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Who is on board
Alberto Luca Recchi (Head of the expedition Mission Sharks,)
Giuseppe Gasparroni (Owner of the fishing boat Aldebaran),
Nicola Gasparroni (Captain of the fishing boat Aldebaran)
Angelo Mojetta (Ichthyologist), Diego Bertolani (Instructor and diving operator),Marina Reichenbach (still-photographer), Antonio Fanesi(crew), Graziano Crispini(crew), Efisio Pirarba (crew).
Our location shots today are taken by Danilo Madonna and Riccardo Parisi.

Here is the fishing boat Aldebaran moored in the harbour of Pescara.
Aldebaran is the boat in which Recchi will undertake the first phase of "Mission Sharks". The fishing boat will be employed on short sailings every week till the 9th of May. All this has been established to allow the fishermen to work during the week and to give the Mission Sharks expedition the opportunity to test and improve equipment and operations. In the photo you can see the anti-shark cage on board.

The meeting place for everyone involved was at the quay of the harbour in Pescara: some were coming from Milan, some from Rome, some from Sardinia and some even from Germany.
We boarded the fishing boat Aldebaran yesterday at 6.00 p.m, under pelting rain. After a toast with Trebbiano d'Abruzzo and a frugal dinner, the Captain bid us good night to us with an old saying "When the mountain 'Gran Sasso' puts its hat on, sell your goat and buy an umbrella". According to the barometer in fact the Captain doesn't hold up much hope for the weather forecast.
Winds from the east with big swells is forecast. It will not be easy to work. Let's go to sleep.

5:00 a.m. wake up
6:00 a.m. Alberto Luca and Diego prepare coffee with milk and hot cakes.
6:30 a.m. Loading operations take place: ice, fish, cage, oxygen cylinders and many, many other things.
The galley is okay.
We shall leave at 8:00 o'clock

ALR-biologi-gabbia_troupe.JPG (8154 byte)

At 8:00 o'clock, while we were loading the whole equipment a TV crew arrived: Because of the wind the crew used a wind-resistant microphone.

Nine miles from the coast, just where the sea is changing from a greenish colour into the blue of the current coming from the south, Captain Nicola Gasparroni, turns the bow towards the land. It will be easier to carry out the testing operations scheduled for today nearer to the coast, close to the outer breakwater.
Diego baptises the expedition in the water and tries to enter in and out of the cage.
All these operations take place under the gaze of watchful cormorants interested in possible fish put to flight by this unusual underwater activity. We spend the afternoon setting up the equipment.