September 17, 2011 Cowlitz Bay
Notes from Glen R and Julie L: At 14:00, Cowlitz Bay had 85% cloud cover, with a variable wind out of the SW at 10 - 15 knots. It rained last night, the first precipitation in several weeks. Water clear, visibility about four meters. The beach wrack was mostly eelgrass at the high tide mark, and kelp at the low tide mark, with a 6 - 12" Lion's Mane Jelly every 100 feet or so. Midges were hovering over the water, and yellowjackets patrolling the wrack. Present: Russel, Madrona, David L, Julie L, Bob S, Betsy S, Dana S, Sherry, Jim T, Peter A, Laurie G, Grace H, Jill C, Hank B, Sonja L, Iris L.
Fish Tally (by Dana S)
1 Greenling, Kelp
2 Greenling, White-spotted
12 Gunnel, Penpoint, 4 - 9"
1 Gunnel, Saddleback
appx 500 Perch, Shiner, 2 - 4"
16 Perch, Striped, 80 - 140 mm
3 Quillback Rockfish, 80 mm
25 Salmon, Chinook
1 Sculpin, Buffalo, 80 mm
1 Sculpin, Great, 370 mm
3 Stickleback
14 Tubesnout, 4 - 7"
1 Crab, Helmet
6 Jelly, Moon
5 Jelly, Lion's-maneabout a dozen cross jellies Mitrocoma cellularia
2 Greenling, White-spotted
12 Gunnel, Penpoint, 4 - 9"
1 Gunnel, Saddleback
appx 500 Perch, Shiner, 2 - 4"
16 Perch, Striped, 80 - 140 mm
3 Quillback Rockfish, 80 mm
25 Salmon, Chinook
1 Sculpin, Buffalo, 80 mm
1 Sculpin, Great, 370 mm
3 Stickleback
14 Tubesnout, 4 - 7"
1 Crab, Helmet
6 Jelly, Moon
5 Jelly, Lion's-maneabout a dozen cross jellies Mitrocoma cellularia
Lavaging
We lavaged about 25 Chinook and two little Quillbacks. The permit we hold allows us to catch a certain number of endangered Chinook, and allows for a very small percentage of deaths. Today, both quotas were filled, and it is the end of the juvenile salmon seining season for 2011 (although the Small Schools Gathering will do a seine on Oct 5, for educational not scientific purposes).
Over the years, we've gotten much better at understanding what these fish need to survive our intervention– from how to gather the net and keep it out of the wave zone and confused people out of the net; from how to dose fish with anesthetic and how long to keep them in the anesthesia bath (long enough for them to quit thrashing around, short enough to still be conscious and recover almost at once); from keeping the fish in a floating net out beyond the waves before processing them to allowing them to recover in a cold, aerated bucket; from understanding fish stomach placement and how much pressure is needed to squirt the water into their guts, to removing parasites with forceps or fingertips. All these factors have allowed us to have a remarkably low death rate. Nevertheless, occasionally we do have some deaths. Most of them seem to me to be from accidents in the net. This time around, for example, we "caught" two large rocks, which can't have been good for the fish, and we had a slightly more chaotic net pulling experience than we've come to expect of ourselves. Constant re-evaluation will continue to improve our survival rates. We're pretty proud of them, actually!
The gut packing crew included our youngest member so far, Hank. Good for you, Hank!
The Chinook had been eating hyperiid amphipods with a smidge of midges on the side, and the two Quillbacks between them produced one little shrimp. Compare this with the huge midge harvest last month, and the many forage fish at the beginning of the summer.
Over the years, we've gotten much better at understanding what these fish need to survive our intervention– from how to gather the net and keep it out of the wave zone and confused people out of the net; from how to dose fish with anesthetic and how long to keep them in the anesthesia bath (long enough for them to quit thrashing around, short enough to still be conscious and recover almost at once); from keeping the fish in a floating net out beyond the waves before processing them to allowing them to recover in a cold, aerated bucket; from understanding fish stomach placement and how much pressure is needed to squirt the water into their guts, to removing parasites with forceps or fingertips. All these factors have allowed us to have a remarkably low death rate. Nevertheless, occasionally we do have some deaths. Most of them seem to me to be from accidents in the net. This time around, for example, we "caught" two large rocks, which can't have been good for the fish, and we had a slightly more chaotic net pulling experience than we've come to expect of ourselves. Constant re-evaluation will continue to improve our survival rates. We're pretty proud of them, actually!
The gut packing crew included our youngest member so far, Hank. Good for you, Hank!
The Chinook had been eating hyperiid amphipods with a smidge of midges on the side, and the two Quillbacks between them produced one little shrimp. Compare this with the huge midge harvest last month, and the many forage fish at the beginning of the summer.