CE17008 Exploiting and Conserving Deep-Sea genetic Resources: SFI cruise I

This 13 day survey, led by National University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG) took place on board the Marine Institute’s R.V. Celtic Expolerer in May/June 2017 in the North East Atlantic. The survey was conducted to collect large Porifera and Cnidaria, groups with known biodiscovery potential, and some other taxa which have already shown bioactive potential in previous carried surveys out in NUIG. This survey was the first cruise of the Science Foundation Ireland (SFI)/Marine Institute co-funded project “Exploiting and Conserving Deep-sea genetic Resources” which commenced in September 2016. The cruise set makes a direct contribution to Ireland’s desire to increase capacity in Marine Biodiscovery and tap into the economic potential of the marine environment. The remotely operated vehicle (ROV) Holland 1 was deployed and ROV video & still image data was Obtained, as well as Specimens collected. Conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) sampling was conducted, and multibeam surveys carried out.