The week on the nearshore & HI BLAIR

Let's just start out with HI BLAIR!!!!!!!!!! I was trying to come up with something really clever & exciting to say, as I have recently discovered that my blog actually has some disappointed readers & I have also just discovered that I have some high competition as far as my fellow classmates blog entertainment value. It is a challenge to try to say anything substantial + not boring & today I am not up to the challenge. Preparing for finals etc has sapped my strength & my posture.

The weather has not been too cooperative as far as getting out on the "toy boat" in order to sample the more difficult to reach sites. Although it is pretty amazing how the sun seems to shine once we arrive- we like to call it fish karma :) We were not going to go out last week due to all the amazing flooding but it turned out to be a great week & I think everyone was glad to be sampling. I know I was happy to have a break from the computer!

The flooding seemed to have displaced fish & created turbidity that made for some good fishing! We caught a HUGE steelehead this week- 800mm, some sardines- for the first time- saddleback gunnells, a cutthroat, a bull trout & something I can't remember. I will fill in some life history at a later date....

Go Team Thanksgiving- wave breakin action:

Coho, more dams & Happy Thanksgiving!

I like the picture on the bottom as it shows the color well, but the other is set up nicer.

The end of the quarter quickly approaches & there remains much to do- the focus of the nearshore project has been shifted toward the sandlance work. Which means more walking & a drier me- I miss the seining with the close & personal fish viewing but it will be back soon enough.

On that note here are a couple of pictures of the Coho (Oncorhynchus kisutch­) that we caught (& released) early last week. I will use this forum to discuss some of the identifying features of a Coho salmon as I have some difficulty keeping it straight so far. This was the first large salmon that my team has caught (~77cm if memory serves), I believe it is the first large salmon the project has caught. It came from one of the side channels of the Elwha- some salmon do still spawn in the accessible part of the river (below the dams)- after some stormy weather here in PA.

So the Coho can be identified by several features including- white gums, a black tongue, few tail spots & spots on dorsal ~half of body & a wide tail base. They are also called silvers, among other names. This particular salmon is apparently a male- identified as such by its brilliant shade of red, females are less brightly colored. Mature males can also have a slightly humped back.

While researching on the health of Coho salmon stocks in the area I just came across an interesting article relating back to a previous discussion of the controversy surrounding dams in general. This article discusses the dams on the Snake River & the health of Orca populations check it out-

http://kitsapsun.com/news/2007/nov/20/orca-researchers-call-for-dam-removal/

I particularly enjoyed reading the comments of many readers. It takes all kinds. To give credit this link came from the Wild Salmon Center- http://wildsalmoncenter.org/ -
Signing off for now.

Hope everyone is having a great holiday, Peter & I had a great time sand lance sampling & eating a wonderful southwestern influenced dinner with Anne & family. No crab this year but it wasn’t really missed!
mel

PS water quality

I forgot to mention- see beautiful diaper bag below- as of last week I am the official team water sampler- using a YSI meter to check dissolved O2, salinity, temp, pH & conductivity of the water at the different sites we sample fish from. We should end up sampling each site every other week as we go out for shore based sampling one week at one set of sites & then we go out on the boat the following week to do a different set of sites. Here's a link that will get you to more than you ever wanted to know about the meter-
https://www.ysi.com/portal/page/portal/YSI_Environmental/Products/Product_Family/Product?productID=WQS_556
Sadly the diaper bag has been replaced by a rather tame looking backpack.

Some fish & update...

Hello everyone! we have remained quite busy with the Elwha nearshore sampling, and with mid-terms last week (I have yet to see the results). The November schedule will be even busier with a new project starting officially this afternoon. I will know more after today but we are gathering data on Pacific sand lance spawning in the area, some similar to our current sites & some new areas as well. Sand lance is an important forage fish & as such is part of the nearshore studies here. Evidently sand lance are harvested commercially in some places, this is surprising to me as they are sort of eel like & the ones that I have seen so far are only 3- 4 inches long, but they do get bigger. Here is an excellent source of info if anyone's interested http://wdfw.wa.gov/fish/forage/lance.htm

On another fish note, I have to say that my favorite fish seen so far was the fluffy sculpin we caught (& released) last week. We see lots of staghorn & a few other sculpins, these are not what the study is focused on (not forage fish I mean), but cool nonetheless – but the fluffy was bright emerald green with longer fins & struck me as rather ornamental esp. for a sculpin. This is the best picture I could find & is not the same, or at least the picture doesn’t do it justice http://hmsc.oregonstate.edu/projects/msap/PS/masterlist/fish/fluffysculpin.html

I am seeing some of the beautiful areas here. The shore bases seines are done near the mouth of the Elwha, at Pysht, the Twins River and Salt Creek. We were at Twins today, on the strait, not too many fish but one really big Buffalo sculpin (~28cm) & some post larval smelt. This was a continuation of last weeks sampling, as the waves were too big, you can kind of see in this photo but it doesn’t give the full impression- the surfers were very happy…

Okay I haven't quite figured the pictures out, see picture up top.

Which finally leads me (rambling) to how I almost died last week- okay this is a mild exaggeration that Anne (my boss, see below) might be a little horrified to see me post in my blog but I do need to spice things up a bit. Seriously though, we just had a safety video & lecture last week during the REU class portion (thank you Dwight :) & not 3 days later I put myself in a rather brainless position in front of the skiff that was riding the large & powerful waves in. The net is often brought in using this little boat & in my defense it is often quiet enough out that we can help the rower get to shore. But this time I was pulled off my feet quicker than quick & witnessing the power of the ocean first hand. Very fortunately I was just off to the side of the boat & able to keep parallel & so do not have any broken bones. So I have learned an important lesson in "using my head" in the face of the quickly changing sea.

Until later- keep your head above water- mel

Go Team Discovery Channel

Lets try a picture....

Thats me in the dry suit & red life jacket- I swear I was just in the boat, the life jacket is not for protection from the <3ft water. L to R: Tiffany, Jenna, Jon (under water), me & Ben

Some Background

So I guess some info about me- why I’m here & what I want to say, background applying to this blog- would be beneficial. I am a WWU student of the environment, located on the Olympic Peninsula. I grew up in Washington, on the Kitsap Peninsula, & (consequently) all things involving the health of this region highly interest me. I am, of course, prejudiced but this is an amazing place to live- don’t tell anyone but especially the Olympic Peninsula. So it is mostly due to my love of this area that I am specifically a WWU student environmental science student. It is my love of science & of the outdoors that brought me to environmental science in general. I am, currently & for the next year, a REU (Research Experiences for Undergraduates) National Science Foundations student intern working on the Elwha River Restoration Project.

The Elwha River is currently dammed in 2 spots, these dams have been in place for close to a century. No fish ladders were constructed with these dams & the rich salmon runs were cut off from the river. After long & intense debate these dams were slated for removal. This date has been pushed back to 2012, after the completion of water treatment facilities. Sediments released by the removal of these dams will be of a HUGE volume, some of these will be removed by the water treatment facilities. I need to do more research regarding the scope of the treatment facilities as I don’t yet understand how & where & for what uses the treatment facilities will be functioning.

There is an amazing diversity of monitoring and restoration projects directly & indirectly involved with removal of the dams. I have chosen & been assigned to work with a near shore project, working mostly with the Washington Dept. Fish & Wildlife under Anne Shaffer. Currently my group is monitoring the numbers of forage fish at several sites in the area. This monitoring has been done at many sites & assesses the health of fish populations, the information collected will be compared to reassessment post dam removal. Keep watching!

Well it’s been a busy week here in Port Angeles. Just learning the neighborhood, the Peninsula campus & people, organic chem, ecology (local & beyond) & about the Elwha.

I am very excited to join Anne Shaffer’s near shore team of REU students + Jenna, currently of the WDFW. Do I ever have a lot to learn about fish! & everything else!
We started meeting with the trying on of the dry suits (loaners from another project), this was a surprisingly entertaining endeavor, & another new experience for me. I started out feeling like an apple in an apple bobbing game or a maybe a buoy, & ended up feeling like I’d been shrink wrapped. Fortunately my suit did not leak, some did to different degrees. These will be used during snorkel surveys & seining. It will be challenging to swim in them; I will be in good shape & learning my fish species in a hurry!

On another note, I have been doing a bit of research on dams, mostly in the news. Just digesting some of the controversy that seems to surround just about every single one. It seems that the Elwha dams were at least somewhat controversial from the beginning. It has been interesting to check out various news items regarding the construction, demolition & everything in between of/ on dams around the world. Even the smallest dams, such as one on the Conewango Creek at Warren Pennsylvania, generate strong opinions. The pending removal of this low water dam seems to be opposed by some community members merely for aesthetic reasons. On the other hand the proposed Traveston Crossing Dam in Australia & Swarzeneggers new Sites (Sacramento River) & Temperance Flats (San Joaquin) dam proposals (http://wwwdwr.water.ca.gov/) are generating much opposition, mostly due to the anticipated environmental impacts. It seems that the human benefit of a dam has historically been viewed as being in direct conflict with the environmental harms. This attitude seems to have changed a great deal, especially in more recent history. The value of sustainable fish populations is being thoroughly reassessed, for both economic and environmental health. But still we see cases, as in Ca, where concerns regarding human water needs are being used to justify the construction of more barriers. Global climate change is being used as a rationalization in this case, which strikes many people as being very odd due to the anticipated negative impacts of these dams, & this coming from the Governor whose environmental stance is so well respected. It will be interesting to follow the progress of the Snake River dams that are currently in the news. I will continue to watch the pro & con arguments regarding this project.
Hasta luego! mel

Hmmm

Checking out this bloggin' thing. Now the whole world can absorb my profound thoughts- eventually...