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2010/09
Istanbul Aquarium
Horta, Portugal

Man, what a hard job collecting sometimes is... This Summer João and Nuno even had to fly to Horta (home of the World's finest gin n' tonic at "Peter Café Sport") and spend 4 days diving with their Azores mates in 22 degree C crystal clear blue water. Isn't life a bitch, sometimes? :-) You may check additional pictures by clicking here, here, here and here.

September 2010 September 2010 - Ah, what a hard job collecting is... Especially when done in 23 degree water with 50 m visibility, which were pretty much the predominant conditions in the Azores throughout the Summer.
September 2010
September 2010 September 2010 - But, this time, not all collections were done while scuba-diving. Our good friend Isauro came to the rescue, with his commercial fishing techniques, and helped out with a lot of the schooling fish, such as these Capros aper.
September 2010
September 2010 September 2010 - Once on the boat it's important to haul all fish back to shore as fast as possible.
September 2010
September 2010 September 2010 - During the initial days, in the Azores, all fish were kept in floating cages anchored inside the harbour.
September 2010
September 2010 September 2010 - Some of the fish, however, were collected by traps and kept in them.
September 2010
September 2010 September 2010 - And, man, did our cages have some cool critters inside, like this awesome Bodianus scrofa...
September 2010
September 2010 September 2010 - ...or this extremely cool Epinephelus marginatus...
September 2010
September 2010 September 2010 - Keeping fish in floating cages sounds easy but is, in fact, no pic-nic because these critters need to be fed. And that's why a diver needed to go inside, every other day, to give them some food.
September 2010
September 2010 September 2010 - But, eventually, the allmighty team from Olhão finished the first batch of transport tanks and we moved the first four to the Azores.
September 2010
September 2010 September 2010 - Keeping fish in tanks, on land, is certainly a lot harder than out in the water and involves monitoring water quality, changing water, etc. But thank God for Rui Guedes, our newest addition, who came to the rescue of poor overwhelmed Telmo Morato, who was going crazy dealing with everything on his own!
September 2010
September 2010 September 2010 - With more than 2.000 fish/inverts on the list, providing plenty of hiding spots, for some of the species, was absolutely critical.
September 2010
September 2010 September 2010 - With some of the animals safely tucked away on land, while others swam happily out in the floating cages, the time came to focus on collections again. Which wasn't easy with João's freakin' phone ringing all the time.
September 2010
September 2010 September 2010 - And then more tanks came and, eventually, there were 19 of them kept inside shipping containers and being filled up daily...
September 2010
September 2010 September 2010 - ...with fish being brought back from the water. Because Winter, in the Azores, is no laughing matter, so it was important to have all fish pulled from the floating cages before November came.
September 2010
September 2010 October 2010 - Eventually the work load was so heavy that new help needed to be brought in, such as Luís Silva, our old acquaintance from Coris and partner from other insane missions.
September 2010
September 2010 October 2010 - Even the boys from the mainland came in to lend a helping hand. And grab some delicious food! Check out the Azores Dream Team, left to right: Irma Cascão, Rui Guedes, João Correia, Telmo Morato, Nuno Rodrigues, Janaina Sousa.
September 2010
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