Macrozooplankton and Micronekton off Hokkaido Island, Japan: Composition and Gear Inter-calibration

The second micronekton inter-calibration experiment (MIE-2) was carried out in the coastal area off southeastern Hokkaido Island, Japan, during September 23–October 3, 2005. Comparative tows were made at four stations situated over the upper continental slope with bottom depths of approximately 500 m (Fig. 3.1). This area is strongly influenced by the coastal branch of the Oyashio Current (Kono et al., 2004). The R/V Hokko-Maru of the Hokkaido National Fisheries Research Institute (HNFRI; Fig. 3.2) was used as the sampling platform during the experiment. The participating team included: Orio Yamamura (HNFRI; lead scientist), Hiroya Sugisaki (Tohoku National Fisheries Research Institute), Kazuhiro Sadayasu (Hokkaido University (HU)), Shin-suke Abe (HU) and Ryu-ichi Matsukura (HU). Since the cruise overlapped with the PICES Fourteenth Annual Meeting held September 29–October 9, 2005 in Vladivostok, Russia, no scientists from countries other than Japan were able to participate in the cruise.