Fisheries Science Galleries

Kentucky fieldwork (July 2008) :

Kentucky fieldwork (July 2008)

Updated: Jul 24, 2008 4:30am PST

Arkansas Fieldwork (June 2008) :

Arkansas Fieldwork (June 2008)

Updated: Jun 21, 2008 6:25am PST

Large wood inventory, Chattooga River, SC (Nov 2007) : Inventory of large wood on the Chattooga river and some of its tributaries.

Large wood inventory, Chattooga River, SC (Nov 2007)

Inventory of large wood on the Chattooga river and some of its tributa ...

Updated: Nov 29, 2007 5:17am PST

Search for threatened lichen, Virginia (August 2007) : Presence of Hydrothyria venosa, a threatened lichen species in a southwestern Virginia stream.

Search for threatened lichen, Virginia (August 2007)

Presence of Hydrothyria venosa, a threatened lichen species in a south ...

Updated: Nov 29, 2007 5:40am PST

Eel recapture, Virginia (July 2007) : Annual electrofishing for American eels (Anguilla rostrata) in Shoe Creek and the South Fork Tye River, Virginia that are tagged with Passive Integrated Transponder tags. "LIFE HISTORY: Adult American eels migrate to the Sargasso Sea, a calm area in the southeast section of the Atlantic Ocean, to spawn and then probably die. After hatching, young eels migrate toward North America and enter freshwater systems to mature. Male eels remain near river mouths or in brackish water, but the females migrate upriver until they run into an impassable object. While in fresh water, eels are secretive and hide in deep pools around cover and then feed during the night. Adult eels primarily eat fish or crayfish, but will feed upon anything they find. Females spend between 5 and 20 years in freshwater."

Eel recapture, Virginia (July 2007)

Annual electrofishing for American eels (Anguilla rostrata) in Shoe Cr ...

Updated: Nov 29, 2007 5:34am PST

Kentucky fieldwork (July 2007) :

Kentucky fieldwork (July 2007)

Updated: Jul 20, 2007 6:54am PST

Brook Trout Snorkeling Survey, VA (Oct 06 & 07) : Annual counting of brook trout in pool and riffle habitat units via snorkeling (calibrated with 3-pass depletion electrofishing) in the Staunton River and Paine Run, Virginia.

Brook Trout Snorkeling Survey, VA (Oct 06 & 07)

Annual counting of brook trout in pool and riffle habitat units via sn ...

Updated: Oct 15, 2008 9:02am PST

Eel Recapture, Virginia (July 2006) : Annual electrofishing for American eels (Anguilla rostrata) in Shoe Creek and the South Fork Tye River, Virginia that are tagged with Passive Integrated Transponder tags. "LIFE HISTORY: Adult American eels migrate to the Sargasso Sea, a calm area in the southeast section of the Atlantic Ocean, to spawn and then probably die. After hatching, young eels migrate toward North America and enter freshwater systems to mature. Male eels remain near river mouths or in brackish water, but the females migrate upriver until they run into an impassable object. While in fresh water, eels are secretive and hide in deep pools around cover and then feed during the night. Adult eels primarily eat fish or crayfish, but will feed upon anything they find. Females spend between 5 and 20 years in freshwater."

Eel Recapture, Virginia (July 2006)

Annual electrofishing for American eels (Anguilla rostrata) in Shoe Cr ...

Updated: Jul 13, 2006 5:23pm PST

Ozarks, Arkansas (June, 2006) : Based out of a Forest Service work center in Hector, Arkansas we collected stream habitat and fish data in the Ozark mountains for 4 weeks in June.

Ozarks, Arkansas (June, 2006)

Based out of a Forest Service work center in Hector, Arkansas we colle ...

Updated: Jun 11, 2006 2:00pm PST

Staunton River, Virginia, Brook Trout (May 2006) : In the Shenandoah National Park the Staunton River (Virginia) had a 500 year flood event in June 1995. Annually the brook trout population has been sampled to document the long term influence of the flood and debris flow. By tagging the trout with PIT tags and recapturing them year(s) later we can determine their growth, survivial, and movement.

Staunton River, Virginia, Brook Trout (May 2006)

In the Shenandoah National Park the Staunton River (Virginia) had a 50 ...

Updated: May 24, 2006 4:31pm PST

South Carolina Fisheries Fieldwork (Feb-April 2006) : Fisheries fieldwork in the Francis Marion and Sumter National Forests of South Carolina (Feb, Mar, Apr 2006). Three Student Conservation Interns and I (I work for the US Forest Service) collected stream habitat, fish population, and road/stream crossing data.

South Carolina Fisheries Fieldwork (Feb-April 2006)

Fisheries fieldwork in the Francis Marion and Sumter National Forests ...

Updated: May 06, 2006 7:10am PST

Smith River Trout Sampling (July 2004) : Annual trout sampling on the Smith River, VA with VDGIF, VA Tech, and volunteers. July 20-22, 2004.

Smith River Trout Sampling (July 2004)

Annual trout sampling on the Smith River, VA with VDGIF, VA Tech, and ...

Updated: Jul 22, 2004 12:48pm PST

Chincoteague Island & horseshoe crabs (June 2004) : June 1-6, 2004. A very fun week spent on Chincoteague Island, VA with friends from the the VA Tech Fisheries and Wildlife Dept. We were helping Whitney, a VT grad student, tag horseshoe crabs as part of her Master's research.

Chincoteague Island & horseshoe crabs (June 2004)

June 1-6, 2004. A very fun week spent on Chincoteague Island, VA with ...

Updated: Jul 01, 2004 2:11pm PST

Entomology Fieldwork (2001-2003) :

Entomology Fieldwork (2001-2003)

Updated: Jan 31, 2006 4:57am PST

Fisheries Fieldwork (2000-2003) :

Fisheries Fieldwork (2000-2003)

Updated: Jan 31, 2006 5:19am PST

South Caicos Internship (Jan-Aug 1998) :

South Caicos Internship (Jan-Aug 1998)

Updated: Jul 02, 2004 11:48am PST

South Caicos study abroad (Spring 1997) :

South Caicos study abroad (Spring 1997)

Updated: Jul 02, 2004 11:33am PST

South Caicos JOURNAL : (2/8) I got down here with no problems and no lost luggage. A few people didn't get all there bags till the next day. The first week was mostly orientation type stuff then we have started our normal schedule. We all had to go through all the rules, policies, dive rescue training, and learning our way around town. The "town" is not much. There are a few stores and bars. Nothing at all like you would see in the States. They are very small, have very limited selections, and merchandise is quite expensive. I suppose it's a more than you've got near you Kenya. The buildings, facilities, and amenities are very limited and run down. We walk everywhere and any place in town that you would go to is no more than five minutes away. The center where we are staying is right on the water. The trade winds are continuously blowing which keeps it quite comfortable. There is a main building with the kitchen, dinning room, and class room. There are three other buildings with rooms housing the students and faculty. There are 4 to 3 students per room and each has its own bathroom and ceiling fan. I have three roommates though most of the time only one of them will sleep in the room since a lot of people sleep out under the stars every night. The toilets are salt water, the sinks and showers are fresh. All freshwater we have is actually rain water which is chlorinated. The drinking water is also run through a UV sterilizer. The rain is caught with cisterns. They are large open cement areas that run to a focused point and the water ends up in a holding tank with a roof over it. The roofs all have rain gutters to contribute to the rain catching area. It actually does rain a fair amount; mostly at night. When it rains it is always brief. It can be raining in one spot and not ten feet away due to the localized rain clouds that form over the island. There have been some great rainbows out over the water. The center has a pool which is occasionally filled with salt water. We have to empty it often because we have no chlorine to kill the algae that begins to grow, nor is there a filter for it. It is nice for cooling off now and then. Being in saltwater is completely normal now after being in it all the time. I go snorkeling everyday, often both during the day and at night. So far the schedule has been very nice and not at full as I had expected. We have had a fair amount of free time termed "academic time" where we can study or do what ever. The water is so blue and clear. We have seen lots of really interesting life so far just off the shore here. Like octopus, squid, green moray eels, porcupine fish, manta rays, barracuda, turtles and lots of other very colorful fish. We snorkel and dive on the nearby reefs which we take the skiffs to. The visibility off the shore here is probable about 80ft. On the dive the visibility is 100-150ft. Snorkeling at night I have been able to pet some squid and octopus. One very lucky group of divers got a see a Humpback whale. It's unlikely that will happen again, but we are all hoping to see one or some dolphins. There are 30 students I think and 5 faculty, and 4 interns that help with diving, maintaining the site etc. On Saturdays we all have site clean up duties in the morning. We are all quickly becoming friends and we are all getting along great. We go out a couple times a week to the one room bars and dance mostly to Bob Marely. The locals are really nice, laid back, and have plenty of time on their hands. Some of the female students have had some problems with being hit on more than they like by the locals at first, but know their able to handle the situations. It is the way the locals are; and with all the time they have they are looking for something to do so they look forward to the female students every semester. I'm really glad I'm done with college after this because it is so different I'm not sure I'd enjoy going to class at college again. So far the schedule is like this: we have breakfast at 7:30am, I have often been getting up at 6:15 and going for a run or swim. A lot of people are big into exercise so I'm having a great time staying motivated to work out. It is also so easy to get up early here since the weather is so nice. Our first lecture is at 8:15 till 9:30. Then we have an hour academic time. The second lecture is at 10:30 till 11:45. The classes cycle through so we don't have the same classes everyday. Lunch is at 12:00. Then in the afternoon we go out in the boats and dive or snorkel to do organism identification, learn about them, or work on our directed research. When we come back we have a debriefing. We also have another period of academic time in the afternoon. Dinner is at six, and the food has been really good. Isabella, a local, is our cook. She cooks lunch and dinners. We have kitchen crews that cycle through so we cook breakfast for everyone. After dinner we are free to study, go out, go snorkeling, etc. Sometimes we have lectures or guest speakers in the evenings. We have to be back in by 11:00 pm and 1:00 am on Sat nights. The locals are known as "islanders" if they were born here and "belongers" if they have moved here. They live primarily off fishing. The people fish for the spiny lobster and queen conch. To fish for these organisms the people free dive (snorkel) off boats down to depths of 100ft and catch them by hand. This method is very different from the industrial method most people are used to. The majority of the lobster and conch are exported to Miami. We have met some of the children who are students at the school here. A lot of us are planning to help out with tutoring and other local events. We play soccer and basketball in organized games with the locals. The climate is awesome. I hang out in my bathing suit all day and that's about it. It is so nice to go bare foot to class. I'm not having trouble with the sun and am enjoying being tan. (2/22) Our directed research projects are in their initial stages right now. The students are broken up into different groups based on what directed research project (DR) you are most interested in. The students worked out who got what DR after a long discussion rather than doing a lottery. I ended up with my second choice, the conch DR. My first was the fish DR which focused on fish surveys. The conch DR will be doing transects in the Six Hills Cay region (10 min boat ride from here). Along transects placed in different substrata (bottom types) we will count conch in order to come up with a stock assessment. We will also be measuring the length, lip thickness, and weight of the conch. The stock assessment will provide the fishery with data to help determine whether the conch stock is being over-fished, where to set the catch quota, and set the CPUE (Catch Per Unit Effort) level. That's a simplified outline of it and I'll know more about it later as we get more into it. There are 5 people total in my DR group plus our DR coordinator, Bruno, who is the Resource Management professor. We have been reviewing past stock assessments and transect methods to come up with the most accurate and error free methodologies. Since then we have started performing conch counts along transects on SCUBA. The other day my DR group was out in the boat near Six Hills Cay (Cay is pronounced Key here) snorkeling in different areas to assess the different substrata habitats in the area. We also did some practice transects. A lab we had was to perform a transect near Mangrove Island to assess the benthic organisms present and help us with our field ID. When my DR group was snorkeling over a patch reef area we saw a 6ft Nurse shark and few Barracuda. Driving back to the site in the boat we saw some squid jumping about 50m of the starboard side of the boat. After seeing the squid, Drew, the intern who helping with our DR (drives boats and is the dive master) group was saying that they have had squid land in the boat before. I think they jump (also traveling significant distances out of the water) as a quick way to escape from danger. Next thing I notice is a squid flying through the air about five feet above the water straight toward us. It landed in Sylvia's lap who was sitting next to me and then fell on the floor of the boat where it expelled its black ink. So we got a good close up look at a Caribbean Reef Squid before putting it back in the water. So far we have had this happen twice. We went to northern most tip of South Caicos where the Navy Coast Guard Station is to snorkel and do field ID's one Saturday. The Coast Guard Station is not in operation now that the drug trafficking in this region has been taken care of. The School for Field Studies center which used to be a hotel was a common stop over and base for a lot of drug traffickers back before President Reagan increased enforcement to stop it. Written on all the walls and rafter support beams of what used to the bar of the hotel are call-signs of drug aircraft and boats that used to stop over here. Apparently when the Coast Guard Station was occupied the Navy men would play baseball and water-ski all day. Once a week they would scrounge up the data they were supposed to be collecting all week and submit it. (2/28) As for catching squid in the boat, we got another one the other day coming back from a dive. The most impressive thing that has happened is a group of divers last week got extremely lucky and saw a Humpback whale towards the end of their dive. Unfortunately I wasn't on that dive. The students said it was around 40 ft so it wasn't an adult yet since they get to 65 ft. It's really rare to see a whale and we would all be considered lucky if we even saw a dolphin. That same day I did go diving and throughout the dive we heard the whales calling to each other. On that dive we saw an eagle ray with a wing span of around 8ft. (3/2) A couple days ago before dinner, Matt, Tim, and I went out on the boat with Drew to go fishing. We were trawling and I caught a Barracuda. It wasn't that big (2ft they get to 6ft) and we released it. We only had half an hour before dinner so we hope to go again soon and hopefully catch some bigger fish. Last night a few of us went shark fishing off the fish plant's dock with a local, Silver, who is around our age. Silver had the lines and showed us what to do. We were fishing with hand lines. You have a couple hundred feet of 100 lb test monofilament line wrapped around a piece of plywood. At the end of the line is a 2ft steel leader and a large hook. Silver put half of a fish on the hook for bait and splayed out a bunch of line on the dock. To cast the line he swung the baited end around and around above his head, then released it. When a shark takes the bait you let it run with it for a bit, then grabbing the line you yank it back to set the hook. Shortly after casting the lines we had a shark pulling the line. After two failed tries to set the hook, we got it on the third. Luckily the shark kept coming back for the bait. After pulling the shark in we killed and cleaned it. It was a 4 foot Lemon Shark which is a good size for eating, they can get up to 11 ft. Tonight we are cooking up a bunch of shark steaks for dinner. Today I went snorkeling with Matt and Lisa on some great patch reefs. Lisa and I saw a sea turtle, Matt missed it. I'm not sure what kind it was, most likely a Green turtle or a Hawksbill. It wasn't that big, the shell length was about a 2 ft. We saw a Spotted Eagle ray with a wing span of about 5 feet and they can get up to 8 ft. It hung around with us for a while and I was able to get down and swim 2 feet right above it. Later we saw another slightly larger Spotted Eagle ray. A rather large Barracuda hung out around us for about 15 minutes. It was about 4ft in length. They are curious fish but do not attack people. We often seem them on dives checking us out. (3/3) While SCUBA diving and counting conch along a transect for my directed research project we saw a nurse shark. It was about 4 ft in length and came within 5 ft of us. Other students have been snorkeling at couple areas where they have seen 12 ft nurse sharks and 8 foot reef sharks. I have yet to snorkel at those areas, but should get there this week. The reef sharks are the predatory ones with teeth and nurse sharks are harmless bottom feeders. (3/5) We snorkeled out to Dove Cay which, is about a quarter mile offshore from the center. We walked up to the top of the Cay to check out the island and look out at the ocean. About 3/4 of a mile out we noticed some large splashes which focused our attention. They were from Humpback whales breaching. It was a pod of probably 3 or 4 whales, which for 20 minutes propelled their bodies out of the water. I think that is the first time I've actually seen whales. Last night the interns and most of the students camped out on Long Cay. We took the boats over in the evening to a sandy beach area on the leeward side. Before it got dark we had some time to explore and Erica & Lisa caught a small juvenile Hawksbill turtle in the shallows. It only had one fore flipper, most likely due a past confrontation with a predator. Later we made a great fire right on the beach and had dinner. We slept out on the beach and a bunch of us ended up having to move further away from the water at around 4:30am when the tide came in. (3/8) We did a night snorkel on a reef in shallow water because we need to do two night snorkels before we can go for a night dive. We saw four Hawksbill turtles sleeping wedged under some coral. (3/11) Mom, a conch shell, that won't be a problem. I'll try and bring back more than one if I can fit them in. I've collected some sand dollars and other nice shells that I'm planning to bring back as well. Next Tuesday (3/18) at 2:00 all the students are flying to the Dominican republic for our spring break. We will return to South Caicos on 3/23. Though we are all flying there and back together we have split ourselves up into groups of 4 to 5 to travel with while we are there. I've grouped up with 3 other guys, Pete, Joe,(who are 2 of my 3 roommates) and Liem. All the groups are planning on renting a car and traveling for the break. Are plans are not set yet, but we plan to spend time in Puerto Plata (where we fly into) and Santo Domingo as well as the rainforests and parks in between. Airfare prices are high even for short flights like the 90 miles to the DR because of the small airline companies here. There are no regular flights anywhere and the flight we have to the DR is chartered with Skyking. I charged my ticket ($180) since I think you said something about it being better in terms of insurance reasons. (3/16) Yesterday 4 of us went with Drew down to the South end of Long Cay, near Six Hills Cay where my Directed Research project is, to go conching. We found some sandy/seagrass areas in about 20 to 35 ft of water, which is where the Queen conch primarily are due to their habitat preference because the eat seagrass and algae. We freedove (snorkeling) until we caught about 30 conch so we would have enough for everyone for dinner Monday night. After catching the conch you have to knock it, which entails chopping a little hole toward the spiral section of the shell so that with a knife you can cut the muscle that attaches the conch to it's shell. Then you can pull the conch out of it's shell. You then slop the conch, which is cutting off the parts besides the muscle, and then you peal the conch. Pealing entails slicing the tough outer skin with a knife and pealing it off, which is not easy to do. What your left with is a hunk of very tough white meat, which then needs to be pounded with a meat tenderizer and pounded some more and some more until it is finally soft enough to eat. The conch is either served as fritters (fried in dough), cracked conch (fried hunks of conch), or served in a stew. Travel Log of My Spring Break Trip to the Dominican Republic: (Tuesday, 3/18/97) We all had to walk the 2 miles to the South Caicos Island airport since the center's truck is not running right now. Some people did take the one taxi on the island. The plane from SkyKing we chartered actually arrived on time and is their only plane large enough to hold 30 people. The flight down to the Dominican Republic takes about 45 minute and is 90 miles. The language in the Dominican is Spanish and the currency is in pesos. Upon arriving in the airport in Puerto Plata the groups of students rented cars. We got a Suzuki samurai, a little jeep with a rag top, which turned out to be great since we could take the top off and it was good for the dirt roads. Other larger groups got vans. We drove down to the Cabarete (30 minute drive) which is a one road strip town right on the water and is a nicely developed touristy area. My group (Joe, Liem, and Pete) and two other groups also stayed in Cabarete that night. Every night of the trip we were able to stay in nice hotels because we would get a room for two and sneak the rest of us in and split the cost. In most places we were also able to barter the price down. We went to dinner at this great restaurant on the beach and our tables actually on the beach in the sand. After dinner we went back to our hotel and hit the wet bar which had a waterfall that came down behind you when sitting on the stools in the pool. After the pool some of us went to Foly's which is a discotec just up the street. It was a lot of fun to go dancing at a place like you would find in Montreal with that same kind of dance music. I thought it was better than most places in Montreal and the music was much more Euro. The crowd was very international. Most tourists we saw on the trip were European, and we didn't see any Americans. (Wednesday, 3/19/97) After a late start (12:00), due to driving Kathy up to a resort (we nicknamed it Disney World) past Puerto Plata to stay with her parents who were there for the week, we finally headed for the mountains. The roads weren't bad, very twisty and narrow like in West Virginia. Almost every turn of the road had some little shack that was selling drinks and food. They mostly sell rum, which is a major product of the Dominican. Brugal, Barcelo, and Burmudez are the main brands. Some of them also had carcasses of meat (usually pig) that they would cut up and cook for you. We drove through Santiago which is the second largest city in the Dominican (Santo Domingo is the largest). Traffic in this country is very different from the States. It has kind of its own etiquette. Originally you think all the drivers are crazy, but after a while your used to it. People drive pretty much any car that will run and most people drive motor scooters, they are every where. People drive fast and pass anywhere, people pass around blind curves all the time. People pass on two lane roads when cars are coming the other way, and if their not going to make it in front of the car their passing in time, the cars all move over and some how make a third lane in the middle. Some how it all works and we didn't see any accidents, and survived many near death driving incidents that would have been insane in the States. After Santiago we were on to Jarabacoa. The interstates their are crazy; dead horses in the median, on coming traffic on a divided highway, scooters everywhere, and people pushing carts down the highway. The interstates are under construction and we often had to switch to the other side on the highway, but there are no signs of warning that you'll be switching or that oncoming traffic will be coming down a usually one-way highway. There are also almost no town signs, road or street signs, so we had to ask directions often. Luckily the rest of my group had some ability to speak Spanish. We arrived in Jarabacoa around 3:00 and got some lunch where we ran into one of the other groups. Jarabacoa is a nice smaller sized city up in the mountains. Waterfalls are supposed to be near Jarabacoa so my group and the group we ran into at lunch were off in search of the waterfall, not a easy task. On our way out we ran into 2 more groups of students, so we saw all the groups except for one. After about 2 hours of asking directions every five minutes, getting lost and going the wrong way numerous times, we were finally on the right track. We drove for a while up this narrow twisty dirt road in the mountains and completely lucked out finding the waterfall. While driving through an area with a couple of the little shacks selling rum, a little kid was saying to us, "waterfall, waterfall" in Spanish and pointing to the woods. We pulled over and asked a few of the other people there to be sure, and to also be sure that the kids weren't just trying to get us to give them some pesos. After deciding that a waterfall was probably down this little dirt path on the side of the road we put all our bags in the other group's car so we could lock it. We hiked down the path which was very steep with lots of switch-backs. After not too long we could hear falls and then were able to see it through the trees down in the bottom of the steep ravine. Two of the kids also came with us to show us the way and in hopes of getting some money. It took about half an hour to get down to falls. It was a gorge with huge cliffs (250 feet) and a waterfall (70 feet) that fell between the cliffs into a pool. There were huge water smoothed boulders the size of buses down below the waterfall. The pool was perfect for swimming and had a nice pebble beach. We all stripped down and swam for a while. Getting under the fall was difficult because the current of water pushing out away from the cliff was strong, as well as the intense spray of water in your face. It briefly rained after we got out and we started hiking back up the trail. Once back at the car we headed back down to Jarabacoa to find a hotel. After finding one (it turned out one of the other groups was also staying there) a few of us went into town for some dinner. At dinner I wanted to order a margarita, but wanted to know how big the glass was because the night before they were real small. As with many other interesting problems due to the language barrier, Liem tried asking how big the glasses are, next thing we know the waiter takes us into the kitchen and shows us our pizza cooking. We just smiled and went and sat back down. I did order a margarita which was okay once I had them put more tequila in it. (Thursday, 3/20/97) We drove to Santo Domingo, the capital and largest city of the Dominican Republic. This city was a real maze full of mopeds and diesel fumes. Joe went into the city wearing a white t-shirt and came out with a grey one. Upon arriving we got waved over by a Police officer. They all stand on the sides of the streets since they don't have cars. We didn't know what the guy wanted, we think for possibly running a stop sign we never saw. But after showing him the cars registration papers and diverting him to give us directions he let us go. We would often get waved to stop by police officers standing on the sides of the interstate who had police cars (Suzuki Trackers), but we didn't stop. They only want to try and get money from you, and none of them ever came after us. All the security guards for banks and nicer stores carry sawed off shot guns or automatic rifles. We did see some military men along the roads with automatic rifles, but never had any problems. After finding a hotel we went to the old part of the city and got Domingo, a tour guide, to show us around for 40 pesos a person ($1 US = 13.9 pesos). We saw Americas first cathedral, some other cathedral, the oldest house in the Dominican Republic, the fort, and some other buildings from the 1400's when Christopher Columbus developed the city. Liem went in the Cathedral, but only after renting a pair of pants for 10 pesos because they don't let you in without pants. The rest of us waited outside. After our tour we went Christopher Columbus's monument which holds his supposed remains, but it closed at five so we planned to go the next day. Driving back to the hotel, Joe got whistled over by a Police officer that we weren't able to drive past. It took a bit to figure out what has was saying in Spanish, he was claiming that we ran a red light. We told him it was yellow, which were pretty sure it was. When he asked for Joe's license Joe couldn't find it. Then Joe gives him 25 pesos and the guy lets us go. So for running a red light, driving without a license, and bribing an officer Joe got off for around $1.80 US. For dinner we went to El Casa which was really nice. I had lobster, the Caribbean Spiny lobster, which is the kind we are studying about (the Lobster fishery) on South Caicos. We had some margaritas and beer. The beer of the Dominican is "Presidente" which is excellent and we certainly drank a lot of it over our stay in the Dominican; I wish it was available in the States. At the bar we all got a Cohiba cigar and a Presidente. The Dominican has lots of very good cigar brands, and earlier we had gone into a cigar shop where we saw 2 guys making them. After dinner we couldn't get into any of the clubs because we didn't have pants. We randomly ran into some guy in a parking lot who wanted to take us to a bar where we didn't need pants or shoes (we only had Tevas). So we followed him for what seemed like 15 minutes, just when we weren't feeling too sure about this and were ready to turn onto a different street we arrived at this bar. The guy turned out to be pretty cool and we had some drinks and danced a little bit. (Friday, 3/21/97) Before leaving Santo Domingo we wanted to go to the aquarium and inside Columbus's monument. The aquarium was actually nice and very modern, and only cost 10 pesos for admission. It was good that we already new almost all the fish and other organisms they had there since everything was in Spanish. The place was over run with school children on a field trip and the girls were whistling at us. A few of them were following Pete and Joe taking pictures of them. Next we went to El Faro A Colon, or Columbus's Light House, which is a huge monument shaped like a lying down cross. Inside is a case that holds the supposed remains of Columbus. In the cross, is a anthropological museum that contains items from many countries as well as artifacts from Columbus's ships. The monument is 7 stories high and around a 1/4 mile in length. Then our trips plans took a twist. We were planing to get out of this filthy city, but Pete's bag was missing. We had put the top up on the jeep, but someone could still break into it if they wanted. So it was either carry your bags with you every where or take your chances. I carried my wallet and passport on me every second of the trip and took anything with me out of my bag that I couldn't live without if my bag were to be stolen. It was just unlucky that it was Pete's bag that was taken, but it was a bit of carelessness on Pete's part that he left his passport in his bag. So off to the American Embassy; luckily it was in Santo Domingo right where we happened to be. After finding the Embassy they told us we had to go to the Police department first to get a written report. We found the police department and that took a while to communicate the problem. The main room was empty except for a little wooden table with a ancient type writer on it. The guy had to go get paper and carbon paper to type up the report. Then back to embassy, where they said they couldn't do a passport till Monday (and we had to leave on Sunday). After pressuring them Pete got them to get him a passport within the hour. Thank goodness that all worked out because we wanted to get out of that city. So after a 5 hour delay we headed out around 5:00 to Las Terrenas. Las Terrenas is on the opposite side of the Dominican Republic from Santo Domingo. The drive took about 4 1/2 hours and we got there at about 10 pm. The last stretch of the drive is up over some steep mountains and it just so happened that our gas gauge was on empty the whole time. Luckily we made it to Las Terrenas where we had to get the guy at the gas station to open the closed station and fill out tank. With that problem relieved we found a hotel and promptly went to bed. We were exhausted from being up early every day and up late partying every night. (Saturday, 3/22/97) Once again we worked the hotel saying we only had two people instead of four and we even got 4 free breakfasts. After checking out we hung out on the beach for a while and swam in the ocean. Las Terrenas is a really nice vacation spot because it has nice hotels, but the town is small and the hotels are all on a little dirt road right on the beach. There were a fair amount of tourists, due to the toplessness on the beach, I'd say Europeans. We left and headed back along the coast to Sosua. Along the way we stopped at a really nice spot on the beach where there were waves. We body surfed for a while and then Joe climbed a palm tree to get some coconuts. We broke one of them open and ate some of it, it was okay, kind of bland. Then onto Sosua where we were planning to meet up with everyone for the last night of the break at 7:00 pm on a designated corner. We arrived at 4:00 and went to the dive shop so Pete could get a new mask and snorkel which he lost when his bag was stolen. We got some lunch and checked out the shops. We met up with everyone and went back to Cabarete since that town is much nicer. We got a hotel and the parting began. After dinner and drinks we were at a bar for a while then some us went to Foly's the discotec. The night was fun and we were out on the town and at Foly's till about 3:30 am. All lot of people were out all night. Sunday, (3/23/97) After getting ourselves out of bed at 10:40 and getting my group rounded up by 11:40 we had very little time to make it back to the airport (about a 30 minute drive) since the car was due back at 12:00. With the gas gauge on empty again we made it to the airport with two minutes to spare to get the car back on time. Our flight wasn't till 2:00 so we had time to get some breakfast and get to the gate. Then with the way things go with a Turks and Caicos airline the flight was delayed till 3:00 then delayed again till 3:45. All the while everyone is at a bar in the airport drinking more Presidente and getting drunk once again, I stood this once out. They didn't feel to good when we finally arrived on South Caicos. And of course the truck wasn't fixed yet so we all got to walk back to the center. It was definitely an amazing trip and we all made it out of the country with no complications. Back to South Caicos: (4/15) On a dive to the "Plane" to do coral ID and do our underwater naturalist dive we went over the wall to 80 ft. Out of the blue came an object parallel with the wall, which as it came closer could be identified as a turtle. It was a large Loggerhead which Phil, who has done work with turtles, thought had a carapace length of about 1.5 meters. It by us at the same depth, coming to within a few feet of me and continued along the wall at its slow relaxed pace. (4/16) On our way to Six Hills Cay area to do our conch DR transects we took a little detour. , Drew took us out into the deep blue, which is the deep ocean beyond the wall. Here the water is 7,000 ft deep and you can see nothing but the magnificent blue color of the water. We lowered the anchor to 30 ft to give us a reference point and then would take turns snorkeling down to the anchor and hanging out for a bit. Jacques Mayol, the world famous french free diver, who is now in his 70's was here this week. He was world champion in his prime and Charlie said he could hold his breath for 6 minutes. He is supposed to come and speak to us. (4/21) We all took a day trip to Ambergris Cay which is a 1.5 hour boat ride south of here. The Cay is a private island that as purchased by the Dominican I think, for 1 million dollars. The island is planned to be developed for tourism. We all went to a awesome beach on the eastern side, the most beautiful beach I've ever been to. It is essentially untouched and will be interesting how well planning will protect it from future development. We went for a snorkel in the patch reefs just a bit out from the perfect white sand beach. The snorkeling was amazing, 25ft deep water with large coral formations coming up to the water's surface. We all got a close look at a Caribbean Reef Shark. It was about 4 ft in length and hung out with us for about 4 minutes, but kept its distance, about 20 ft. We are all so anxious and used to seeing sharks that we always try to get as close as possible when we see one. This was a treat since it said close for so long. Later I saw a 4~5 ft Tarpon which is a bit unusual since they are open ocean pelagic fish, but the do sometime come into shallower waters to feed. (4/24) Went for a great dive at the "G-spot". At 80ft a Hawksbill turtle hung out with us. A ways behind the turtle in deeper water down over the wall we caught a glimpse of a large Reef shark. Then we saw a very large Southern Sting Ray with a wing span of 5 ft resting in a sand patch. They don't really care about the presence of divers and don't move off until you get quite close. We checked this one out from a distance of about 4 ft and it never left. We then checked out some Peterson Cleaning Shrimp which are very small and hang out on Corkscrew anemones. they will often clean your hand if you put it close to them, but these didn't seem to be hungry at the time. As we were getting ready to ascend to our safety stop we saw a Sargassum Trigger fish which aren't seen a lot here. So far this has been one of my very best dives to date.

South Caicos JOURNAL

(2/8) I got down here with no problems and no lost luggage. A few peop ...

Updated: Jul 13, 2004 8:43pm PST

Alaska - Fisheries Observer (Jul-Oct 1997) :

Alaska - Fisheries Observer (Jul-Oct 1997)

Updated: Jul 02, 2004 11:44am PST

Alaska - Fisheries Observer JOURNAL : I made it to Anchorage with no problems. The sun doesn’t set till around 11:30 and even then it’s mot really dark till midnight. The hostel I’m staying at for three weeks for training course is really nice and there are six people to a room. In my room are two other male observers in this training session who are working for another contractor. There is another male observer staying here camping in his tent and two female observers. So there are six of us staying at this hostel and there are a total of 11 observers in this training session. We have to take the bus into downtown Anchorage every weekday for training. So far the training has gone over what it will be like, sampling techniques, and we have been have fish id labs where we identify thawed fish. The training has been very busy with readings and homework so I haven’t had that much free time. On Saturday (7/26) a relative of mine (a great uncle) who lives here in Anchorage took me down to Seward (a 2 ½ hour drive from here) which is by Kenai Fjords National Park. We went to Exit Glacier and hiked the trail that parallels it up to the Harding Icefield which we stepped foot on. The trail was 3.5 miles one way and on the way down we saw a mother brown bear with two cubs. They were on the other side of a valley on a talus slope. We could see them fairly well with binoculars. Today (7/27) Bill, my relative, took me up in his plane (a four seater Cessna) and we flew to Mt. McKinley, which was amazing. We flew around the mountain and had great views of the glaciers, mountains, snowfields, and cliffs. Training is over August 8th and after that I’ll be heading out on a vessel. I’ll try to keep you posted. To those back in the “real world” here is what it’s like out in the vicinity of 56~57 North 165~166 West of the Bering Sea. This is pretty long, but hey, I’m stuck on a boat; what else have I got to do. 8/19 My first thought about this job is that it is going to take years off my life. I’ve been working for four days now and this is the first time I’ve had any little bit of free time to do anything with. Every moment that I’m not sampling the hauls I’m sleeping, doing paper work, or eating a quick meal. This is definitely a 24hr a day job. Time has no meaning anymore to me. Breakfast, lunch, or dinner are not categorized by time, but rather the type of food. I work around the clock sleeping between hauls or when I’m not scheduled to sample according to my random sampling table. I also have a random break table, which allows me to take a 6-hour break once a day if needed. I have had no problems with seasickness, which I’m thankful for. The first couple days I felt horrible because I was not used to such an erratic schedule. My appetite is back now that I’m used to being up and down all the time from sleeping a little bit here and a little there. This boat, the Defender, is 125ft in length, which turns out to be one of the smallest catcher processor vessels in the Bearing Sea. A catcher processor is a boat that has a factory on board to process the fish (head, gut, freeze, and package them). Since it is a smaller boat it does more hauls per day at smaller time intervals than a larger boat would, which can process larger amounts of fish at a time. This means more work for me so I hope my next boat is bigger so I’ll have more time between hauls. This boat fishes its nets on bottom targeting flatfish, primarily Yellowfin Sole. We also are keeping some of the Pacific Cod, Flathead Sole, and Alaska Plaice that we catch. There are a total of 23 people on the boat including me. The boat is from Maine and the captain, mate, engineer, and cook are all from Maine. The Defender is one of three boats in a fleet from Maine. There isn’t much to do. I spend most my time in my 8 by 4 foot room for two sleeping. I share the room with a deckhand, which is a person who takes care of the cables and ropes when pulling the codend on board. The codend is the end of the net that holds the fish, which can be opened at the end to dump the fish out. What I do when they bring in a haul (I sample on average 60% of the hauls) : For some of the hauls I watch for marine mammals while the net is being brought in (haven’t seen any yet). When the codend has been pulled up the ramp on the back of the boat onto the trawl alley I take length, height, and width measurements of it. These measurements along with a density I obtain from weighing four baskets of fish, and since I know the volume of the baskets, enables me to calculate how many metric tons of fish were caught for that haul. Then while the fish in the codend are being dumped into the bin I have the deckhands get me 6 to 8 baskets of fish, which is about 200 to 300 kg of fish. The bin is below the trawl alley and a door in the floor of the alley opens. A cable above the alley then lifts the codend to dump the fish into the hole. Once I’ve got my fish I have to sort through them all by species. I have to count the number of each species present and weigh each species group. This is easier now that I can quickly identify everything we commonly catch. I also take around 150 sexed lengths of our target species, which is Yellowfin Sole. The sampling on this boat is supposed to be of the worst on all the boats. I don’t have anything to compare it to yet, but it certainly isn’t great. On most boats you get your fish at your convenience off a conveyor belt as them come out of the bin. There isn’t enough room for that on this boat. So I’m stuck with all my fish for a sample at once. Then the little room I sample in has nothing but a floor. I have to dump all the fish on the floor and sort through them on my knees. I’m glad another observer I met at the Hostel in Anchorage had an extra pair of kneepads that he gave me (he also said he never used his). I have made great improvements on my sampling time. What did take me over 2 hours to sample I usually can sample in an hour. Then I after I sample I get to fill out lots of forms that keep track of my data, which takes almost as long as the sampling itself. There isn’t much to see in the Bearing Sea. There is always a large flock of birds congregated around the boat feeding on the fish guts constantly being dumped off the boat from the factory. They don’t bother you since they don’t make any noise and rarely land on the boat. I did see a couple sea lions and two porpoises when we left Dutch Harbor. When I was in Dutch Harbor for a couple days before we left I saw a few Bald Eagles; they are pretty prevalent there. I was surprised to see that there is usually always one boat within site of us and sometimes up to 3 or more. There are a lot of boats out here. The sea goes on forever and it looks like you could just walk across it when it’s not too rough. It doesn’t look dangerous at all, but I have to remind myself that if you fall in you’ve got about 5 minutes before your hypothermic. 8/21 Because this job is so busy and constant I am happy to see that the time is flying by. Which is good since this job is certainly hard and I don’t think I could do it forever. I think I’ve already made the decision that it is not something I’ll want to do again. I hope I don’t burn out too soon before the end of my contract. I’m sure I’ll be looking forward to being put on a different boat after I’ve been on this one for a month or so. When I boarded this boat on August 12th my 90-day contract began. So I think that comes out to November 9th as the date my contract would be up (as long as there are still boats out fishing then and fishing seasons are still open). Then I’ll have to go debrief to NMFS (National Marine Fisheries Service) all my collected data, which could take up to five days. I’m starting to get along better with some of the crew now that I’m used to things and have found time to talk with people. I find that I talk mostly with the cook since he is always in kitchen and has more of an erratic schedule like mine. Other than him, the engineer, mate and some of the crew. Everyone on the boat has more scheduled days where they are up working for 16 ½ hours then go to bed at the same times day after day. The crew is divided into three groups of people that all work different shifts. You don’t see people much because they are either working or asleep, as is also the case with myself, but I’m sure glad not be working 16 ½ straight hours. Within the first few days 2 people quit. One guy didn’t like the work and the other still seems to be seasick and not getting over it. So now they have to wait till we go back into port to get off the boat. They basically are bored out of their minds and will have to owe the boat money for the food they eat. As far as food goes it is good. We’ve got everything from Oreos and Eggos to steak and Chinese food. We actually do have fish almost every night. I wouldn’t think we would since being around fish all day somewhat turns you off wanting to eat any. The only fish we have for dinner is Cod, which the cook goes and gets out of our catch. I had some the first couple nights, but after sorting through lots of Cod in my samples I really don’t have much of an appetite for them anymore. It is also amazing how much everybody smokes. There are only two people on this boat that don’t smoke, the captain and the mate. It is also amazing that the cigarette smoke isn’t bothering me the way I expected it to. This is because they don’t allow people to smoke in their rooms and the rest of the boat where people do smoke it is very well ventilated. Whenever I walk through the factory to go to my sampling area there are far more people smoking a cigarette while heading, gutting, and packing fish then there are not. Also you would be surprised that there is not a strong fish odor on the boat. It smelled worse in the species id lab at the job training center than it does here. It has also been good to hear from the mate and captain that I’m working hard compared to other observers (I think they respect you better if you work hard). They said other observers wouldn’t sample as much or as often. I tell them I’m only doing what my job says I’m supposed to; just following my sampling and break tables. They are glad that I’m taking as large of samples as I am since the larger the sample the more meaningful data is, thus giving a better representation of what they are catching. The mate also keeps telling me that I should be working on a fishing boat as crew and not an observer because I’d make a lot more money. He is not trying to give me good advice. These situations arise where, as an observer, you have to play along even if you don’t agree. There is no reason to test him by telling him I’m better off with this job rather then his in the long run, which is probable what he’s looking for me to do. There us no need to get yourself on anyone’s bad side. You know they won’t do anything to you because laws, NMFS, and the Coast Guard protect observers well. So you definitely don’t want to talk politics with these people unless you plan to agree with them. Which is what I do when I discuss fisheries management plans with the captain. This boat has a reputation of having a nice crew and they are, but no matter how nice they are to you, you are still the observer and not one of the crew. So you’re best off to maintain a neutral position on things. 8/22 I can’t believe how hard this job seemed the first few days, because now doesn’t seem that bad at all. Certainly the worst part about it is being woken up when you don’t feel like getting up. Like today I would sleep for 1-½ hours, get woken up, sample a haul, go back to bed for another 1 ½ hrs, and get woken up to sample again. I had to do this for 4 hauls, which I was scheduled to sample. Now I’ve got two hauls off and then will have to sample the next three. So the key thing to staying happy on this job is keeping up on your sleep and not getting tired. This isn’t much of a problem now that I’ve found plenty of time to rest and read books. The only other bad thing is that you can’t go anywhere. Today was surprisingly nice. With only about 70% cloud cover the sun was shining bright. Usually its is completely cloudy. So I spent some time on deck watching the birds fly along side the boat and go after the dumping fish parts. It isn’t all that cold here, probably in the high 50’s. I only need to wear a T-shirt under my rain jacket to sample in. 8/27 Our freezer room is fairly full with the fish we have caught so we are heading back to Dutch Harbor to offload today. We should get there by midmorning tomorrow after steaming for around 17 hours. It will probable take around 24 hours to take care of offloading, refueling, getting more food supplies, and picking up two new crew that are flying in to replace the two that quit. Then we’ll be heading back out to sea for another trip. These trips tend to be around 2 weeks. I’ll probable only be on this boat for a total of two trips then I’ll be moving to some other boat. Hopefully when we’re in port I’ll get a chance to run into town and mail this letter/journal and also go to the NMFS office so they can review my data to make sure I’m doing things correctly. 8/31 On 8/28 we went into Dutch Harbor to offload since our freezer hold was full. I was dropped off at a dock at 10:00 am so I could go into the NMFS office. The boat then left for a tramper, which is a large cargo ship, anchored in the harbor (it was over in Cook Inlet). This is where the boat offloads. When the tramper is full it probably heads for Japan since that is where everything we catch is sold. It takes around 8 hours for the Defender to offload so I’m expecting the boat back at either the fuel or supply dock around 7:00 or 8:00pm. At the NMFS office they look through my data and ask me how I’m sampling, etc. No problems there so now I’ve got lots of time to kill in a very small town with nothing to do. I get some lunch and end up walking numerous miles back and forth. There is a small stream that flows into the harbor that had a bunch of pink salmon working their way upstream. I also spent a fair amount of time sitting along the shore of the harbor reading a book. The only stores are a few restaurants and two grocery stores that in addition to food carry CD’s, tapes, TV’s, stereos, some clothing, etc. I tried to get connected to the net on my laptop, but didn’t have much luck most likely due to the fact that all phone connections are via satellite in Dutch Harbor. There is an Internet server in town that offers access to the net on one of their computers at an hourly fee. So I can go there to get connected when I’m in port or print out letters on the ships computer to mail. So the boat gave me a number to call that will inform me as to where the boat is. Well every time I call this number all I get is an answering machine and when I try calling for the Defender on the VHF radio they don’t answer. So by the time 11:30pm rolls around and I still haven’t found my boat I’m getting a little concerned. I call my company contact in Dutch and she tells where I can stay for the night since I knew my boat wasn’t leaving till the next day. So when I get off the phone with her I see my boat steaming back into the harbor. Great, I call her back to tell I found my boat and then call them on the VHF to see what dock their going to. So I finally got back to my boat around 12:00am after a long boring day with too much walking in Dutch (at least I got some exercise). Turns out the next day we spend the whole day in port getting a winch fixed and a crack on the deck welded. So we don’t leave till around 5:00am on 8/30. That was fine with me, more time to sleep. So when we get back out to sea the weather is not so great, the seas are the roughest since I’ve been here. I actually felt a bit queasy all day; I’m starting to feel better now. Trying to sample when the boat is rocking side to side is a real pain, as is everything else you need to do. Since this boat is fairly small and narrow it tends to rock quite a bit. I hope for a larger boat when I switch vessels. Some of the boats I’ve seen in Dutch are huge and the American Dynasty practically looks like a cruise ship. The rocking is especially annoying when you’re trying to sleep since you can’t lie still because you’re being shifted back and forth. You have to try and spread yourself out as much as possible to make yourself into a more stable base. Your face is constantly being pressed into your pillow when the boat rocks forward into the trough of a wave and then rises up the next wave (not that you have a pillow; I’m using a folded towel in my pillowcase). When the boat crests a large wave and comes down hard the whole boat shudders; it’s just lovely. I hope this weather calms down and I really hope it doesn’t get worse since I know this isn’t that bad compared to what it can get like. The cook says September is never nice and there is lots of rough weather; just great. 9/3 Now that I’m feeling good and the weather is much better with calm seas I’m happy once again. There was one new guy who was throwing everything up the last few days. I think he’s finally over being seasick. That’s why one of the guys on the first trip quite. He never really got over being seasick. Can’t believe it’s already September, time is flying. Last couple days have been great. I’ve got my sampling time down to an hour tops and for the time being my random sampling table has eased up on me giving me more hauls off. It’s nice when we steam to a new fishing since you get a few extra hours of free time. I’ve got plenty of spare time on my hands now so I’m reading lots of books, playing around on my computer, and getting plenty of sleep. The cook said to me that it must be nice working as little as I do, like being on a cruise ship. Some of the guys on the slime line and especially my roommate, Paul, jokingly like to try and get me to help them with the processing since I seem to have so much time free. They also don’t realize all the paper work I do after every couple hauls. The mate still thinks I’m working too hard for what I’m getting paid. That’s because he’s making big bucks. I do wish there were something else to do besides sitting and lying around all the time. There is nowhere to be except in your bunk or in the galley on this boat. So I’ve figured out that on average I sample 58% of the hauls, sample 4 hauls per day, and work a total of 6 to 7 hours per day (which includes sampling, paperwork, and waiting while the net is hauled in). Which isn’t to bad when its spread out over 24 hours and these others guys have to work 16 hours straight. 9/10 I’ve found that the best thing about this job is that you have no boss or supervisors on your work premises. Unlike the crew, you never have to worry about the foreman yelling at you viciously. And you work an hour here, an hour there, and can take a nap in between. We should be heading back into port by the 12th. 9/12 We are back in Dutch Harbor and are currently at a tramper offloading. The boat will be going to a dock in the morning. I spoke with my company contact in Dutch and she said I’m getting off the Defender and will be going to a longliner (around 130ft in length) within a couple days. A longerliner is a fishing vessel that fishes with a line laid on the bottom that has baited hooks on short lengths of line attached to it at regular intervals. It will be a whole new style of sampling that I’ll have to do, which I’m reading up on right now. Well, I’ll tell you all about it next time I’m in port. 9/18 After leaving the Defender I spent the night in a bunkhouse in Dutch Harbor that my company has an account with. The next day (9/13) I boarded the Zenith, a 124ft longline vessel. We didn’t leave till early the next morning since we had to fuel and get some supplies. The Zenith is out of Seattle, WA and had just arrived from there. The boat is about the same length as the Defender, and is much nicer looking aesthetically and functionally inside (except that the washing machines don’t work while at sea and one of the bathroom’s toilets is out of order). The Zenith has a nice new black, yellow, and white paint job whereas the Defender was rusting and could have used some paint (though I have seen worse looking boats). Inside there are windows in all the staterooms, the galley, hallway, and factory. It is nice having windows so you can see what it’s doing outside. On the Defender the only place with windows was the wheelhouse. There are three 4-person rooms for the crew. I’m in one of them (and I’ve got a pillow this time). The captain, engineer, and cook have there own rooms. There are only 15 people total on this boat, and I actually have learned everyone’s name. The engineer and the cook also do the same jobs as the rest of the crew when fishing unlike on the Defender. Due to this the cook doesn’t have much time to prepare meals so the food quality and selection on this boat is below that of the Defender. This is also due to the fact that the crew has to pay for the food bought for the vessel. For the Defender I think the company that owned the boat paid for the food. There is only one crew shift on this boat, so everyone is working or sleeping at the same time. This is great for me because now my days are scheduled. I get to go to bed and to work at the same time everyday. The crew on this boat is easier to talk to and joke around with than on the Defender. Everyone calls me Colin, rather than “Observer”. There is are lots of “green” crew and one in particular is having trouble keeping up with the pace of the work and has become the one that everyone has decided to pick on (I steer clear of these situations). Since there are a lot of new crew things are going somewhat slowly as they pick up the skills. The factory foreman, Doug, is a nice guy but I’m glad I’m not one of the crew because he yells at them a lot if they’re not doing their job as fast and as good as possible. The Skipper, Al, is a nice captain, but boy does he like to talk. The Captain on the Defender wasn’t sociable at all. Whenever I go up to the wheelhouse to get some info out of the boat’s logbook Al will start talking to me and I’ll be stuck there forever. He’ll go on and on about the fishery, what I need to do to succeed in life, why the school systems are not doing their job, why taxes are going to go up, etc. He is very opinionated and I’m really getting sick of him essentially lecturing and preaching this stuff to me. Even if I wanted to talk to him about my views I couldn’t get a word in if I had to. I don’t get it, he goes off about the teaching of social skills in public schools, but doesn’t realize that I’m sick of listening to him and that he doesn’t let me say anything. The Zenith is a longliner fishing for Pacific Cod, and that is the only species of fish they are keeping. In the morning the boat puts out 3 sets consisting of 40 to 70 skates each. A set is a bunch of skates linked together. A skate is a length of rope, and on this boat they are 100 fathoms or 600 ft in length. Along each skate at about one meter intervals there are 1/4-meter lengths of line with hooks at the ends (their called gangions). Each hook (approximately 180 per skate) is hand baited with squid. At the end of each set is an anchor and large buoys. The Captain marks the location of each end of a set on a GPS computer plotter so that he can easily find the sets when we come back to pick them up. After the sets are put out we head back to the first one to retrieve it and then move on to get the others (sets soak anywhere from 6 to 16 hours). It takes about 3 to 4 hours to retrieve one set and it takes me around 3 hours to sample one. I don’t have a random sampling table to follow like on the last boat. For longliners I am to sample the majority of the sets. So I sample two per day when we put out three. On the starboard side toward the front of the boat is where the line is retrieved. At this location the boat’s side has what I would call a “cut-out section”. Here the deck of the boat is close to the waterline whereas every where else it extends one level above (about 9ft above the cutout’s deck). On the deck of the cutout area is a winch-like device that pulls in the line. A crew person known as the “roller-man” stands at the gunwale with a gaff. I would not want his job, you get soaked when it’s rough out, have a risk of falling in, have to stand there for 4 hours straight, and now and then get jellyfish nematocysts in your face which really stings as I’ve found out. As the line comes up over the roller the roller-man gaffs all the cod and pulls them over the roller to make sure they don’t fall off. He knocks off all the bycatch species. As the cod come over the roller they meet the “crucifier” which are 2 parallel rollers that the line passes through. This blocks the fish from going any further and rips the hook out of their mouths. This process does quite a number on the fish, from breaking its jaw to ripping its face off, not that it matters since they’ll soon be headed. The cod then slide down a shoot and go up a conveyor into the factory. In the factory they are bled, headed, gutted, and frozen. The nice thing about longliners is that they produce very high quality product since the fish are caught live on a line and have not been crammed and suffocated in the codend of a trawl net. Because the boat catches fish at such a slower rate than that of trawlers it means that for this size boat it will take a lot longer before the freezers are full with fish then on the Defender. Even at this slow rate they still make money because the product is worth more since it is of higher quality. Also, since the fish are retrieved slowly it takes much longer for me to sample a haul, but then there are less hauls. For me to sample a haul it is much more involved than on a trawler. In order to sample over the whole of a set (to get an unbiased sample) I have split my sampling duties into 3rds. For each set I sample I am to sample 33-50% of the set. So for a set of 50 skates I usually sample 20 skates. First I spend time on the upper deck just above the roller-man. Luckily my back is always to the wind and the boat’s rails are high. When the weather is rough I where my lifejacket, but it would be pretty hard for me to go over unless the boat took a big wave over the bow and you can be sure that if it’s that rough I’m not going to be out sampling. And it is pretty likely that the boat couldn’t even fish in weather like that. Now that I’m out on deck I’m glad I brought some of those warmer cloths. It is also nice to get outside for while each day. While on deck I tally all the cod that come on board, tally and estimate the length of halibut which have to be released with minimal injury, tally all the species of fish that fall off the line, and have the roller-man collect all the bycatch for me. Luckily there is very little bycatch. After a 3rd of the skates I head back down to the factory where I sort and weigh the bycatch. I also begin taking some of the cod as they come into the factory to weigh and take length measurements on. During a set I need to weigh at least 50 cod so I can get an average weight to apply to all those that I tallied. I am unable to get sexed lengths since the captain won’t let me cut open the bellies of the fish to sex them, as this would ruin their product. As an observer we are told that if we can’t get around that it’s okay. Fine with me, those cod are big (50-110cm), and just trying to weigh fifty takes a while. I also go out to where the roller-man is to have him bring in any halibut so that I can take their lengths and assess the fish’s viability. Then its back up on deck to tally some more skates, then to the factory again, up on deck again, down to the factory to finally finish up, and then off to do my paperwork. I usually have a little time left over before the set is brought in all the way or sometimes I’ll take a short break in the middle. Splitting up the time on deck is nice because it gives you time to warm up when your in the factory. So with this data I can calculate the weight of tallied cod from the average weight of those 50 I weighed. I do the same thing for bycatch species that fell off the line when coming out of the water; I get an average weight for them from those in my sample that the roller-man collected for me. For the halibut I use a length to weight chart to apply weights to the lengths I took while assessing halibut viability. I then use these weights to get an average weight to apply to those halibut I tallied. Or when we aren’t catching many halibut I estimate the lengths of the halibut that are knocked off the line, and then use the length-weight chart to add up the total weight of halibut in a sampled set. I have found that my length estimates are fairly accurate when compared to the average weight calculated from the measured halibut. Then to calculate the total catch weight per set I divide the weight of fish in my sample by the number of hooks I sampled multiplied by the total number of hooks in a set. To get the number of hooks, I tally the number of hooks on 7 or so skates once a week to get an average number of hooks per skate. The big deal with halibut is that it is the amount of halibut bycatch that closes the fishery, not the amount of cod they catch. For a while the halibut stocks were nearly depleted, but they have grown again. Since halibut are allocated to fisherman with a license to keep halibut it is illegal for other boats to keep halibut, thus they have to return them to the water as soon as possible with minimal injury. This also applies to the other “prohibited species”, which are salmon, king crab, tanner crab, and herring. Since longliners can catch a lot of halibut it is beneficial that observers assess their viability. This way if halibut are in excellent condition when returned to the water, there is no reason to close the fishery based on halibut caught and released that will live. Thus observers assess whether the halibut are in excellent, poor, or dead condition to give a fair representation of how the boats are treating and releasing the fish. 9/20 Yesterday and today we have had great weather. The seas have been very calm and it has been sunny during the day and at night the stars and moon have been out. This something to really enjoy when it is almost always cloudy. And to make it better I finally saw some marine mammals. During the day there were 4 Dall’s Porpoises and one sea lion playing around the boat. Then that night there were about 10 Dall’s Porpoises swimming under the boat from one side to the other. The porpoises are about 6 ft in length and have similar coloration as a killer whale; being black with a white underside that curves up onto their sides. They are very fast and like to swim with their dorsal fin out of the water which creates a rooster-tail of water into the air. 9/22 So much for the nice weather. It’s a lot like Vermont here; it’s always cloudy and the weather changes every minute. Walking around a boat in rough weather can be somewhat fun until you want to go to the galley to eat. Walking down the hall like in a V-8 commercial is interesting (except in reality your vertical and it’s the boat that is angled, except mentally you don’t see it that way), as is having to walk up and downhill all the time. The best is going up the stairs when the boat is dropping. This boat seems to be turning into a college frat house. It is a mess. The galley, bathroom, and floors are disgusting. I don’t think these guys clean the boat till we head for port. On the Defender the full time cook had time to clean the kitchen, mop the floors, and clean the bathrooms. Here since the cook is also working in the factory he does not have much extra time. Meals are cooked whenever the crew has a break between hauling in sets, so I miss meals now and then if I don’t realize their ready. Good thing there is a lot of peanut butter and cereal on the boat. 9/25 Calm weather with some scattered showers and sun today. While out on deck I saw a perfect rainbow. You could see it clearly from one end rising out of the ocean all the way to the other going back down. 10/3 Very early this morning we went to Saint Paul Island to get more bait since we were running low. We were only there for maybe an hour and since it was dark out I didn’t really get to see much. The island is small, only about 5 by 4 miles with the highest elevation at 506 ft. St Paul is one of a few islands (the other main one is St George) that make up the Pribilof Islands which are located in the middle of the Bering Sea (at approximately 57 N 170 W). Here is some other info the Pribilof and Aleutian islands. Pribilof Islands, also Fur Seal Islands, group of islands, southwestern Alaska, in the Bering Sea. Saint Paul, Saint George, Otter, and Walrus islands are the largest of the group; the remainder are islets. All are hilly and of volcanic origin. The native inhabitants are Aleuts. St. Paul (population, 1990, 763) and St. George (population, 1990, 138) are famous as mating places for most of the fur-bearing seals of the world. Otter, polar bear, blue and white fox, and many species of birds inhabit the islands during all or part of the year. In 1786 the Pribilof Islands were discovered and claimed for his country by the Russian navigator Gerasim Pribilof (flourished late 18th century), for whom the group is named. After the United States purchased Alaska from Russia in 1867, the islands were leased by the federal government to sealing companies. The rapid depletion of the seal herd resulted in the signing of a treaty in 1911 to control sealing, with supervision of the seal herd by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The herd is now controlled by the U.S. Department of the Interior. Under this protection the seal herd has greatly increased in size. Area, about 161 sq km (62 sq mi); population (1990 estimate) 901. "Pribilof Islands," Microsoft (R) Encarta. Copyright (c) 1994 Microsoft Corporation. Copyright (c) 1994 Funk & Wagnall's Corporation. Aleutian Islands, chain of about 150 small islands, southwestern Alaska, separating the northern Pacific Ocean from the Bering Sea. The archipelago extends about 1930 km (about 1200 mi) west from the Alaska Peninsula toward Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia. The four main subgroups of the Aleutian Islands from east to west are the Fox Islands, Andrean of Islands, Rat Islands, and Near Islands. Geologically, the archipelago is a continuation of the Aleutian Range, which is on the Alaskan mainland, and contains a number of volcanic peaks. Shishaldin (2857 m/9372 ft), on Unimak Island, is the highest volcano. Few trees, all of stunted growth, are found, but grasses grow in abundance. Although a few good harbors are found in the archipelago, navigation is dangerous because of perpetual fog and numerous reefs. The native people, known as Aleuts, belong to the Eskimo-Aleut language family and are generally classified ethnologically as Native North Americans. Fishing, hunting, and sheep raising are the principal pursuits of the inhabitants. The chief trade center is Unalaska, on the island of Unalaska. The Aleutians were visited in 1741 by the Russian navigator Alexey Ilich Chirikov and Vitus Bering, a Danish navigator in the service of Russia. During World War II, in June 1942, Japanese forces occupied Attu and Kiska islands in the Aleutians, but were forced to surrender them to U.S. forces the following year. "Aleutian Islands," Microsoft (R) Encarta. Copyright (c) 1994 Microsoft Corporation. Copyright (c) 1994 Funk & Wagnall's Corporation. Dutch Harbor is located on Unalaska Island and is within walking distance of the town of Unalaska. The two are separated by a bridge over a small inlet and are no further than ½ mile apart. It is funny that both of these two small towns which really seem like one both have there own large post office. We have had great weather for the past week with partly sunny skies and calm seas. Today it looks like the crummy weather is back. 10/4 Today we fished within site of St Paul Island. It was nice to be able to see the island during the day even though it was a ways off in the distance. It was certainly different to be able to see land on the horizon, especially one little remote island in the middle of no where. 10/6 Yesterday I saw some more Dall’s porpoises and was able to get some pictures of them. Later that day I saw a Northern Fur Seal. It hung out near the bow of the boat for about half an hour and a couple times it came within 10 ft of where the roller-man was bringing on the fish. For a while it was having fun chasing and harassing the birds. Today we were fishing about 12 miles off the shore of St George Island. The weather nice, very sunny and calm, so I had a clear view of the island. It seems that we will have to head back to port in a week or so, not because of the freezer being full with fish, but because we are starting to run low on fuel. It will be nice to go back to port since today is day 24 of being at sea. Though on the other hand I’ll probable end up being switched to another boat. That could be good or bad, but since I have gotten to like the crew and the sampling on the Zenith I don’t really feel like having to switch again. 10/14 On 10/13 I finally got off the Zenith at noon. Then after a brief stay in the bunkhouse in Dutch Harbor I was on my way to another boat at 1:00 am. This boat, the Arctic 1, has a crew of 5 and is a 117ft catcher-only trawler. They trawl large mid-water nets for Pollock. There is no factory to process the fish onboard. Instead the fish are dumped into a bin below deck then run out onto a conveyor where the crew sorts out any bycatch. All the Pollock goes into the refrigerated seawater tank. This boat only fishers for a few days at a time and then goes to a mothership. The mothership pumps the fish out of the boat’s tanks and processes it. I was put on this boat because they need just a little more observer coverage to fulfill the 30% coverage requirement. The Pollock season will be closing shortly within a few days. So I’ll barely be on this boat long enough to figure out the best way to do things. When I get off this boat I’m supposed to be heading back to Seattle. 10/15 This boat has been easy. We tow the net for around 12 hours so I only sample once a day. The sampling is easy since we catch predominantly Pollock. This is because Pollock is more of a mid-water fish and the net is not dragged along the bottom, so there is less bycatch. It was announced today that the Pollock season will close tomorrow (10/16) at noon. We have the net out now and are not going to set it out again. So I’ll only end up sampling 3 hauls. After the closure we’ll go to a mothership to offload. I’ll be transferred to another boat that is going back to Dutch Harbor since this one is heading straight back to Seattle and that will take them about 7 days to get there. 10/20 I’m back in Seattle now. I arrived early Saturday morning after a hectic flight. We had a 6 or so hour wait in Dutch Harbor for the fog to lift so we could take off in the small 2-prop approx. 30-seat plane. They had to leave our baggage behind since we would have been over weighted. So I arrived in Seattle 12 hours later than planned and didn’t get my luggage for another 15 hours. My appointment for debriefing is this Thursday so I hope to be done on Friday or Monday. Then I’ll be heading back to Virginia a week or so later after I spend some time in Seattle.

Alaska - Fisheries Observer JOURNAL

I made it to Anchorage with no problems. The sun doesn’t set till aro ...

Updated: Jul 13, 2004 8:43pm PST