April 27th - Interesting Photos

-Today was a slower day as far as the number of fish caught per set is concerned, usually catches are some where in the hundreds while today we averaged 50 fish per set with the lowest catch was at 8 individuals.  

-SO instead of dragging on about the 8 fish we caught I am posting some cool photos.

By some strange luck a day before I got back the team managed to snag 83 yearling steelhead in one set!

This is another view of the fish we caught with a parasitic infection, all of the black dots you can see on the fins and below the lateral line are parasitic cysts, also there are some above the lateral line but are much harder to distinguish from natural shading.

This is the only site where a boat is not needed, the mud here is 2 feet deep and black due to anoxic conditions just inches under the surface of the mud.  This site is located on the Hoquiam river and is used extensively by juvenile salmonids and sculpin.

April 26th - Back to the Basics and Parasites

Today, we headed out to one of the tributaries that drain into the estuary, Elliott Slough and the Wynoochee river.  I have finally started to not only get the hang of bringing in the nets after and between each set but I have started to figure out ways I should of been doing it.  Bringing in the nets is a technique where there is a wrong and a right way; if the net is brought on to wide it gets snagged every other foot, to close and it wont set correctly.

We have been catching mostly Chinook juveniles this week which is what is expected due to their later arrival times but also Cutt-Throat trout every other set.  This provides an opportunity to collect a fin sample from each fish with which are being sent to Fish and Wildlife to begin a project database on the life history, locations, etc of trout in the region.

All of these photos and many more can be seen in the albums section to the right.

Below Left: A yearling coho salmon with a parasitic snail larvae in its caudal fin, notice the black spots on the fin and below the lateral line.  The black spots are actually small cysts that are formed by the parasite in this transient part of its life history.  This parasite will wont kill this fish and will eventually leave as it heads into higher salinity water.

Below:  A parasitic larvae (not related to above photo) is attached to the gill of a coho salmon.

Below Right:  A fly nymph , not sure on the species but it does have a distinguishable trident tail.

April 25th

It's back to the coast after a week and a half break, the weather has turned for the worse after a full week of sun.  Thunder storms have been keeping us off the bay but we still are taking the small boat out each day and sampling the Hoquiam and Elliott Slough rivers.  The rivers consist of fresh and brackish water that really lowers the species diversity to salmonids passing through and sculpins.

-As of now most of the juvenile chum salmon have headed out to sea, a few weeks ago I posted a blue backed juvenile salmon.  This vibrant color change is an indication that the chum are about to leave the estuary.  Interesting life history of heading out to sea no larger than 50mm!

-The video below shows an awesome example of a juvenile coho salmon, notice the dorsal and anal fins! The black and white strips are a major characteristic of the coho along with the vibrant pale orange on the caudal, anal and adipose fins.

April 11th: Turquoise Chum

We sampled toward the mouth of the estuary at a site called Half Moon Bay, this site doesn't contain a large diversification of species but does serve as a great place for chum to hold up before heading out to sea.  The deep blue color is controlled by the fish and will disappear if placed in a lightly colored bucket or if it is killed.  It is really amazing to see how many fish we catch so close to shore as our nets only go out roughly 30 yards from the beach.  In addition to the small area being sampled there is a large about of noise created from flaking the net, running the boat and from us running around making preparations but still we sometimes catch over a thousand fish in a single seine.  The photo below shows the deep blue color of the juvenile chum before leaving the estuary.

April 9th - 10th: Sea Lions and Endangered Fish

So far the weather has been amazing and Monday started out humorously with a male sea lion barking at the group as we hauled gear to the boat.  Seeing sea lions perched out on the docks is a common sight around the docks and are no danger unless provoked.

Caroline walking to the far left of the sea lion.

The sampling Monday and Tuesday went very well, especially up in South Bay where the catches are becoming more diversified.  We are now catching the usual salmonids in addition to hatchery coho, bay pipes, tube snouts and a variety of other species.  Tuesday was particularly exciting in that an endangered bull trout (Salvelinus confluentus) was caught in South Bay, normally it is illegal to capture bull trout but the researchers have the required permits to capture and take fin samples from each bull trout caught.

James handling the bull trout before release.

In addition to the bull trout we also began to come across  hatchery released coho salmon such as the one below.  These fish are substantially older (2years) and larger ranging from 120 - 135mm compared to the wild coho size averaging 40mm.  This brings interesting questions around competition, resources and habitat use that I will be looking into as the project continues.  Also, notice the erosion of the dorsal fin and the blunt face on this hatchery coho, this is caused from the concrete wells the fish are reared in.

March 28th - Rough Weather

Today was the first day that I had been within the estuary during a storm and I have to tell you how different the experience was compared to the first couple days of fair weather.  The winds were gusting up to 50mph from the South in some areas leaving exposed hands or face to be instantly frozen.  Beside from the annoyances of constant rain and harsh winds the work is easily doubled for each site.  Normally the nets are not to much trouble to simply flake them onto the beach and begin the seining but with strong winds the net is picked up into the air and this causes the lead lines (bottom) of the net to flip over the floats. Once this happens there is only a minute or two to correct the problem or the set will have to be redone or discarded as the trapped fish will easily find the hole in the net and escape. While the sampling is more difficult during rough weather it is still a blast because you are working with a team and everyone is experiencing and working through the same thing.

Also of note, I have a newly found appreciation for sunny days.

-I thought this was very fascinating.
This photo shows a juvenile chum salmon with an almost fully motile sea lice infection.  This juvenile was caught near point number 7 on the Site Map (South Bay Forest).

The video shows what it is like to travel from site to site during rough weather, the video has been cropped to reduce the "shaky" motion.  What you can not see in the video is the amount of rain that is coming down.