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