R/V LAGOAPESCA called at the port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife on 22 March to load the scientific equipment and material needed for the survey and set sail the same day for Abidjan in Côte d'Ivoire.
The vessel arrived in the port Abidjan at dawn on 31 March and after all the scientific staff had boarded, set sail at 17.30 h the same day heading due west.
Trawling operations commenced on Sunday 1 April in transect 18. Sampling was conducted in a westerly direction: first in transects 18, 17 and 16 in Côte d'Ivoire and then in alternate transects (from 14 to 0) along the coasts of Liberia and Sierra Leone.
From northern Sierra Leone, the vessel turned eastward, trawling through the transects not covered on the outward journey. On 20 April the survey moved from transect 15, the most easterly in Liberia, to transect 19 in Côte d'Ivoire.
Having covered transects 19 and 20 in Côte d'Ivoire, the alternate transect method was resumed, still sailing eastward, as far as the eastern coast of Ghana (transect 26), and from there returning to transects 25, 23 and 21. Transect 25 was surveyed on 26 and 27 April with two types of gear.
Sail was set for the port of Abidjan on 30 April, arriving in the early afternoon. The scientists landed, but the material remained on board, for transshipment later, en route, or at the port of Las Palmas.
A summary of the journey and the transects is given in Fig. 6. The route may also be traced by following the haul numbers ( 1–168 ) on maps 1, 2, 3, and 4 of the survey area.
The survey was conducted over an uninterrupted period of 30 days as scheduled (28 days survey and 2 days sailing).
The working day was 12 hours, from sunrise to sunset (06.00-07.00 h in the morning to 18.00-19.00 h in the evening, depending on the longitude). Sailing was always from one transect to the next during the night, the only way to cover such an extensive area in the short time available.
There were no serious incidents on the journey, but the net broke and became entagled on various occasions, there was a violent storm off Cape St. Paul and a telephone strike made communications impossible for half the trip.
The day-by-day detailed schedule is given in Figure 6 below:
31/03 Departure from the port of Abidjan
1/04 Hauls 1 to 6; transect 18 (Côte d'Ivoire)
2/04 Hauls 7 to 12; transect 17 " "
3/04 Hauls 13 to 18 ; transect 16 " "
4/04 Hauls 19 to 24; transect 14 (Liberia)
5/04 Hauls 25 to 28; trnsect 12 ( " )
6/04 Hauls 29 to 35; transect 10( " )
7/04 Hauls 36 to 40; transect 8 ( " )
8/04 Hauls 41 to 45; transect 6 (Sierra Leone)
9/04 Hauls 46 to 52; transect 4 ( " " )
10/04 Hauls 53 to 58; transect 2 ( " " )
11/04 Hauls 59 to 64; transect 0 ( " " )
12/04 Hauls 65 to 69; transect 1 ( " " )
13/04 Hauls 70 to 72; transect 3 ( " " )
14/04 Hauls 78 to 84; transect 5 ( " " )
15/04 Hauls 85 to 90; transect 7 (Liberia)
16/04 Hauls 91 to 96; transect 9 ( " )
17/04 Hauls 97 to 101; transect 11 ( " )
18/04 Hauls 102 to 107; transect 13 ( " )
19/04 Hauls 108 to 114; transect 15 ( " )
20/04 Sailing
21/04 Hauls 115 to 121; transect 19 (Côte d'Ivoire)
22/04 Hauls 122 to 128; transect 20 ( " " )
23/04 Hauls 129 to 135; transect 22 (Ghana)
24/04 Hauls 136 to 142; transect 24 ( " )
25/04 Hauls 143 to 149; transect 26 ( " )
26/04 Hauls 150 to 155; transect 25 ( " )
27/04 Hauls 151 to 155bis; transect 25bis ( " )
28/04 Hauls 156 to 162; transect 23 ( " )
29/04 Hauls 163 to 167; transect 21 ( " )
30/04 Sailing and entry in the port of Abidjan.
Figure 6. Schedule of the survey and transects covered by R/V LAGOPESCA
