The Birds

Seabirds - Scavengers

The birds are gathering.  As the ship draws nearer to Bear Island (Bjørnøya), they amass in numbers all around. Being the scavengers that they are, they hang mainly towards the aft side of the ship, making the stern deck their own poop deck. This is the trawl end, where the gear is shot and hauled.  A few scuffles break out as they jockey for position and you can here the chattering all around.

Seabird Party

"Mommy, mommy, why have we been following this metal whale for three whole days?"
"Because when it gets hungry, it throws its big meshed tongue deep into the sea and brings lots of fish to the surface, and we can take some of that.  But we need to act quick before the human parasites it has take them all for themselves."
"It can't be very hungry because it hasn't eaten in a long time!"

But suddenly, just after midnight, there is action on board! The floating metal whale unfurls it long meshed tongue, like some freak chameleon, and sends it down deep into the ocean.  The birds fly up in mass hysteria.  Could this be the mother haul?

Racing Seabirds

A long wait is finally ended as the metal whale slowly starts retracting its ropey tongue. It takes what seems like an eternity, the birds not stopping swirling around for one second, until it is up, pathetically limp, and slender.
"Mommy, mommy, where's the fish?"

"There'll be no fish tonight, son."

One Unhappy Bird

The look of disappointment on his face says it all as it loosens its bowels and takes aim to air its grievances with the woolly black-haired human parasite.

The Dejected Fisherman

Meanwhile in the belly of the metal beast the humans, clothed in their traditional orange fish feeding gear, wait anxiously.
"Empty again? Surely not..."

Anything There?

 But wait...

What's this? A slight bulge in the cod end... could it be...

Flushing It Out

 FISH!!!

Fish!

...And Shrimp, And Krill...

Glorious fish slide out of the net. 85kg of slimy wonder.  Not a big haul by any standards, but the relief is palpable as the Arctic Dessert finally yields some bounty. Haddock, capelin, those shrimps the Scandinavians love so much, krill, young redfish and other assorted goodies:

Haddock

Capelin, Shrimp, etc.

A Young Redfish (Not That Red Yet)

But this was just the start.  Later that night, so it was told, as the woolly black-haired human retreated into its inner belly, the metal whale feasted again, in the company of live whales, on a meal of 2 tonnes of haddock, with a touch of cod.  And two blue whiting.

No herring though.