected to capture a wide range of data, from seafloor habitats, and depth ranges to biodiversity, helping us assess the health and resilience of these protected marine areas.

Onward to Hawke Channel and into the exciting world of sampling Newfoundland and Labrador’s large, offshore marine refuges.

Hawke Channel stations and transit/sampling lines from 2023 (top) and 2025 transit line as displayed on ArcGIS (Aug 4-7).

Sampling southern Hamilton Bank and the Hawke Channel

Since Tuesday afternoon (August 5), the at-sea team has been sampling stations along our most northerly line - stations that touch on the southern extent of the vast, shallow Hamilton Bank.

Hamilton Bank supported cod fisheries for centuries and is of great interest as contributor of the Newfoundland and Labrador's northern cod population that is managed across a latitudinal range from mid-coast Labrador to south of Newfoundland's Avalon Peninsula.

2023 Insights Applied

Based on information collected in 2023 from baited camera deployments, we know that benthic habitat on the gravel of Hamilton Bank differs from some of the muddy, deeper areas (see photo).

Also, based on our 2023 deployments of conductivity, temperature, depth (CTD) oceanographic sampler, we know that the shallow bank areas are among the coldest zones, with stations less than 200 m near, and sometimes below, 0 degrees Celsius.

These temperature variations and depth ranges to 580 m within Hawke Channel provide a wide range of habitats for cod and other species identified and quantified at many of the same stations sampled in 2023 via our video images, fisheries acoustics, and environmental DNA collections.

Baited camera photo (top) and CTD Rosette (bottom)

Calm Seas to Whitecaps

Saturday, August 9.

The science team is well settled in after our first week on board our small research vessel in the North Atlantic. Space aboard any vessel is precious, with storage tucked into unexpected places like inside benches, unused bunk spaces, and anywhere else an item might fit. Essentials range from Lysol wipes to Gatorade to spare Keurigs. The bunk rooms are small, but extremely cozy and highly functional, with each bunk equipped with a shelf, lamp, and power outlet for convenience.

Life at sea is all about working with and around the ocean. This morning greeted us with perfect conditions: a light 8-knot breeze, barely a ripple on the water, and temperatures warm enough that sweaters were shed on deck.

By mid-morning, the wind began to stir and small whitecaps dotted the horizon. At our third station of the day, we deployed the CTD rosette, collecting vital data on the water’s physical and chemical properties, all under the watchful eyes of a small pod of Atlantic white-sided dolphins.

The weather soon reminded us who’s in charge. Within hours, winds reached 28 knots, the swell built to 1.5 metres, and a strong northeast drift set in. With the deck work paused, we shifted focus to mapping with the echosounder, adapting our plans to work with the wind and current.

The day ended on a high note: a pod of orcas cutting through the evening light, just after a well-earned supper of steak, potatoes, and corn. Another reminder that every day at sea brings new challenges, and unforgettable moments, in the work of marine conservation.

A Happy Birthday in Hawke Channel

August 11, 2025.

Overnight acoustic transects put us in the northwest corner of Hawke Channel Closure, where today is turning out to be a better weather day than earlier forecasts suggested. Today is also MSc student Simon-Pierre’s birthday and his successes throughout his first offshore trip has him christened ‘Sea-man.’

For those interested in deducing Simon-Pierre’s age, he was born the same year that a smaller section of today’s 8837 km2 Hawke Channel Closure first saw restrictions on bottom trawling and gillnets, following recommendations from Labrador fish harvesters.

Simon-Pierre is among the next generation of fisheries experts being trained to collect, analyze and interpret fisheries acoustics data. With training at sea from Martin, Simon-Pierre is now leading the collection of fisheries acoustics data on transects spanning this MCA, and the deployment of acoustic probes at each station.

Those on land please echo those of us at sea (along with the dolphins this morning) in raising an acoustic chorus of sequential, non-overlapping pings to wish Simon-Pierre ‘Bon anniversaire’!

Wrapping up Monitoring Activities in Hawke Channel

August 16, 2025.

After nearly two weeks at sea, the team has completed our conservation monitoring mission in Hawke Channel (August 4–16). Over the course of the expedition, we visited 25 stations and carried out an impressive 122 science operations, each contributing to a better understanding of this important ecosystem.

A priority for this mission was to resample stations first observed in 2023, allowing comparisons across years and helping to track changes in the marine environment over time.

Key activities included:

Echosounder mapping (EK): providing detailed insights into seafloor structure and fish distribution.
CTD casts: measuring water column properties such as temperature, salinity, and oxygen.
WBAT deployments: gathering acoustic data to help characterize species abundance.
Environmental DNA (eDNA): sampling to detect biodiversity from genetic traces in the water.
Baited remote underwater video (BRUV): capturing close-up footage of fish and invertebrates drawn to the cameras.
Plankton sampling: documenting the base of the food web that supports the larger ecosystem.

These efforts help create a broad picture of the physical, chemical, and biological conditions in Hawke Channel. From mapping the seafloor to identifying species both large and small, the data collected will support long-term marine conservation planning in the region.

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