Warwickshire Avon - Bandersnatch and Blateration

Ones home office had become and used as a proper office since the lockdown, the iMac which is used from time to time was moved to the dining table to free-up some space for the works laptop and CAD monitor.

I couldn't just work from a laptop I've parts to design after all, I'm not just sending a few emails or working on power-point presentations I need to be able to use a decent size screen.

I'm back now in the office twice a week for ones own sanity because I certainly couldn't see myself working for home indefinitely, a few months was tough enough, luckily Mixcloud and the Skullcandy Crushers came to the rescue. To be fair if I had an outside detached office overlooking rolling hills or a seascape that just might be dooable.

Now how the wife has coped with the kids hanging from her 24/7 I don't know, however she really has done a sterling job, praise indeed, not sure what I could have done without her, raid the drinks cupboard maybe.

Now it's been quite handy having the iMac relocated because to be fair as Sam has been using it to do his school work and also we've used it for watching some educational programs such as the history of mars exploration and the industrial revolution. 

The most recent program was when we were all enjoying Turkish Adana kebabs cooked over the coals (beef+lamb, parsley, sumac, urfa red pepper flakes)  with all the trimmings  where luckily I found a gap in the weather (raining most of the day yet again ) was all about Maganese nodules.

You see the race is on to mine the deep sea, where some of the biggest deposits of iron, copper, and rare-earth elements are in the middle of the Pacific however they come at a cost. 

To build a fantastic utopian future of gleaming eco-cities, flying cars, robots and spaceships, we're going to need metal. A huge amount of it. Unfortunately, our planet is being mined at such a rapid pace that some of the most important elements face critical shortages in the coming decades

To put the impact of our mining and other activities in perspective, on land, humans are now responsible for moving about ten times as much rock and earth as natural phenomena such as earthquakes, volcanoes and landslides. The UN predicts that on current trends, humanity's annual resource consumption will triple by 2050.

Now closer than the moon, yet less well-mapped than Mars, the Earth’s seafloor is home to otherworldly creatures befitting a science fiction movie. Their remote habitat has caught the attention of humans, who are lining up to begin mining the bottom of the deep blue sea.

As technology and infrastructure drive the demand for minerals, and terrestrial resources grow harder to mine (EV cars anyone ?), the materials in the deep ocean are starting to look increasingly attractive to countries and companies.

Now Polymetallic or Manganese nodules like this one, made of layers of iron and manganese, sit on the deep seabed.

Deep-sea mining companies are hunting for these nodules to use in the technology industry, but scientists are concerned about the damage that could be done to the seabed and its inhabitants during the extraction.

It’s already underway pioneer excavations in Papua New Guinea and Japan have taken advantage of advances in remotely operated vehicles, robotics, and communications technology to pioneer excavations. Companies like Lockheed Martin subsidiary UK Seabed Resources are eager to embark on a new deep-sea bonanza despite at the minute appearing to be a loss making start-up.

Over one million square miles of abyssal plain 12,000 to 18,000 feet deep is peppered with polymetallic nodules, vast fields of lumpy, black, potato-shaped mineral deposits.,Nodules range in size from a pea to a soccer ball and are rich in manganese, iron, copper, nickel, cobalt, and rare-earth elements, though they can take millions of years to grow a few millimetres.

As someone who takes a vested interest in to these emerging markets and companies to add to my pension plan I'll be keeping an eye out for any growth in this area, even though it does seem a lot of effort to start mining these fields.

At the minute it doesn't like like it's a viable option, but who knows if laws and legislation changes over extraction on land, there could well be a rush to get seabed mining.

Anyway back to the fishing, a short session this, Sam was with me this time so the first half was to fish maggot to see what came along and then I'd fish a hardened boilie over a bait dropper layed Smörgåsbord of mixed pellets and hemp to try and get a proper bite at dusk.

The stretch was deserted but I knew exactly what swim I was headed for, it was a swim we'd be doing some deep sea mining ourselves. Despite the river bubbling and flowing quite fast because it was well up after the recent rains here there some sanctuary away from the main flow.

As soon at the maggot feeder hit the deck within a split second a bite was forthcoming and the first fish was a gudgeon. Sam wanted to see how many fish we could catch in 45 minutes so it went in to the landing net and would be weighed at the end.

It really was a bite a chuck, dace the biggest percentage with a smattering of gudgeon, and the odd roach. 2lb 5oz worth in the end, not a bad effort, many bites were missed too, so a float might have been the better bet.

The baitdropper went out, rested for half an hour and as the light was going the boilie went over the top. Now by this time Sam (self-confessed scared of the dark) despite me being there was counting the minutes when we could make our way home.

The first chub wrap came quite quick but no proper bites materialised at dusk and a few minutes after. Still an enjoyable couple of hours throughout, the fish really were up for a feed and the extra water most welcome by all.