The great fish chase

Dear friends, I bring you an adventurous tale, of brave scientists at sea.
Free vehicles they had, in the Pacific east, to discover marine mysteries.
Respirometer and camera were recovered just fine, but next up was the fish trap.
The dreaded lander was cursed, or so say the crew; it could never be recovered last.
The lander rose to the surface as it always did, and floated and flew its orange flag
But when the captain pulled the ship alongside, there was just one tiny little snag.
The fish trap, you see, went under the ship, and had no good time of it
For the captain unaware thrust to port side and broke the poor lander to bits.
The propellor had its way with the fiberglass box and tangled the rope as well
Two fiberglass sides were worse for the wear, and the poor mesh looked just like hell
When the crew finally brought the poor trap astern and hooked onto the blue rope
The scientists squealed and pointed and shrieked - "Don't drive away! No! No! No!"
Three fish, you see, had been hooked on the trap and dangled from outside the frame
All three became detached and drifted away, just as if it were a chasing game.
With the trap now on deck, the scientists found, a new problem was to be seen
One of three floats from the poor tangled line was freely floating, and exiting the scene
Three fish and one float, all loose in the waves, and not one hope to get them all back
But for a long fish pole and a sturdy green net and plenty of scientists on deck.
"Go right!" they all shouted, "Now left!" as they turn, to chase down the fish, one by one
Wearing hard hats and jackets and glasses and shirts to protect them from the tropical sun.
The forces now split to starboard and port, as the fish drifted off and away
"Find them we must!" the science party insists, not willing to lose fish this day.
A swerve and a curve and a turn in the wind, and the captain chased down the first fish
A hunk and a thunk, a decided ker-plunk, as the long net pole had a near miss.
One fish they retrieved, as the others were lost, drifting away in the endless blue
Tossed about in the waves, with whitecaps and swells, to meet death afresh and anew.
So they took what they could and dissected the fish, to make of this bad day the best
Then turned their attention to how to repair the poor trap; of their skills it would be a test.
With the mesh now repaired and new fiberglass poles, same old bolts but new cable zip ties,
The trap is not pretty, but function she shall, to bring fish before human eyes.
Splicing and binding and tying up lines, the trap now has a new tail
Which will aid in recovery and make sure that the trap shall never again set sail
Or slip underneath the hull of a ship, to meet such an uncertain fate
Or even worse yet, to lose her caught fish, because that's just a waste of bait.

Astrid, Oliver, and Cliff working on the fish trap.