New attraction on board: the ‘Grabator’ - Stichting De Noordzee

We have a very special contraption sailing on board the Neptune. Helena (marine mcientist and expert in morning briefings) has named it the Grabator. It is something like a rustic washing machine that cleans the seabed samples that we take with the grab. Grabator basically consists of a bucket with a set of sieves, a pipe to remove the sand and another one to drain the water. We’ve used it a few times and both times it’s managed to get everyone’s attention. Worms, sea urchins, brittle stars and many shells have become the first “users” of the Grabator.

Another new thing this year is that we have two diving teams: two photographers, two videographers and their corresponding safety divers. This afternoon they made a dive south of Aberdeen with very little visibility, but despite that they still managed to get amazing images. While we are writing this, they are still identifying kelps, seastars, dead man’s fingers and many crustaceans.

Natividad Sánchez

Beeld: Juan Centos, Carlos Minguell, OCEANA