Hauke Flores and Franz Mueter led the GoWest team, onboard the Sikuliaq to study arctic cod (also called polar cod). These fish are found further north than any other fish, but very little is known about their icy habits. We will learn more about the fish later. For now, here's a bit about Hauke Flores.
Background questions
1. Where did you grow up? Where do you live now?
Bremerhaven, Germany (born), and Bremerhaven (live now) – it's in between Hamburg and Texel Island (Netherlands)
2. When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Doctor, Scientist
3. Do you have any pets? If so, tell us about them – breed, name, age, personality quirks…
2 cats, Fynni and Ella. Both are cute but can be very aggressive with each other.
4. Who is someone you admire and why?
I am not a big fan of admiration to people. But there are people that give good examples: M.L. King, S. Hawkins, E. Musk, R. Dawkins, L. Anders, M. Curie
5. Write a haiku to describe your work (3 lines with 5, 7 and 5 syllables respectively)
Sea ice cold and dead?
To see life you must get wet
Fish down there are fat
A few Science questions
1. What is your title? What would you say you do here?
I am a scientist trying to understand how an ecosystem works that is doomed to vanish
2. What motivated you to choose this particular field?
Love to nature, the sea
3. How many years have you been studying or working in this field?
17 years
4. What’s the best part of your work?
Being out on the sea
5. What are the main challenges you face in your work?
Administration, vanity, competition
6. What is one aspect of your work that you think the public should know more about?
The beauty of life underneath the ice
7. If you could know the definitive answer to one question in your field, what would that question be?
Which species survive the big melt?
8. What are 3 things you’ve learned so far on this trip (could be related or unrelated to your work)?
Thin ice is great
Sea sickness pills actually work
There are many oil rigs on the Beaufort shelf
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