1st Class trip to Marine Institute
Trip to Marine Institute
First class had a wonderful day at the Marine Institute in Furnace on Wednesday 11th of April. We had the opportunity to see salmon at various life stages and we learned how the salmon are tagged so that they can be tracked and information can be gathered about their journeys. We discovered that they travel from Lough Furnace out to Clew Bay, all the way across the Atlantic Ocean to Greenland and then most manage to find their way back to Lough Furnace again.
We created interactive maps using sand and 3-D mapping software and learned how to tell how old an eel is by looking at its ear bones!
Later we visited the weather station where every day, records are kept of the sunshine, rainfall, temperature and wind speeds. In the laboratory we were able to work as scientists, examining little creatures under the microscope and testing water samples from the nearby lake. We also were able to observe and handle fish that had been caught by the RV Celtic Explorer such as an angler fish, wrasse, sandfish and an eel.
It was a very enjoyable day and a special word of thanks to all the staff of the Marine Institute who made us feel so welcome and were so willing to answer all our questions.
